queen marguerite, on her return from liege, is in danger of being made a prisoner.—she arrives, after some narrow escapes, at la fere.
in this manner we passed the six weeks, which is the usual time for taking these waters, at the expiration of which the princesse de roche-sur-yon was desirous to return to france; but madame d’aurec, who just then returned to us from namur, on her way to rejoin her husband in lorraine, brought us news of an extraordinary change of affairs in that town and province since we had passed through it.
it appeared from this lady’s account that, on the very day we left namur, don john, after quitting the boat, mounted his horse under pretence of taking the diversion of hunting, and, as he passed the gate of the castle of namur, expressed a desire of seeing it; that, having entered, he took possession of it, notwithstanding he held it for the states, agreeably to a convention. don john, moreover, arrested the persons of the duc d’arscot and m. d’aurec, and also made madame d’aurec a prisoner. after some remonstrances and entreaties, he had set her husband and brother-in-law at liberty, but detained her as a hostage for them. in consequence of these measures, the whole country was in arms. the province of namur was divided into three parties: the first whereof was that of the states, or the catholic party of flanders; the second that of the prince of orange and the huguenots; the third, the spanish party, of which don john was the head.
by letters which i received just at this time from my brother, through the hands of a gentleman named lescar, i found i was in great danger of falling into the hands of one or other of these parties.
these letters informed me that, since my departure from court, god had dealt favourably with my brother, and enabled him to acquit himself of the command of the army confided to him, greatly to the benefit of the king’s service; so that he had taken all the towns and driven the huguenots out of the provinces, agreeably to the design for which the army was raised; that he had returned to the court at poitiers, where the king stayed during the siege of brouage, to be near to m. de mayenne, in order to afford him whatever succours he stood in need of; that, as the court is a proteus, forever putting on a new face, he had found it entirely changed, so that he had been no more considered than if he had done the king no service whatever; and that bussi, who had been so graciously looked upon before and during this last war, had done great personal service, and had lost a brother at the storming of issoire, was very coolly received, and even as maliciously persecuted as in the time of le guast; in consequence of which either he or bussi experienced some indignity or other. he further mentioned that the king’s favourites had been practising with his most faithful servants, maugiron, la valette, mauldon, and hivarrot, and several other good and trusty men, to desert him, and enter into the king’s service; and, lastly, that the king had repented of giving me leave to go to flanders, and that, to counteract my brother, a plan was laid to intercept me on my return, either by the spaniards, for which purpose they had been told that i had treated for delivering up the country to him, or by the huguenots, in revenge of the war my brother had carried on against them, after having formerly assisted them.
this intelligence required to be well considered, as there seemed to be an utter impossibility of avoiding both parties. i had, however, the pleasure to think that two of the principal persons of my company stood well with either one or another party. the cardinal de lenoncourt had been thought to favour the huguenot party, and m. descarts, brother to the bishop of lisieux, was supposed to have the spanish interest at heart. i communicated our difficult situation to the princesse de roche-sur-yon and madame de tournon, who, considering that we could not reach la fere in less than five or six days, answered me, with tears in their eyes, that god only had it in his power to preserve us, that i should recommend myself to his protection, and then follow such measures as should seem advisable. they observed that, as one of them was in a weak state of health, and the other advanced in years, i might affect to make short journeys on their account, and they would put up with every inconvenience to extricate me from the danger i was in.
i next consulted with the bishop of liege, who most certainly acted towards me like a father, and gave directions to the grand master of his household to attend me with his horses as far as i should think proper. as it was necessary that we should have a passport from the prince of orange, i sent mondoucet to him to obtain one, as he was acquainted with the prince and was known to favour his religion. mondoucet did not return, and i believe i might have waited for him until this time to no purpose. i was advised by the cardinal de lenoncourt and my first esquire, the chevalier salviati, who were of the same party, not to stir without a passport; but, as i suspected a plan was laid to entrap me, i resolved to set out the next morning.
they now saw that this pretence was insufficient to detain me; accordingly, the chevalier salviati prevailed with my treasurer, who was secretly a huguenot, to declare he had not money enough in his hands to discharge the expenses we had incurred at liege, and that, in consequence, my horses were detained. i afterwards discovered that this was false, for, on my arrival at la fere, i called for his accounts, and found he had then a balance in his hands which would have enabled him to pay, the expenses of my family for six or seven weeks. the princesse de roche-sur-yon, incensed at the affront put upon me, and seeing the danger i incurred by staying, advanced the money that was required, to their great confusion; and i took my leave of his grace the bishop, presenting him with a diamond worth three thousand crowns, and giving his domestics gold chains and rings. having thus taken our leave, we proceeded to huy, without any other passport than god’s good providence.
this town, as i observed before, belongs to the bishop of liege, but was now in a state of tumult and confusion, on account of the general revolt of the low countries, the townsmen taking part with the netherlanders, notwithstanding the bishopric was a neutral state. on this account they paid no respect to the grand master of the bishop’s household, who accompanied us, but, knowing don john had taken the castle of namur in order, as they supposed, to intercept me on my return, these brutal people, as soon as i had got into my quarters, rang the alarm-bell, drew up their artillery, placed chains across the streets, and kept us thus confined and separated the whole night, giving us no opportunity to expostulate with them on such conduct. in the morning we were suffered to leave the town without further molestation, and the streets we passed through were lined with armed men.
from there we proceeded to dinant, where we intended to sleep; but, unfortunately for us, the townspeople had on that day chosen their burghermasters, a kind of officers like the consuls in gascony and france. in consequence of this election, it was a day of tumult, riot, and debauchery; every one in the town was drunk, no magistrate was acknowledged. in a word, all was in confusion. to render our situation still worse, the grand master of the bishop’s household had formerly done the town some ill office, and was considered as its enemy. the people of the town, when in their sober senses, were inclined to favour the party of the states, but under the influence of bacchus they paid no regard to any party, not even to themselves.
as soon as i had reached the suburbs, they were alarmed at the number of my company, quitted the bottle and glass to take up their arms, and immediately shut the gates against me. i had sent a gentleman before me, with my harbinger and quartermasters, to beg the magistrates to admit me to stay one night in the town, but i found my officers had been put under an arrest. they bawled out to us from within, to tell us their situation, but could not make themselves heard. at length i raised myself up in my litter, and, taking off my mask, made a sign to a townsman nearest me, of the best appearance, that i was desirous to speak with him. as soon as he drew near me, i begged him to call out for silence, which being with some difficulty obtained, i represented to him who i was, and the occasion of my journey; that it was far from my intention to do them harm; but, to prevent any suspicions of the kind, i only begged to be admitted to go into their city with my women, and as few others of my attendants as they thought proper, and that we might be permitted to stay there for one night, whilst the rest of my company remained within the suburbs.
they agreed to this proposal, and opened their gates for my admission. i then entered the city with the principal persons of my company, and the grand master of the bishop’s household. this reverend personage, who was eighty years of age, and wore a beard as white as snow, which reached down to his girdle, this venerable old man, i say, was no sooner recognised by the drunken and armed rabble than he was accosted with the grossest abuse, and it was with difficulty they were restrained from laying violent hands upon him. at length i got him into my lodgings, but the mob fired at the house, the walls of which were only of plaster. upon being thus attacked, i inquired for the master of the house, who, fortunately, was within. i entreated him to speak from the window, to some one without, to obtain permission for my being heard. i had some difficulty to get him to venture doing so. at length, after much bawling from the window, the burghermasters came to speak to me, but were so drunk that they scarcely knew what they said. i explained to them that i was entirely ignorant that the grand master of the bishop’s household was a person to whom they had a dislike, and i begged them to consider the consequences of giving offence to a person like me, who was a friend of the principal lords of the states, and i assured them that the comte de lalain, in particular, would be greatly displeased when he should hear how i had been received there.
the name of the comte de lalain produced an instant effect, much more than if i had mentioned all the sovereign princes i was related to. the principal person amongst them asked me, with some hesitation and stammering, if i was really a particular friend of the count’s. perceiving that to claim kindred with the count would do me more service than being related to all the powers in christendom, i answered that i was both a friend and a relation. they then made me many apologies and conges, stretching forth their hands in token of friendship; in short, they now behaved with as much civility as before with rudeness.
they begged my pardon for what had happened, and promised that the good old man, the grand master of the bishop’s household, should be no more insulted, but be suffered to leave the city quietly, the next morning, with me.
as soon as morning came, and while i was preparing to go to hear mass, there arrived the king’s agent to don john, named du bois, a man much attached to the spanish interest. he informed me that he had received orders from the king my brother to conduct me in safety on my return. he said that he had prevailed on don john to permit barlemont to escort me to namur with a troop of cavalry, and begged me to obtain leave of the citizens to admit barlemont and his troop to enter the town that; they might receive my orders.
thus had they concerted a double plot; the one to get possession of the town, the other of my person. i saw through the whole design, and consulted with the cardinal de lenoncourt, communicating to him my suspicions. the cardinal was as unwilling to fall into the hands of the spaniards as i could be; he therefore thought it advisable to acquaint the townspeople with the plot, and make our escape from the city by another road, in order to avoid meeting barlemont’s troop. it was agreed betwixt us that the cardinal should keep du bois in discourse, whilst i consulted the principal citizens in another apartment.
accordingly, i assembled as many as i could, to whom i represented that if they admitted barlemont and his troop within the town, he would most certainly take possession of it for don john. i gave it as my advice to make a show of defence, to declare they would not be taken by surprise, and to offer to admit barlemont, and no one else, within their gates. they resolved to act according to my counsel, and offered to serve me at the hazard of their lives. they promised to procure me a guide, who should conduct me by a road by following which i should put the river betwixt me and don john’s forces, whereby i should be out of his reach, and could be lodged in houses and towns which were in the interest of the states only.
this point being settled, i despatched them to give admission to m. de barlemont, who, as soon as he entered within the gates, begged hard that his troop might come in likewise. hereupon, the citizens flew into a violent rage, and were near putting him to death. they told him that if he did not order his men out of sight of the town, they would fire upon them with their great guns. this was done with design to give me time to leave the town before they could follow in pursuit of me. m. de barlemont and the agent, du bois, used every argument they could devise to persuade me to go to namur, where they said don john waited to receive me.
i appeared to give way to their persuasions, and, after hearing mass and taking a hasty dinner, i left my lodgings, escorted by two or three hundred armed citizens, some of them engaging barlemont and du bois in conversation. we all took the way to the gate which opens to the river, and directly opposite to that leading to namur. du bois and his colleague told me i was not going the right way, but i continued talking, and as if i did not hear them. but when we reached the gate i hastened into the boat, and my people after me. m. de barlemont and the agent du bois, calling out to me from the bank, told me i was doing very wrong and acting directly contrary to the king’s intention, who had directed that i should return by way of namur.
in spite of all their remonstrances we crossed the river with all possible expedition, and, during the two or three crossings which were necessary to convey over the litters and horses, the citizens, to give me the more time to escape, were debating with barlemont and du bois concerning a number of grievances and complaints, telling them, in their coarse language, that don john had broken the peace and falsified his engagements with the states; and they even rehearsed the old quarrel of the death of egmont, and, lastly, declared that if the troop made its appearance before their walls again, they would fire upon it with their artillery.
i had by this means sufficient time to reach a secure distance, and was, by the help of god and the assistance of my guide, out of all apprehensions of danger from barlemont and his troop.
i intended to lodge that night in a strong castle, called fleurines, which belonged to a gentleman of the party of the states, whom i had seen with the comte de lalain. unfortunately for me, the gentleman was absent, and his lady only was in the castle. the courtyard being open, we entered it, which put the lady into such a fright that she ordered the bridge to be drawn up, and fled to the strong tower.—[in the old french original, ‘dongeon’, whence we have ‘duugeon’.]—nothing we could say would induce her to give us entrance. in the meantime, three hundred gentlemen, whom don john had sent off to intercept our passage, and take possession of the castle of fleurines; judging that i should take up my quarters there, made their appearance upon an eminence, at the distance of about a thousand yards. they, seeing our carriages in the courtyard, and supposing that we ourselves had taken to the strong tower, resolved to stay where they were that night, hoping to intercept me the next morning.
in this cruel situation were we placed, in a courtyard surrounded by a wall by no means strong, and shut up by a gate equally as weak and as capable of being forced, remonstrating from time to time with the lady, who was deaf to all our prayers and entreaties.
through god’s mercy, her husband, m. de fleurines, himself appeared just as night approached. we then gained instant admission, and the lady was greatly reprimanded by her husband for her incivility and indiscreet behaviour. this gentleman had been sent by the comte de lalain, with directions to conduct me through the several towns belonging to the states, the count himself not being able to leave the army of the states, of which he had the chief command, to accompany me.
this was as favourable a circumstance for me as i could wish; for, m. de fleurines offering to accompany me into france, the towns we had to pass through being of the party of the states, we were everywhere quietly and honourably received. i had only the mortification of not being able to visit mons, agreeably to my promise made to the comtesse de lalain, not passing nearer to it than nivelle, seven long leagues distant from it. the count being at antwerp, and the war being hottest in the neighbourhood of mons, i thus was prevented seeing either of them on my return. i could only write to the countess by a servant of the gentleman who was now my conductor. as soon as she learned i was at nivelle, she sent some gentlemen, natives of the part of flanders i was in, with a strong injunction to see me safe on the frontier of france.
i had to pass through the cambresis, partly in favour of spain and partly of the states. accordingly, i set out with these gentlemen, to lodge at cateau cambresis. there they took leave of me, in order to return to mons, and by them i sent the countess a gown of mine, which had been greatly admired by her when i wore it at mons; it was of black satin, curiously embroidered, and cost nine hundred crowns.
when i arrived at cateau-cambresis, i had intelligence sent me that a party of the huguenot troops had a design to attack me on the frontiers of flanders and france. this intelligence i communicated to a few only of my company, and prepared to set off an hour before daybreak. when i sent for my litters and horses, i found much such a kind of delay from the chevalier salviati as i had before experienced at liege, and suspecting it was done designedly, i left my litter behind, and mounted on horseback, with such of my attendants as were ready to follow me. by this means, with god’s assistance, i escaped being waylaid by my enemies, and reached catelet at ten in the morning. from there i went to my house at la fere, where i intended to reside until i learned that peace was concluded upon.
at la fere i found a messenger in waiting from my brother, who had orders to return with all expedition, as soon as i arrived, and inform him of it. my brother wrote me word, by that messenger, that peace was concluded, and the king returned to paris; that, as to himself, his situation was rather worse than better; that he and his people were daily receiving some affront or other, and continual quarrels were excited betwixt the king’s favourites and bussi and my brother’s principal attendants. this, he added, had made him impatient for my return, that he might come and visit me.
i sent his messenger back, and, immediately after, my brother sent bussi and all his household to angers, and, taking with him fifteen or twenty attendants, he rode post to me at la fere. it was a great satisfaction to me to see one whom i so tenderly loved and greatly honoured, once more. i consider it amongst the greatest felicities i ever enjoyed, and, accordingly, it became my chief study to make his residence here agreeable to him. he himself seemed delighted with this change of situation, and would willingly have continued in it longer had not the noble generosity of his mind called him forth to great achievements. the quiet of our court, when compared with that he had just left, affected him so powerfully that he could not but express the satisfaction he felt by frequently exclaiming, “oh, queen! how happy i am with you. my god! your society is a paradise wherein i enjoy every delight, and i seem to have lately escaped from hell, with all its furies and tortures!”
