in truth merely the playmate of the monarch, he possessed at least the merit of engrossing his thoughts, and of thus rendering him less desirous to control or to criticize the measures of others.  Marie yielded to this argument; she had begun to love power for its own sake; and she could not disguise from herself that her future tenure of authority must depend solely upon the will of the young sovereign.  In order, therefore, to secure to herself the good offices of one so influential with his royal master as De Luynes, she consented to follow the advice of Concini, who forthwith, in her name, remunerated M. de Conde for his secession by upwards of a hundred thousand crowns, and the grandson of Guillaume Segur became governor of the city and fortress of Amboise.[195]

FOOTNOTES: 

[170] Emmanuel de Gondy, Due de Retz, and General of the Galleys, was the grandson of the celebrated Marechal Gilles de Laval, Baron de Retz, who, under Charles VII, greatly contributed to the expulsion of the English from France, but who subsequently suffered strangulation by a decree of the ecclesiastical tribunal of Nantes for his frightful debaucheries.  He was the father of the well-known Cardinal de Retz, the enemy of Mazarin, and one of the heroes of the Fronde.

[171] Richelieu, Hist. de la Mere et du Fils, vol. i. pp. 247-254.  Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 53-55.

[172] Bassompierre, Mem. pp. 94, 95.

[173] Henri de Chatiegnier de la Rocheposay.

[174] In 1598 Henri IV had marched against the Duc de Mercoeur, who still held part of Brittany; and as the Duke found himself, immediately on the appearance of the King, deserted by the nobility of the duchy, he gave himself up for lost.  Opposition was of course useless; and he was about to surrender to the royal troops upon the best terms which he could obtain, when he saved himself by a lucky expedient.  He was aware of the violent passion still felt by Henry for Gabrielle d’Estrees, and in order to escape the penalty of his rebellion he offered the hand of his only daughter, with the duchies of Estampes, Penthievre, and Mercoeur as her dowry, to the King’s natural son Cesar de Vendome; a proposal which was at once accepted, as the monarch was aware that it would gratify the ambition of his mistress.  Subsequently, however, after the death of her father, the family of Mademoiselle de Mercoeur had objected to the alliance, and it had required all the authority of Henry to compel its accomplishment.—­Davila, Hist. of Modern Europe, London, 1794, book xv. vol. iii. p. 49.

[175] Richelieu, Hist. de la Mere et du Fils, vol. i. pp. 260-277.  Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 55-67.  Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 253-261.  Brienne, Mem. vol. i. pp. 296, 297, edition Petitot.

[176] Louis de Bassompierre, who subsequently became Bishop of Saintes.

[177] Petitot, Avertissement sur M. de Bassompierre.