when the King a few days subsequently proceeded to the Parliament to verify some financial edicts (the enormous recent outlay of the Court having exhausted the royal treasury) he was coldly received, and instead of the loyal acclamations with which he had hitherto been greeted, he heard on all sides murmured expressions of discontent and impatience.  These manifestations of popular disaffection alarmed the ministers, and a new council was held, at which it was determined that before proceeding to the ultima ratio regum a negotiation should be attempted with the emancipated Princess; and for this purpose the Comte de Bethune and the Abbe Berulle[27] were despatched to Marie de Medicis with full powers to conclude a treaty between herself and the King.

The first suggestion offered to the Queen-mother by the royal envoys was her abandonment of M. d’Epernon; but she indignantly refused to adopt so treacherous a line of policy, declaring that she would listen to no compromise which involved a disavowal of her obligations to one whom she justly considered as her liberator.  “Moreover, Messieurs,” she said proudly, “even were I capable of such an act of treachery, I am unable so to misrepresent the conduct of the gallant Duke, who holds in his possession not only the letter of the King, wherein he gives me full authority to leave Blois, and to proceed whithersoever I may see fit in the interest of my health, but also one which I myself addressed to him from Blois entreating his assistance in my escape from that fortress, and his escort to Angouleme.  I request, therefore, that as loyal gentlemen you will refrain from accusing M. d’Epernon of an act of violence which the respect due to the mother of his sovereign would have rendered impossible on his part.  I am here because I was weary of the constraint and insult of which I had been so long the victim; and I am ready to accept the whole responsibility of the step which I have seen fit to take.”

As the determined attitude of the Queen-mother rendered all further discussion upon this point at once idle and impolitic, De Luynes resolved to induce her to come to terms with the King without any allusion to M. d’Epernon; and for this purpose the Archbishop of Sens was directed to act in concert with the two original envoys, and to endeavour to convince her that a prolonged opposition to the will of the sovereign could only terminate in her own destruction.  Still, however, Marie remained firm, rejecting the conditions which were proposed to her as unworthy alike of her rank and of the position she had hitherto held in the kingdom; and the month of March went by without the attainment of any result.  De Luynes, irritated by a pertinacity which threatened his tenure of authority, renewed his entreaties for the formation of a strong army with which he could secure the overthrow of the Due d’Epernon; and at the same time he suggested to Louis the recall of the Bishop of Lucon, who had once more offered his services as a negotiator between the contending parties.