Meanwhile war was rumbling round Paris; the post of Charenton, fortified by the Frondeurs, had been carried by the Prince of Conde at the head of the king’s troops; the Parliament was beginning to perceive its mistake, and desired to have peace again, but the great lords engaged in the contest aspired to turn it to account; they had already caused the gates of Paris to be closed against a herald sent by the queen to recall her subjects to their duty; they were awaiting the army of Germany, commanded by M. de Tnrenne, whom his brother, the Duke of Bouillon, had drawn into his culpable enterprise; nay, more, they had begun to negotiate with Spain, and they brought up to the Parliament a pretended envoy from Archduke Leopold, but the court refused to receive him.  “What! sir,” said President de Mesmes, turning to the Prince of Conti, “is it possible that a prince of the blood of France should propose to give a seat upon the fleurs-de-lis to a deputy from the most cruel enemy of the fleurs-de-lis?”

The Parliament sent a deputation to the queen, and conferences were opened at Ruel on the 4th of March;. the great lords of the Fronde took no part in it; “they contented themselves with having at St. Germain low-voiced (a basses notes)—­secret agents,” says Madame de Motteville, “commissioned to negotiate in their favor.”  Paris was beginning to lack bread; it was festival-time, and want began to make itself felt; a “complaint of the Carnival” was current amongst the people:—­

               “In my extreme affliction, yet
               I can this consolation get,
               That, at his hands, my enemy,
               Old Lent, will fare the same as I: 
               That, at the times when people eat,
               We both shall equal worship meet. 
               Thus, joining with the whole of France
               In war against him a outrance,
               Grim Lent and festive Carnival,
               Will fight against the cardinal.”

It was against the cardinal, in fact, that all attacks were directed, but the queen remained immovable in her fidelity.  “I should be afraid,” she said to Madame de Motteville, “that, if I were to let him fall, the same thing would happen to me that happened to the King of England (Charles I. had just been executed), and that, after he had been driven out, my turn would come.”  Grain had found its way into Paris during the truce; and when, on the 13th of March, the premier president, Molt;, and the other negotiators, returned to Paris, bringing the peace which they had signed at Ruel, they were greeted with furious shouts:  “None of your peace!  None of your Mazarin!  We must go to St. Germain to seek our good king!  We must fling into the river all the Mazarins!” A rioter had just laid his hand on the premier president’s arm.  “When you have killed me,” said the latter, calmly, “I shall only want six feet of earth;” and, when he was advised to get back