The Bishop of Laon was not a man to be rebuffed by pleasantry such as this.  He declared the King of Portugal to be impotent, after what the Queen had expressly stated.  The Pope annulled the marriage, and the Queen courageously wedded her husband’s brother, who had no congenital weakness of any sort, and who was, as every one knew, of dark complexion.

At the request of the Queen, the Bishop of Laon was afterwards presented with the hat, and is, today, my lord Cardinal d’Estrees.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Mademoiselle de Valois.—­Mademoiselle d’Orleans.—­Mademoiselle d’Alencon.—­M. de Savoie.—­His Love-letters.—­His Marriage with Mademoiselle de Valois.—­M. de Guise and Mademoiselle d’Alencon.—­Their Marriage Ceremony.—­Madame de Montespan’s Dog.—­Mademoiselle d’Orleans.—­Her Marriage with the Duke of Tuscany.—­The Bishop de Bonzy.

By his second wife, Marguerite de Lorraine, Gaston de France had three daughters, and being devoid of energy, ability, or greatness of character, they did not object when the King married them to sovereigns of the third-rate order.

Upon these three marriages I should like to make some remarks, on account of certain singular details connected therewith, and because of the joking to which they gave rise.

Mademoiselle de Montpensier had flatly refused the Duc de Savoie, because Madame de Savoie, daughter of Henri IV., was still living, ruling her estate like a woman of authority; and therefore, to this stepmother, a king’s daughter, Mademoiselle had to give way, she being but the daughter of a French prince who died in disgrace and was forgotten.

Being refused by the elder princess, M. de Savoie, still quite young, sought the hand of her sister, Mademoiselle de Valois.  He wrote her a letter which, unfortunately, was somewhat singular in style, and which, unfortunately too, fell into the hands of Mademoiselle de Montpensier.  Like her late father, Gaston, she plumed herself upon her wit and eloquence; she caused several copies of the effusion to be printed and circulated at Court.  I will include it in these Memoirs, as it cannot but prove entertaining.  The heroes of Greece, and even of Troy, possibly delivered their compliments in somewhat better fashion, if we may judge by the version preserved for us by Homer.

From his royal highness the Duc de Savoie to his most honoured cousin, mademoiselle de Valois.

My dear cousin:—­As the pen must needs perform the office of the tongue, and as it expresses the feelings of my heart, I doubt not but that I am at great disadvantage, since the depth of these feelings it cannot express, nor rightly convince you that, having given all myself to you, nothing remains either to give or to desire, save to find such affection pleasantly reciprocated.  Thus, in these lines, I earnestly beseech you to return my love,—­lines which give you the first hints of that fire which your many lovely qualities have lighted in my soul.  They create in me an inconceivable impatience closely to contemplate that which now I admire at a distance, and to convince you by various proofs that, with matchless loyalty and passion,