Merit, aided by the chances of fortune, made out of an obscure family of the Boulonais country, a singularly illustrious race in the fourth generation, of which Mademoiselle de Tourbes alone remains.  The Cardinal, brother of the last Marechal d’Estrees, their uncle, used to say; that he knew his fathers as far as the one who had been page of Queen Anne, Duchess of Brittany; but beyond that he knew nothing, and it was not worth while searching.  Gabrielle d’Estrees, mistress of Henry IV., whose beauty made her father’s fortune, and whose history is too well known to be here alluded to, was sister of the Cardinal’s father, but died thirty years before he was born.  It was through her that the family became elevated.  The father of Cardinal d’Estrees was distinguished all his life by his merit, his capacity, and the authority and elevated posts he held.  He was made Marshal of France in 1626, and it is a thing unique that he, his son, and his grandson were not only Marshals of France, but all three were in succession seniors of that corps for a long time.

The Cardinal d’Estrees was born in 1627, and for forty years lived with his father, profiting by his lessons and his consideration.  He was of the most agreeable manners, handsome, well made, full of humour, wit, and ability; in society the pleasantest person in the world, and yet well instructed; indeed, of rare erudition, generous, obliging, dignified, incapable of meanness, he was with so much talent and so many great and amiable qualities generally loved and respected, and deserved to be.  He was made Cardinal in 1671, but was not declared until after many delays had occurred.  These delays much disturbed him.  It was customary, then, to pay more visits.  One evening the Abbe de la Victoire, one of his friends, and very witty, arrived very late at a supper, in a house where he was expected.  The company inopportunely asked him where he had been, and what had delayed him.

“Alas!” replied the Abbe, in a tone of sadness, “where have I been?  I have been all day accompanying the body of poor M. de Laon.” [The Cardinal d’Estrees was then Bishop and Duke of Laon.]

“M. de Laon!” cried everybody, “M. de Laon dead!  Why, he was quite well yesterday.  ’Tis dreadful.  Tell us what has happened.”

“What has happened?” replied the Abbe, still with the same tone.  “Why, he took me with him when he paid his visits, and though his body was with me, his spirit was at Rome, so that I quitted him very wearied.”  At this recital grief changed into merriment.

That grand dinner at Fontainebleau for the Prince of Tuscany, at which the Prince was to be the only guest, and yet never received his invitation from the Cardinal, I have already mentioned.  He was oftentimes thus absent, but never when business or serious matters were concerned, so that his forgetfulness was amusing.  He never could bear to hear of his domestic affairs.  Pressed and tormented by