sovereign rank.

"How now, M. de Souvré!" [50] exclaimed the Queen; "is the frown of a
wayward boy more dangerous than the displeasure of a mother? I insist
that the King shall undergo the chastisement which he has so
richly merited."

Thus urged, the unwilling governor was compelled not only to lay his
hands upon the sacred person of royalty, but also to prepare to execute
the peremptory command of his irritated mistress; and the young Louis no
sooner perceived the impossibility of escape than he coldly submitted to
the infliction, merely saying, "I suppose it must be so, M. de Souvré,
since it is the will of the Queen; but be careful not to strike
too hard."

An hour or two afterwards, when he paid his usual visit to the Regent,
her Majesty rose on his entrance, according to the established
etiquette, and made him a profound curtsey. "I should prefer, Madame,"
said the young Prince, "fewer curtseys and fewer floggings." [51]

At the commencement of June intelligence reached the Court of the death
of the Archbishop of Rouen, the natural brother of the late King, and
it was no sooner authenticated than the Regent hastened to bestow his
abbey of St. Florent upon M. de Souvré, and that of Marmoutier, one of
the most wealthy and beautiful in France, upon the brother of her
favourite Leonora,[52] an unhappy being who was not only deformed in
person, but so wholly deficient in intellect that every effort even to
teach him to read had proved ineffectual. So abject was he, indeed, that
Concini had been careful never to allow him to come into contact with
Henri IV lest he should be banished from the Court; and this ill-advised