individual, to submit myself to the judgment of the Parliament of
Paris." [19]

The new attitude thus assumed by the Queen-mother alarmed De Luynes,
whose increasing unpopularity induced him to fear that the Princes, who
did not seek to disguise their disgust at his unbridled arrogance, would
be easily persuaded to espouse her cause. He therefore endeavoured to
excite her apprehensions by affecting to accomplish a reconciliation
with M. de Condé, for which purpose he repeatedly despatched Déageant to
Vincennes in order that she might suppose the negotiation to have
commenced; but all these artifices failed to shake the resolution of
Marie de Medicis.

This display of firmness augmented the dismay of De Luynes and the
ministers, who then conjointly endeavoured to compel her to ask the
royal permission to retire to Florence; for which purpose they treated
her with greater rigour than before. Several troops of cavalry were
garrisoned in the immediate environs of Blois; she was not permitted to
leave the fortress; and orders were given that she should not, under any
pretext, be allowed to receive visitors without the previous sanction of
the favourite.[20] Still the spirit of Marie remained unbroken; and it
was ascertained that, despite all precautions, she pursued her purpose
with untiring perseverance. It thus became necessary to adopt other
measures. Cadenet, the brother of De Luynes, was accordingly instructed
to proceed to her prison, and to inform her that the King was about to
visit her, in order to make arrangements for her liberation; but the
Queen had been already apprised of his intended arrival, as well as of
the motive of his journey, and the fallacy of the promises which he had
been directed to hold out; and consequently, after coldly expressing her
sense of the intended clemency, and the gratification which she should