owe it that she resolved to suppress these insolent nobles. I have
not hurried in this matter, since, by your answer to the queen, it
was evident that you desired no change in your position, and that
the matter could wait.

"Still, monsieur, her offer was to grant honours for services
rendered to the state. The matter of the service that you have
rendered to Cardinal Mazarin is still untouched. It is something so
new to me that anyone in France should be so perfectly contented
with his lot as to refuse such an offer as that made to you by the
queen, that I feel somewhat at a loss what to do. I can understand
that, young and ardent, increased rank would have no charm for
you. Were it otherwise I could bestow the highest rank upon you. I
am aware that your habits are simple, for I have made inquiries,
and that money in itself goes for little in your eyes; still, sir,
one who has the honour of being first minister of France, and who
is also a very rich man, cannot remain with a debt of gratitude
wholly uncancelled. I hear from my agent in Poitou that you have
voluntarily remitted the fine that your vassals would pay on the
occasion of a new lord taking possession, on account of the heavy
taxation that presses so sorely upon them.

"I honour you, sir, for such a step, and have even mentioned it
to the queen as a proof of the goodness of your disposition, and
I feel sure that there is nothing that would please you better than
that I should grant the tenants of your estate an immunity from
all taxation; but this I cannot do. All private interests must give
way to the necessities of the state. I deplore the sufferings of
the cultivators of France, sufferings that have of late driven
many to take up arms. It is my duty to repress such risings; but I