no terms with the Court, so long as the Italian had a footing in the kingdom.

66

My friends," he continued, "a little bird from St. Cloud came flying to me this morning with a new trick of the Italian. Signor Faquinoso has persuaded his master to send a herald in his habit of war, with a trumpet, this very morning, to the gates of the city. Jour de Dieu! are we at war with our King? A man must have a faith as gaping as the middle arch of the Pont-Neuf to believe that. But mark the cunning of the Scaramouche! He knows the Parliament and the loyal people of Paris will be anxious to receive with joy and humility a message from their liege lord; and now this cheating vagabond will triumph! It would go abroad that a he rald had passed and repassed between the King and the people of Paris; and we should have the odium attached to traitors flung upon us all.

'No, Messieurs! much as we love the King, we must not receive the herald, or entertain his message; but send him back with protestations of fidelity, and a message to Faquinoso, to grease his boots for a long journey!"

He then regretted that the Court party in the Parliament would advocate the reception of the herald, unless the long arms of his friends could reach them.

The single object of the address was now apparent to the com. prehension of all: it was that the populace should invest the old palace in which the parliament held its sittings, and by intimidation and threats of violence, overawe those members of the corps, who were either partisans of the Queen, or whose disinterested opinions inclined them to snatch at every chance of peace which offered.

St. Maur, who had received orders to be near the person of the Coadjutor, while the Prelate was in the chamber of parliament, foresaw the approaching storm in that direction, and resolved to reach his post while the path was still open. He therefore took a hasty leave of Gourville, and, before the latter had time to question or withhold him, mingled in the crowd and disappeared.

CHAPTER XVII.

An eye whose judgment no affect could blind;
Friends to allure, and foes to reconcile;
Whose piercing look did represent a mind
With virtue fraught, reposed, void of guile.

SURREY.

THE sittings of the parliament, as we have elsewhere intimated, were held in the Palace of Justice, known generally by the simple appellation of le Palais; a very ancient and irregular edifice, containing halls and chambers of surpassing architectural skill and beauty, yet the tout-ensemble of the building was deficient in proportion and design. Both the exterior and interior were also disfigured by the petty shops reared against its venerable walls, and the appropriation of many of the galleries within to the purposes of traffic and debauchery. It was in fact an assemblage of towers and buildigs of all æras; to the antiquary teeming with historical interest; every tower, every chamber, with its legend or tale, recalling personages and events of other days. Many of these apartments were now converted to base and mercenary purposes, and occupied by a class who were strangers to the romance which yet hovered over the scenes of their early history. La grande salle, as it was called, was a vast apartment, composed of two immense parallel naves, vaulted with stone, and separated by a row of arcades which rested on pillars, and were decorated with Doric pilasters, and lighted only by arched windows at the extremity of each nave. Here resorted advocates, procureurs, clients, venders of every description of "portable merchandize; the gay soubrette to attract the admiration of the youthful councillor in his passage to the adjoining courts; the provincial seigneur wasting his means in the prosecution of a law-suit; and the squalid ruined client, loitering moodily in the scene of his early hopes. It had acquired, probably in relation to its being haunted by the last-named class, the soubriquet of the hall of Lost Footsteps. It was also used as a place of assignation, by those who could not afford to wait the hour of appointment in a house of entertainment. From it are entrances into the different courts of justice, the court of requests, the court of aids, and of the grand chamber of parliament.

Since the commencement of the troubles of the Fronde, there had

been but few private decisions promulgated by the courts. They had all united for political purposes, forming what was called the Grand Chamber, to which the peers and dignitaries of the church had the privilege of access, and of joining in the deliberations.

It was on this assembly that de Retz intended to operate, with the same motive, though in a different style, as de Beaufort in addressing his auditory in the public places. The majority were certainly Frondeurs, and the general feeling was excessively bitter against Mazarin and his intendant of finances, d'Emeri, for creating and selling so many new offices, and thereby lessening the profits of the old functionaries; but there were members of good reputation and character, who desired to act independently of faction, and these were feared for their persumed leaning towards peace and reconciliation.

When St. Maur entered the old hall, there were evident tokens that the Parliament was sitting. It was occupied by servants, lacqueys, and retainers of the dignitaries, spiritual and temporal, who were engaged in the Grand Chamber, for it was already past the hour of meeting. Occasionally there was seen a president, or master of requests, in his robes of office, endeavouring with the aid of servants, to force a passage through the idle crowd; anxious to make up by bustle for lost time, yet evincing the utmost care to prevent the flowing robes and perruque suffering by contact with the mob.

The liveries of the house of Retz de Gondi were conspicuous in the throng; the men well armed as was the custom, and headed by the Italian valet, Jocoso, a tall, thin, dark-eyed fellow, whose face indicated more pretensions to cunning than honesty, and who, as soon as he saw St. Maur, informed him that Monseigneur had charged him to tell Monsieur the Secretary to wait in the retiringroom behind the Grand Chamber, till the sitting was concluded. For himself, he added, that he was commissioned by the Coadjutor on a service which would require the assistance of two of the lacqueys, and he only waited St. Maur's appearance, to depart on the errand. The other men, he said, were all in attendance, with orders not to leave the hall, and to be ready if occasion served.

The apartment appointed by de Retz as the post of St. Maur, was used as a waiting-room for the friends of the dignitaries, and was far removed from the confusion of the outer-hall. It was contrary to etiquette for strangers to be admitted to the deliberate sittings of the parliament, and the secretary was therefore deprived of

the opportunity of witnessing what passed within. But the constant egress and ingress of members of the corps summoned to a momentary conference with some friend or partisan, and the occasional appearance of the shers, and other officers, afforded the secretary and others similarly circumstanced, the chance of gathering a detail of the proceedings from time to time.

The Coadjutor, it was ascertained, had not spoken; his hour had not arrived. By and by, there was observable a bustle and stir among the officials, and it was whispered that a messenger had arrived from St. Cloud with orders from his majesty. St. Maur, who of course was in the secret, smiled at this verison of the affair; presently, however, a more correct detail of the occurrence circulated from mouth to mouth :-the King's herald, tabarded and accompanied by a trumpet, was at the gate St. Antoine, awaiting permission to deliver his message to the parliament. His arrival, as one of the ushers informed the Secretary, had caused a great stir among the members, and a violent debate was commencing.

After the lapse of an hour, news came that it was expected the herald would be received-for the chief president, de Molé, had, in a speech of much firmness, declared for his reception, which had strengthened and encouraged the peace-party and the friends of the

court.

For awhile, all was quiet in the retiring-room, and its occupants loitered about, or sought amusement in the outer-hall. But it was soon evident that all was not so quiet in the Grand Chamber; shouts, cries, clapping of hands, and other demonstrations of excitement, were audible, even where St. Maur and his fellow-listeners stood.

Word was brought that de Retz had made a display of eloquence, vehement and revengeful, flinging defiance at the chief President, and all who sided with him. He had, it was supposed, lost temper at the unexpected and vigorous opposition to the views of the Fronde ; and it was now talked of, that the Court must have secretly communed with its adherents, as they acted in concert, and with address, receiving every encouragement from de Molé, whose uprightness of character, and high station, carried great weight.

There was another interval, and after awhile, cries were again heard; but they came from another quarter; they were from without, from the court-yards of the palace, and from the surrounding streets. It was the united cry of thousands, uttering threats of vengeance upon the Parliament. The news spread rapidly through the palace, and soon came to the ears of St. Maur-realizing his appre

hensions whilst listening to de Beaufort-that the edifice was completely invested, and the lives of all within at the mercy of the mob.

In the Chamber of Parliament, it was said, the confusion and violence were quite as great; angry bickerings, challenges, and open insults, were bandied between the two parties; whilst the more timorous were beseeching the chief President to grant the people their demands.

Terror began to seize upon those who, like the Secretary, were connected with the Parliamentary corps, and many left the chamber, mingling with the lacqueys and attendants in the hall of the Lost Footsteps, afraid of sharing the fate of the gentlemen of the robe, and hoping for some loop-hole to escape. Others, and among this class we must include St. Maur, stayed for the purpose of succouring their friends.

The Secretary knew that his master had nothing to fear at the hands of the populace; but he might be struck down in the mêlée, or receive his fate from the weapons of the court party. He therefore left the retiring-room, and gave orders to the Coadjutor's people to keep together, and avoiding brawls with any one, be on the alert to assist Monseigneur in case of emergency. On his return he ascertained that Beaufort's mob had caught several members of the Robe, and had sent them to the chamber, with a plain intimation that if the Parliament did not immediately come to the conclusion of dismissing the herald unheard, the palace should be fired, and the obnoxious members, if they escaped, put to the sword.

It was evident that Mazarin's gold had been flowing plentifully in certain quarters, and that the Court had been operating secretly and strongly with a view to a division in its favour on this day; for when de Molé declared, on receiving the message, that he would not take the law from the canaille, but would die on his seat rather than submit, the party adverse to the Fronde had the hardihood to second the resolve, and even to menace personally de Retz's friends.

St. Maur's experience confirmed this opinion: for he observed that of those about him, there was scarcely a friend of the Coadjutor present, and many remarks were let drop inimical to the party; whilst in the outer-hall, retainers of those supposed to be attached to the Court, were mustered in great numbers. It was very evident, he thought, that both Mazarin's party and that of de Retz had each, unknown to the other, prepared for the occasion, and that the Coadjutor stood in the worse position; for although he had planned