that name, where the two greatest generals in France performed wonders at the head of a few men. The duke of Orleans, being doubtful what conduct to pursue, remained in his palace, as did the coadjutor-archbishop, now cardinal de Retz. The parliament waited the event of the battle, be fore it published any decree. The people, equally afraid of the troops of both parties, had shut the city gates, and would suffer nobody either to go in or out. The combat long remained suspended, and many gallant noblemen were killed or wounded. At last it was decided in favour of the prince of Condé by a very singular exertion of female intrepidity. The daughter of the duke of Orleans, more resolute than her father, had the boldness to order the cannon of the Bastile to be fired upon the king's troops, and Turenne was obliged to retire." These cannon have killed her husband!" said Mazarine, when informed of that circumstance, knowing how ambitious she was of being married to a crowned head, and that she hoped to be queen of France?.

Encouraged by this success, the parliament declared the duke of Orleans lieutenant-general of the kingdom; an incomprehensible title that had formerly been bestowed on the duke of Mayenne, during the time of the league: and the prince of Condé was styled commander in chief of the armies of France. These new dignities, however, were of short duration. A popular tumult, in which several citizens were killed, and of which the prince of Condé was supposed to be the author, obliged him to quit Paris, where he found his credit fast declining; and the king, in order to appease his subjects, being now of age, dismissed Mazarine, who retired to Sedan.

A. D. 1653.

That measure had the desired effect. The people every where returned to their allegiance; and Lewis entered his capital, amid the acclamations of persons of all ranks. The

8. Mem. de Mad. Motteville, tom. v. Mem. de Gui Foli, tom ii.

9. Voltaire, Side, chap. iv.

duke

duke of Orleans was banished the court, and cardinal de Retz committed to prison. Condé, being condemned to lose his head, continued his unhappy engagements with Spain. The A. D. 1655, parliament was humbled, and Mazarine recalled; when, finding his power more firmly estab lished than ever, the subtle Italian, in the exultation of his heart at the universal homage that was paid him, looked down with an eye of contempt on the levity of the French nation, and determined to make them feel the pressure of his administration, of which they had formerly complained without reason.

During these ludicrous, but pernicious wars, which for several years distracted France, the Spaniards, though feeble, were not altogether inactive. They had recovered Barcelona, after a tedious siege; they had taken Casal from the duke of Savoy, and attached the duke of Mantua to their interest, by restoring that place to him: they had reduced Gravelines, and again made themselves masters of Dunkirk. But Lewis XIV. being now in full possession of his kingdom, and Turenne opposed to Condé, the face of the affairs was soon changed; in spite of the utmost efforts of Don Lewis de Haro, nephew to the late minister Olivared, who governed Spain and Philip IV. with as absolute an ascendent as Mazarine did France and her young king.

The first event that gave a turn to the war was the relief of Arras. The siege of this city was undertaken by the prince of Condé, the archduke Leopold, and the count de Fuensaldagna, and pressed with great vigour. The marshals Turenne and de la Ferté, who had formed the siege of Stenay, a place strong and well defended, came and encamped in the neighbourhood of the Spaniards, and tried every method to oblige them to abandon their enterprize, but without effect. At length Stenay surrendered, and another division of the French army, under the marshal de Hoquincourt,

10, Voltaire, ubi sup.

A. D. 1656.

joined Turenne; who, contrary to the opinion of his principles officers, resolved to force the Spanish lines. This he performed with great success, and made himself master of the baggage, artillery, and ammunition of the enemy". Condé, however, gained no less honour than his rival. After defeating the marshal de Hoquincourt, and repulsing de la Ferté, he retreated gloriously himself, by covering the flight of the vanquished Spaniards, and saving the shattered remains of their army. "I am in"formed," said Philip IV. In his letter of acknowledgment to the prince," that every thing was lost, and that you have "recovered every thing."

This success, which Mazarine vainly ascribed to himself, because he and the king were, at the time, within a few leagues of Arras, was nearly balanced by the relief of Valenciennes; where fortune shifted sides, and taught Condé, his victorious competitor, to seek, in his turn, the honours of war in a retreat. The siege of that place had been undertaken by Turenne and de la Ferté, with an army of twenty thousand men. The lines were completed, and the operations in great forwardness, when the prince of Condé and Don John of Austria, bastard son of Philip IV. advanced toward him with an equal, if not superior army, and forced, in the night, the lines of the quarter where the marshal de la Ferté commanded. Turenne flew to his assistance, but all his valour and conduct were not sufficient to restore the battle. He carried off his artillery and baggage, however, unmolested; and even halted on the approach of the enemy, as if he had been desirous to renew the combat. Astonished at his cool intrepidity, the Spaniards did not dare to attack him. He continued his march; and took Chapelle, in sight of Don John and the prince of Condé13. It was this talent

II. Hist. de Vicompte de Turenne, tom. iv.

12. Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV. tom. i. c. 5.

13. La vie de Turenne, p. 296. Hainault, Cbrenel. Hist. de France, tom. ii. Voltaire, Side, tom. i. c. 5.

of

of at once inspiring confidence into his troops, and intimidating his enemies, by the boldness of his enterprizes, that made Turenne superior to any general of his age. Conscious that his force would be estimated by the magnitude of his undertakings, after he had acquired the reputation of prudence, he conquered no less by his knowledge of human nature than of the art of war; and he had the singular good fortune to escape the most eminent dangers, by seeming to be above them.

Thus for a time, the balance was held almost even between France and Spain, by the address of two able ministers, and the operations of two great generals. But when the crafty Mazarine, by sacrificing to the pride of Cromwell drew England to the assistance of France, Spain was no longer able to maintain the contest. Dunkirk, A. D. 1658." the most important fortress in Flanders, was the first object of their united efforts. Twenty English ships blocked up the harbour, while a French army under Turenne, and six thousand English veterans, besieged the town by land. The prince of Condé and Don John came to its relief: Turenne led out his army to give them battle: and by the obstinate valour of the English, and the impetuosity of the French troops, the Spaniards were totally defeated near the Downs, in spite of the most vigorous exertions of the great Condé. Dunkirk surrendered ten days after, and was delivered to the English according to treaty. Furnes, Dixmude, Oudenarde, Menin, Ypres, and Graveslines, also submitted to the arms of France'4; and Spain saw the necessity of suing for peace.

One great object of Mazarine's policy was, to obtain for the house of Bourbon the eventual succession to the Spanish. monarchy. With this view he had formerly proffered peace to Philip IV. by proposing a marriage between the Infanta, Maria Theresa, and Lewis XIV. But as the king of Spain

14. Id. ibid.

had,

had, at that time, only one son, whose unhealthy infancy rendered his life precarious, the proposal was rejected; lest the infanta, who might probably become heiress to the Spanish dominions, should carry her right into the house of an enemy. That obstacle, however, was now removed. The king of Spain had got another son, by a second wife, and the queen was again with child. It was therefore agreed, that the Infanta should be given to Lewis XIV. in order to procure peace to the exhausted monarchy; and the better to settle the preliminaries of a treaty, cardinal MaA. D. 1659. zarine and Don Lewis de Haro met on the frontiers of both kingdoms, in the Isle of Pheasants in the Pyrennees. There, after many conferences and much ceremony, all things were adjusted, by the two ministers, to the satisfaction of both parties. Philip agreed to pardon the rebellious Catalans, and Lewis to receive Condé into favour : Spain renounced all pretensions to Alsace; and the long disputed succession of Juliers was granted to the duke of Neuburg' 5.

NOV. 7.

In little more than a year after signing the Pyrenean treaty, died cardinal Mazarine, and left the reins A, D. 1661. of government to Lewis XIV. who had become MARCH 9. impatient of a yoke which he was afraid to shake off. Historians have seldom done justice to the character of this accomplished statesman, whose political caution restrained the vigour of his spirit, and the lustre of whose genius was concealed beneath his profound dissimulation. If his schemes were less comprehensive, or his enterprizes less bold than those of Richelieu, they were less extravagant1. He has been

15. Voltaire, ubi, sup. P. Daniel, tom. v.

16. Voltaire has placed the talents of these two ministers in a just point of view, by applying them to the same object, along with a less worthy associate, in order to make the illustration more perfect. "If, for example,” says he," the subjection of Rochelle had been undertaken by such a genius "as Cæsar Borgia, he would, under the sanction of the most sacred oaths, "have