the hands of Sully.
The bold minister read it, then tore it into fragments. The king,
amazed at such boldness, exclaimed in a passion, "Sir, I believe that
you are mad."

"True, sire, I am," replied Sully; "but would to God that I were the
only madman in France."

But Henry, notwithstanding his anger, could not part from a minister
whose services were so invaluable. He immediately drew up another
promise, which he placed in the hands of the despicable beauty. This
rash and guilty pledge was subsequently the cause of great trouble to
the king.

Henry having obtained a divorce, the nation demanded that he should
form a connection which should produce a suitable heir to inherit the
throne. Thus urged, and as Henrietta did not give birth to the
wished-for son, Henry reluctantly married, in the year 1600, Maria of
Medici, niece of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Maria was a domineering, crafty, ambitious woman, who embittered the
life of the king. She was very jealous, and with reason enough, of the
continued influence of Henrietta; and the palace was the scene of
disgraceful domestic broils. Henry, in one of his letters to Sully,
describes the queen as "terribly robust and healthy." But when she
gave birth to a son who was undeniably heir to the throne, thus
allaying the fears of a disputed succession, the whole nation
rejoiced, and Henry became somewhat reconciled to his unattractive
spouse. The king was exceedingly fond of this child. One day the
Spanish embassador, a dignified Castilian, was rather suddenly ushered
into the royal presence at Fontainebleau. The monarch was on all fours
on the floor, running about the room with the little dauphin on his
back. Raising his eyes, he said to the embassador,

"Are you a father?"

"Yes, sire," was the reply.

"Then I may finish my play," said Henry, and he took another trot
around the room.

Henrietta and her relatives were greatly exasperated that the king did
not fulfill his promise of marriage. The father and daughter, joined
by the Count d'Auvergne, plotted against the king's life. They were
arrested and condemned to death. The king, however, transmuted their
punishment to exile.

One of the grandest schemes of Henry deserves particular mention.
Reflecting deeply upon the wars with which Europe had ever been
desolated, and seeing the occasion for this in the innumerable states
and nations into which Europe was divided, of various degrees of
power, and each struggli