ed in inducing M. de Savoie to propose to the King, as
compensation for the contested marquisate, the cession of certain towns
and citadels named in a treaty which was signed by the two contracting
parties; and this arrangement had no sooner been concluded than the
court resumed its career of gaiety; nor was it until the 7th of March
that the Duke finally took leave of his royal entertainer, and commenced
his homeward journey.[88]

Meanwhile the Court poets had not been idle; and while the Duke of Savoy
had recognized the supremacy of the favourite by costly gifts, her
favour had been courted by the most popular of those time-serving bards
who were accustomed to make their talents subservient to their
interests; nor is it the least remarkable feature of the age that the
three most fashionable rhymesters in the circles of gallantry were all
ecclesiastics, and that the charms and _virtues_ of Henriette
d'Entragues were celebrated by a cardinal, a bishop, and an abbe![89]

Her most palmy days were, however, at an end, for hitherto she had
reigned undisputed mistress of the King's affections, and she was
henceforward to hold at best a divided sway. On the 5th of May, M.
d'Alincourt arrived at Fontainebleau from Florence, with the
intelligence that, on the 25th of the preceding month, the contract of
marriage between the French monarch and the Princesse Marie de Medicis
had been signed at the Palazzo Pitti, in the presence of Carlo-Antonio
Putei, Archbishop of Pisa, and the Duke of Bracciano; and that the bride
brought as her dowry six hundred thousand crowns, besides jewels and
other ornaments of value. He further stated that a "Te Deum" had been
chanted, both in the Palazzo Pitti and at the church of the Annunciation
at Florence; after which the Princesse Marie, declared Queen of France,
had dined in public, seated under a dais above her uncle; and at the
conclusion of the repast, the Duke of Bracciano had presented the water
to wash her hands, and the Marquis de Sillery, the French Ambassador,
the napkin upon which she wiped them. Having made his report, and
delivered his despatches, M. d'Alincourt placed in the hands of the King
a portrait of Marie richly set in brilliants, which had been entrusted
to him for that purpose; and the lover of Madame de Verneuil found
himself solemnly betrothed.[90]

This fact, however, produced little visible effect upon the Court
circle, and still less upon the King himself; and after ha