ty and attachment they could severally
rely, and resolve to leave the whole affair totally in his hands,
without aggravating the evil by any personal interference, or even
considering themselves aggrieved by the remedy which he might suggest.

He then offered, should they place sufficient confidence in his own
judgment and affection, to become himself the arbitrator whom he
recommended; and he had no sooner done so than the King eagerly declared
himself ready to comply with his advice, and to sign a pledge to that
effect, but Marie de Medicis, who was as well aware as her royal consort
that the first step adopted by Sully would be the exile of her Italian
followers, was less willing to bind herself by such an engagement, and
she therefore merely remarked that the proposition had come upon her so
suddenly that she must have time to reflect before she thus placed
herself entirely in the hands of a third party. She then, as if anxious
to terminate the discussion, summoned her women, and the Duke, by no
means reluctantly, withdrew.[315]

At this period the King made a journey into Limousin, at the head of a
body of troops, in order to overawe the malcontents in that province;
and while at Orleans he withdrew the seals from Pomponne de Bellievre,
in order to bestow them upon Sillery, the former, however, retaining the
empty title of Chief of the Privy Council. The pretext for this
substitution was the failing health of the Chancellor, but it was
generally attributed to the influence of Madame de Verneuil, in whose
fortunes M. de Sillery had always exhibited as lively an interest as he
had previously done in those of the Duchesse de Beaufort. Let it,
however, have arisen from whatever cause it might, it is certain that
the veteran statesman deeply felt the indignity which had been offered
to him. Thus Bassompierre asserts that when he shortly afterwards
visited M. de Bellievre at Artenay, and that the indignant minister
commented with considerable bitterness upon his recent deprivation, he
vainly endeavoured to reconcile him to the affront by reminding him that
he was still in office, and would preside at all the councils as
chancellor, but Bellievre immediately replied with emphasis: "My friend,
a chancellor without seals is an apothecary without sugar." [316]

On the 10th of February the Queen gave birth to a second daughter[317]
in the palace of the Louvre, to her extreme mortification, the
astrologers whom she had consu