she first
attracted the notice of Charles, and that, later, she took up her
residence in Touraine, no doubt gaining her influence over the king at
first by her beauty, which all her contemporaries proclaim, and
afterwards by that mysterious combination of ability and grace, of
intelligence and physical vitality, which held him captive for many
years. During this time she, like a true woman, and no ordinary
place-hunter, made his devotion to her react upon himself, for the
good of his country and to his own honour. She not only counselled him
wisely herself, but persuaded him to surround himself with wise
counsellors.

[38] _Athenaeum_, June 25, 1904.

[39] Du Fresne de Beaucourt, _Hist. de Charles VII_, t. iii.
p. 286.

Of these counsellors, and the able and devoted men who served the king
in divers ways, some few stand out more prominently than the rest,
because of their position of intimacy in the royal circle, and their
special and enduring friendship with Agnes Sorel. Such were Etienne
Chevalier, Treasurer of France; Pierre de Breze, of a noble Angevin
family, and Senechal of Normandy after the expulsion of the English;
and Jacques Coeur, the king's superintendent of Finance, whose house at
Bourges, with its angel-ceiled chapel, still delights the traveller.

Etienne Chevalier was for some time secretary to the king, and after
filling one or two smaller posts connected with finance, was made
Treasurer of France, and member of the Grand Council. In addition to
administrative capacity, he possessed a brilliant intellect and a
great love of art. It is to his initiative that we owe the only
suggestions in portraiture of Agnes Sorel. It was to him also that the
king confided the supervision of the erection of the monuments to her
memory at Jumieges and Loches--Jumieges where she died in 1449, and
where her heart was buried, and Loches her favourite place of sojourn,
and to whose church and chapter she had made large gifts. To Loches
her body was borne in royal splendour, and there laid to rest in the
choir of the church in a simple tomb. We can imagine the loving care
with which Etienne Chevalier watched the sculptor, and possibly even
gave him suggestions, as he fashioned in alabaster her recumbent
effigy representing her with hands clasped as if in prayer, her feet
resting against two lambs, and her head guarded by two angels with
outstretched wings. Perhaps this stone effigy was the one true
portrait