urchased by a promise that the hand of one of the
Princesses of Mantua, niece to the Regent, should be conferred upon his
son; and the brilliant promise of the one marriage caused him to
overlook the probable perils of the other; while the Duc de Bouillon,
although he occasionally declared in the Council that he seriously
apprehended the result of so intimate a connection with Spain, never
remonstrated with any energy against the measure, and was believed by
those who knew him best to have already made his conditions with Philip.
On the departure of the two Princes, Marie urged the Duc de Guise to
afford her his support, together with that of his house, which he did
with a frankness worthy of record, concluding, however, with these
emphatic words: "I have but one favour to request of you, Madame; and
that is, that after this important service your Majesty will not
abandon us, as you have already once done, to the resentment of the
Princes of the Blood." [135]

The Duc d'Epernon, who had left the Court, as elsewhere stated, if not
in actual disgrace, at least mortified and disappointed, was now
recalled; and as his failing was well known, he was received on his
arrival at Fontainebleau with such extraordinary distinction that all
his past grievances were at once forgotten. Sillery, Villeroy, and
Concini overwhelmed him with respect and adulation, and his adherence to
the party of the Regent was consequently purchased before the question
had been mooted in his presence.

Meanwhile the English Ambassador declaimed loudly against the
contemplated alliance, which he declared to be unequivocally
antagonistic to the interests of his sovereign; and his undisguised
indignation so alarmed the Council that it was immediately resolved to
despatch the Duc de Bouillon on an extraordinary embassy to the Court of
London in order to appease the displeasure of James. The minister of the
United Provinces was equally violent in his opposition, and exerted all
his energies to prevent the conclusion of a treaty which he regarded as
fatal to the interests of the republic that he represented, but his
expostulations were disregarded. An envoy was sent to the Hague with
assurances of amity to Prince Maurice and the States-General; and
finally, the Marechal de Schomberg was instructed to visit the several
Protestant Princes of Germany in order to dispel any distrust which they
might feel at the probable results of an alliance so threatening to