men and animals, were clad and caparisoned in scarlet velvet and
cloth of silver. The number of spectators, exclusive of the Court and
the armed guards, was estimated at ten thousand; and from nine in the
morning until six in the evening the lists were constantly occupied.
Salvos of artillery, fireworks, and allegorical processions succeeded;
and the populace, delighted by "the glorious three days" of revel and
relaxation thus provided for them, forgot for the time to murmur at an
outlay which threatened them with increased exactions.

At the termination of this carousal, which was followed by balls,
banquets, and tiltings at the ring, the Court removed to Fontainebleau;
where their Majesties shortly afterwards received the Marquis de
Spinola, the Comte de Buquoy,[141] and Don Rodrigo Calderon,[142] who
were entertained with great magnificence, and lodged in the house of
Bassompierre.[143] At this period, indeed, everything sufficed as a
pretext for splendour and display; as Marie de Medicis especially
delighted to exhibit the brilliancy of her Court to the subjects of the
nation with which she was about to become so intimately allied. In this
endeavour she was ably seconded by the Guises and the Duc d'Epernon,
who, since the departure of the two Princes, had shared her intimacy
with the Marquis d'Ancre and his wife; while a new candidate for her
favour had moreover presented himself in the person of the young and
handsome Chevalier de Guise, the brother of the Duke,[144] who at this
time first appeared at Court, where he had the honour of waiting upon
her Majesty at table whenever she was the guest of the Duchess his
mother, or the Princesse de Conti his sister. His youth, high spirit,
inexhaustible gaiety, and extraordinary personal beauty rendered him
peculiarly agreeable to Marie, who displayed towards him a condescending
kindness which was soon construed by the Court gossips into a
warmer feeling.

Concini immediately took the alarm, and hastened to confide his
apprehensions to the ministers, whom he knew to be as anxious as himself
to undermine the influence of the Duc d'Epernon and the formidable
family to which he had allied his interests. In ridding themselves, by
neglect and disrespect, of the Princes of the Blood, the discomfited
confederates had anticipated undivided sway over the mind and measures
of the Regent; and their mortification was consequently intense when
they discovered that she had unreservedly