e 27th of March the ex-Queen Marguerite breathed her last, but for
some time previously she had appeared so seldom at Court that her death
did not tend to disturb the gaieties of the royal circle, who had almost
ceased to remember her existence. She had outlived even the reputation
of her vices.

When the Prince de Conde and his faction demanded a meeting of the
States they were far from anticipating its results; the unanimous
loyalty of the deputies having greatly subserved the interests of the
Queen, and thus weakened their own position. Aware too late of the error
which they had committed, they were consequently compelled to seek
elsewhere for support, and it was at length decided that they should
excite the disaffection of the Parliament, by representing that all the
services which its members had rendered to Marie on her assumption of
the regency had been repaid by ingratitude and neglect; and that they no
longer commanded that authority in the Government to which they were
justly entitled. Coupled with these insidious arguments were profuse
offers of assistance to enable them to enforce their rights, and the
object of the faction was at once gained; the ambition and the vanity of
the Parliament being alike engaged in a question which involved their
own influence and importance. Strong in the support of the Princes,
they, however, overacted the part assigned to them, and proceeded so
arrogantly to remonstrate with the sovereign upon what they termed the
abuses of the Government, that the King issued a decree in Council, by
which he abrogated both their own decree and their remonstrances,
declaring that they had exceeded the power accorded to them by the law;
and commanding that those documents should be cancelled, torn from the
registers, and delivered to his Majesty on the receipt of the royal
decree. The Parliament, however, expostulated, and although they were
again commanded to deliver up the obnoxious records, they failed to
obey; and thus, by their determination, overruled the will of the
sovereign.

During this struggle for power the Prince de Conde had absented himself
from Paris, in order to avert any suspicion of connivance; but previous
experience had rendered the Queen distrustful of his movements, and she
was consequently prepared to counteract his subsequent intrigues. The
Council had, accordingly, no sooner annulled the decree of the
Parliament, than she sent to forbid him, in the name of the King,