s bedside, in order to counteract by his specious arguments and gloomy
prognostics any less violent and criminal decision at which his royal
master might have arrived during the solitude and silence of the night;
and ably did the tempter perform his task. An increase of devotion and
respect was skilfully blended with an apparent anxiety and alarm, which
flattered the self-esteem and vanity of Louis, at the same time that
they renewed all the terrors of the previous evening. His feeble
remonstrances were overruled; his filial misgivings were stifled; and
the favourite at length quitted his presence satisfied that he would not
seek to retract his orders.

The advice of De Luynes was not needed when he implored his Majesty to
observe the greatest circumspection until the important design was
carried out, for, naturally timid and suspicious, Louis was already an
adept in dissimulation; and the idea instantly occurred to him that
should Concini or Leonora once have cause to apprehend that he meditated
their destruction, his own life would pay the forfeit. De Luynes,
however, strange as it may appear, was less discreet, and admitted so
many persons to his confidence that rumours of their peril reached the
ears of the Queen-mother and her favourites; but, unhappily for
themselves, they despised both the King and his minion too much to
attach any importance to the idea of danger from such a quarter.
Satisfied that Louis still pursued his boyish sports, which as a measure
of precaution he had resumed apparently with greater enthusiasm than
ever, and that he could not leave the capital without the express
permission of Marie de Medicis herself, they considered themselves safe;
and thus lulled into a fatal security, took no measures to avert the
impending catastrophe.[277]

The mind is a species of moral daguerreotype; surround it with images of
order, virtue, and beauty, enlighten it by the sun of truth, and every
object will trace itself unerringly upon the surface, remaining
engraven there for ever; but, on the other hand, if the accessories be
evil, it will in like manner become invested with the attributes amid
which it exists, and the luminous spark will be darkened by the
pernicious atoms that have been suffered to collect about it.

Louis XIII of France was at this moment an illustration of the
principle. His boyhood and his youth had alike been familiar only with
intrigue, deception, jealousy, and falsehood. His habits