ly disinterested, that in the midst
of all the cupidity which at that period disgraced the Court of France,
after having been fifty-one years in office, he died with the mere
addition of two thousand livres _per annum_ to his patrimonial
income.[317]

In order to enlist popular opinion in his favour, De Luynes had, as we
have seen, induced the King to recall the old ministers to power; and
the people, still remembering the wisdom which they had displayed during
their administration, welcomed with joy the reappearance of Sillery,
Villeroy, and Jeannin in the Council; but although the favourite
ostensibly recognized their privileges, he was far from intending to
permit their interference with his own interests;[318] and so thoroughly
did he enslave the mind of the young King, that while Louis, like a
schoolboy who had played truant, and who was resolved to enjoy his
new-found liberty to the uttermost, was constantly changing his place of
abode, and visiting in turn St. Germain, Fontainebleau,
Villers-Cotterets, and Monceaux, without one care save the mere
amusement of the hour, De Luynes was multiplying his precautions to
prevent a reconciliation between the mother and the son; an event which
must, as he believed, whenever it should occur, prove the ruin of his
own fortunes. For this purpose, so soon as he saw a cloud upon the brow
of the royal stripling, he hastened to devise for him some new and
exciting pursuit, which might tend to deaden his remorse for the past,
and to render him more conscious of the value of that moral emancipation
which he had purchased at so fearful a price; but ere long even this
subtle policy failed to dissipate the apprehensions of the favourite.
Like all persons who occupy a false position of which they fully
appreciate the uncertain tenure, he became suspicious of all around him;
and would not allow any individual, whatever might be his rank, to
approach the King without his knowledge, nor to attempt to converse with
him in private. Thus, therefore, while Louis fondly believed that he had
indeed become a monarch in fact as well as name, he was in reality more
enslaved than ever.

Enriched by the spoils of Concini and his wife, De Luynes next caused
himself to be appointed lieutenant of the King in Normandy; and this was
no sooner done than he entered into a negotiation for one of the
principal governments in the kingdom. He appeared suddenly to have
forgotten that one of the most cogent re