nce in person, by acting with his customary vigour, and the obstinate
ardour of his country and race. It was he who, on the night of the
battle of Bleneau, brought reinforcements to Turenne, and enabled him to
stop Conde. It was he, again, who, on the 2nd of July, 1652, to let
Mazarin see that he had gained him for good and all, joined with the
Cardinal in pressing Turenne, against all the rules of war, not to wait
the coming up of the troops of La Ferte-Senneterre. A truthful witness,
and one of the principal actors in that sanguinary drama, Navailles,
even affirms that the Duke de Bouillon took part in the affair, and
that he was at the attack in which Saint-Megrin perished. If Bouillon
had lived, with his immeasurable ambition and his capacity equalling his
ambition, would he have been contented with the second rank, and would
he always have remained the devoted servant of the Cardinal?

None can say: for the Duke de Bouillon was cut short in his ambitious
career; he died on the 9th of August, 1652, without having enjoyed those
possessions and those honours which he had so greatly coveted; but ere
closing his eyes he saw them pass to his children. Turenne, carefully
conciliated and caressed, was made, on his brother's death, governor of
Auvergne, and the viscounty of Turenne erected into a principalty. Very
shortly afterwards he also received the post of minister of state.
Mazarin went even still further: desirous of heaping up benefits upon
the illustrious soldier whose honesty and ambition he had so long known,
desirous at the same time to attach in his person all the Protestant
party by decisive acts, which would show in a conspicuous manner that
whosoever should serve him well would be faithfully recompensed, without
distinction of religion, the skilful and politic Cardinal made the Duke
de la Force, a Protestant and the father-in-law of Turenne, Marshal of
France, as his father had been. Thus, on the 3rd of February, 1653,
Turenne was likewise at the Louvre at Mazarin's side, as the
representative of all his family, and already occupied with preparation
for the campaign that was about to open in the spring in the
Netherlands, and where he was to take command of the French army.

But if Mazarin had taken care to win over successively those chiefs of
the Importants and the Frondeurs in whom his experienced eye had
recognised as sincerely disposed to a loyal submission, he had this time
taken care not to allow hims