received into favour, when they desired it;
for the queen, still terrified at the dangers into which the civil wars
had plunged the State at the commencement of her regency, endeavoured by
lenient measures to conciliate the minds of the people.

[Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III. of Spain, widow of Louis
XIII., to whom she was married in 1615, and mother of Louis XIV.
She died in 1666. Cardinal de Retz speaks of her in the following
terms. "The queen had more than anybody whom I ever knew, of that
sort of wit which was necessary for her not to appear a fool to
those that did not know her. She had in her more of harshness than
haughtiness; more of haughtiness than of greatness; more of outward
appearance than reality; more regard to money than liberality; more
of liberality than of self-interest; more of self-interest than
disinterestedness: she was more tied to persons by habit than by
affection; she had more of insensibility than of cruelty; she had a
better memory for injuries than for benefits; her intention towards
piety was greater than her piety; she had in her more of obstinacy
than of firmness; and more incapacity than of all the rest which I
mentioned before." Memoirs, vol. i., p. 247.]

The policy of the minister was neither sanguinary nor revengeful: his
favourite maxim was rather to appease the minds of the discontented by
lenity, than to have recourse to violent measures; to be content with
losing nothing by the war, without being at the expense of gaining any
advantage from the enemy; to suffer his character to be very severely
handled, provided he could amass much wealth, and to spin out the
minority to the greatest possible extent.

[Cardinal Mazarin, who, during a few of the latter years of his
life, governed France. He died at Vincennes the 9th of March 1661,
aged 59 years, leaving as heir to his name and property the Alarquis
de la Meilleray, who married his niece, and took the title of Duke
of Mazarin. On his death, Louis XIV. and the court appeared in
mourning, an honour not common, though Henry IV. had shewn it to the
memory of Gabrielle d'Estrees. Voltaire, who appears unwilling to
ascribe much ability to the cardinal, takes an opportunity, on
occasion of his death, to make the following observation.
--"We cannot refrain from combating the opinion, which supposes
prodigious abilities, and a genius almost divine,