s;[94] while he flattered the ambition of the war-loving
monarch by attributing to him personally all the success which attended
his own measures alike in the foreign and civil contests which were at
that period writing the history of the French nation in characters
of blood.

[Illustration: THE CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU.]

Marie de Medicis was, however, slow to discover the falling-off of her
long-cherished favourite. She still dwelt upon the years in which he
had, as she fondly believed, devoted himself to her interests, when
others in whom she had equally trusted had shrunk from all participation
in her altered fortunes; and she was, moreover, conscious that to his
counsels she was indebted for much of the prudence and ability which she
had displayed on occasions of difficulty. It was, consequently, painful
and almost impossible to suspect that now, when she was once more
restored to the confidence of her son, and had resumed that position in
the government which she had so long coveted in vain, he could sacrifice
her to his own ambition. But Marie de Medicis, subtle politician as
she esteemed herself, was utterly incapable of appreciating the
character of Richelieu. She had now reached her fifty-third year; she
was no longer necessary to the fortunes of the man whose greatness had
been her own work, and she had ceased to interest him either as a woman
or as a Queen. She had, moreover, become devout; and her increasing
attachment for the Jesuit Berulle (for whom she subsequently obtained a
seat in the Conclave) rendered her less observant of the neglect to
which she was subjected by the minister; while her superstition,
together with the prejudices and jealousies in which she indulged,
occupied her mind, and blinded her to the efforts which the Cardinal was
hourly making to reduce her to absolute insignificance.

Perhaps no greater proof of the unbounded influence which Richelieu had
obtained over the mind of the King at this period can be adduced than is
afforded by the fact that although, as we have shown, Louis had
stringently forbidden all further mention of his brother's marriage with
Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and Gaston had at length consented to
relinquish his claim to her hand, the Cardinal found little difficulty
in inducing the sovereign to rescind this order, and to instruct M.
d'Ornano to determine the weak and timid Prince to renew his addresses
to the heiress, and to hasten the completion of the marria