to the cardinal and
whose means of escape disturbed the repose of the whole court, was
wholly unconscious of the terror he caused at the Palais Royal.

He had found himself so strictly guarded that he soon perceived the
fruitlessness of any attempt at escape. His vengeance, therefore,
consisted in coining curses on the head of Mazarin; he even tried to
make some verses on him, but soon gave up the attempt, for Monsieur de
Beaufort had not only not received from Heaven the gift of versifying,
he had the greatest difficulty in expressing himself in prose.

The duke was the grandson of Henry VI. and Gabrielle d'Estrees--as
good-natured, as brave, as proud, and above all, as Gascon as his
ancestor, but less elaborately educated. After having been for some time
after the death of Louis XIII. the favorite, the confidant, the first
man, in short, at the court, he had been obliged to yield his place to
Mazarin and so became the second in influence and favor; and eventually,
as he was stupid enough to be vexed at this change of position, the
queen had had him arrested and sent to Vincennes in charge of Guitant,
who made his appearance in these pages in the beginning of this history
and whom we shall see again. It is understood, of course, that when we
say "the queen," Mazarin is meant.

During the five years of this seclusion, which would have improved
and matured the intellect of any other man, M. de Beaufort, had he not
affected to brave the cardinal, despise princes, and walk alone without
adherents or disciples, would either have regained his liberty or made
partisans. But these considerations never occurred to the duke and every
day the cardinal received fresh accounts of him which were as unpleasant
as possible to the minister.

After having failed in poetry, Monsieur de Beaufort tried drawing.
He drew portraits, with a piece of coal, of the cardinal; and as his
talents did not enable him to produce a very good likeness, he wrote
under the picture that there might be little doubt regarding the
original: "Portrait of the Illustrious Coxcomb, Mazarin." Monsieur de
Chavigny, the governor of Vincennes, waited upon the duke to request
that he would amuse himself in some other way, or that at all events, if
he drew likenesses, he would not put mottoes underneath them. The next
day the prisoner's room was full of pictures and mottoes. Monsieur
de Beaufort, in common with many other prisoners, was bent upon doing
things that w