him that I should have been ready at the
first word to show him my acknowledgments were I not persuaded that the
duty of a prisoner to the King did not permit him to explain himself in
anything relating to his release, till his Majesty had been graciously
pleased to grant it him. He understood my meaning, and endeavoured to
persuade me to return a more civil answer to the Cardinal, which I
declined to do.

The Cardinal was so pestered with complaints from Rome, and so disturbed
with the discontent which prevailed in Poitou and Paris, on account of my
imprisonment, that he sent me an offer of my liberty and great
advantages, on condition that I would resign the coadjutorship of Paris.

The solicitations of the chapter of Notre-Dame prevailed on the Court to
consent that one of their body might be always with me, who, though he
came gladly for my sake, fell into a deep melancholy. He could not,
however, be prevailed upon to go out; and being soon after seized with a
fever, he cut his own throat. My uncle dying soon after, possession was
taken of the archbishopric in my name by my proxy, and Tellier, who was
sent to Notre-Dame Church to oppose it on the part of the King, was
mortified with the thunder of my bulls from Rome. The people were
surprised to see all the formalities observed to a nicety, at a juncture
when they thought there was no possibility of observing one. The cures
waxed warmer than ever, and my friends fanned the flame. The Nuncio,
thinking himself slighted by the Court, spoke in dignified terms, and
threatened his censures. A little book was published, showing the
necessity of shutting up the churches, which aroused the Cardinal's
apprehensions, and his apprehensions naturally led him into negotiation.
He amused me with hundreds of fine prospects of church livings,
governments, etc., and of being restored to the good graces of the King
and to the strictest friendship with his Prime Minister.

I had more liberty than before. They always carried me up to the top of
the donjon whenever it was fair overhead; but my friends, who did not
doubt that all the Court wanted was to get some expression from me of my
inclination to resign, in order to discredit me with the public, charged
me to guard warily my words, which advice I followed; so that when a
captain of the Guards came from the King to discourse with me upon this
head, who, by Mazarin's direction, talked to me more like a captain of
the Janissaries than