he best part of the nobility.

Her plan was to marry her daughter to the Prince de Conti and the
young Duc d'Enghien to one of the daughters of the Duke of Orleans.
The contracts were signed and all was in readiness when Mazarin was
exiled, and the following Frondists came into power: the Duke
of Orleans at court, Conde and Turenne at the head of the army,
Chateauneuf in the Cabinet, Mole in Parliament, while Mme. de
Chevreuse and Mme. de Longueville managed to keep harmony among all.
Queen Anne in a short time annulled the marriage contracts; and on the
return of Mazarin, Mme. de Chevreuse took up her work with him, the
cardinal being wise enough to appreciate the fact that she was a
greater force with than against him.

Strange as it may seem, Mme. de Chevreuse in time became the great
acting and controlling force of royalty, winning over the Duke of
Lorraine and becoming a staunch friend to both the regent and the
cardinal; after the death of the latter, she became all-powerful, and
it may be said that she made Colbert what he was. In the fulness of
her power, she gradually retired, having seen, in turn, the passing
away or the fall of Richelieu, Mazarin, Louis XIII., Anne of Austria,
the Queen of England, Chateauneuf, the Duke of Lorraine, her daughter,
and the Marquis de Laigues. She ceased plotting, renounced politics
and intrigues, and retired to the country, where she died in 1679.

Mme. de Chevreuse was undoubtedly one of the most important political
characters of the seventeenth century, just as she was also one of its
greatest beauties--possibly the most seductive and charming woman of
her epoch. A consummate diplomat and an untiring worker, she was at
the head of more intrigues and plots, had more thrilling adventures,
controlled and ruined more men, than any other woman of her century,
if not of all French history. Thinking little of religion, she was
yet in the very midst of the Catholic party; unswerving in her
friendships, she scorned danger, opinion, fortune, for those whom she
loved or whose cause she espoused; an implacable foe, she was the most
dreaded enemy of both Richelieu and Mazarin.

With a remarkable ability for grasping the details of an antagonist's
position she combined all the other qualities of an astute politician;
thus, upon the desired consummation of her plots she brought to bear
a sagacity, finesse, and energy that baffled all her adversaries. With
her, politics became a passion