lebeian class, his family have not even a surname. He is the son of
one Pierre, a fisherman, whose humble hut stands yonder beneath the
cliff. But a day will come when that lowly-born lad, joining his
baptismal name to that of the town which sheltered his cradle, will
become Jules de Mazarin, robed in the Roman purple, quartering his
shield with the consular fasces of Julius Caesar, governing France, and
through her preparing and influencing the destinies of entire Europe.

[1] De Retz Memoirs, Petitot Collection.

It was not, however, by easy steps that Richelieu's disciple and
successor obtained a firm grasp of that plenary power which the master
mind of the former had consolidated and long wielded so grandly and
terribly. The Queen herself at the commencement of the Regency had not
yet renounced her former friendships. During a considerable portion of
her married life Anne had impatiently endured the slights and
disparagements to which she was so long subjected, both by her husband
and his Minister. Through engaging in divers dangerous and unsuccessful
enterprises, she had been deprived of all influence, and was a queen
only in name. But, a woman and a Spaniard, she had descended to
dissimulation, and in that "ugly but necessary virtue"[2] made rapid
progress. Up to the time of Richelieu's death she had played a double
game--made partisans in secret, with the object of subverting the
Cardinal's power, whilst feigning the semblance of friendship towards
him, and did not scruple to humiliate herself on occasions, in order to
carry her point. After that great man's decease, through rare patience,
great caution, and a persistent line of conduct, she ultimately attained
that for which she had been willing to make any and every sacrifice--the
Regency. During the King's last illness, the mistrusted Queen and wife
had profited by Mazarin's unhoped-for service, as Prime Minister, in
prevailing over the unwillingness of the dying King to appoint her
custodian of his son, and Regent during his minority. She regarded this,
therefore, as a first and most important service on the part of Mazarin
towards her, and for which she felt proportionately grateful. Such was
the Cardinal's first stepping-stone to the good graces of Anne of
Austria, and his twofold talent both as a laborious and indefatigable
statesman and a consummate courtier, speedily helped to secure for him
her entire confidence. The singular personal resemblance he