I always thought that this unfashionable sort of worship was confined to
some obscure fanatical sects in the East, and was not prepared to find
an apparent record of its having been practised, amidst the frivolities
and plotting of the French Court, by no less celebrated a lady than
Catharine de Medicis. In the _Secret History of France for the Last
Century_ (London, printed for A. Bell, at the Cross Keys in Cornwel,
(_sic._) &c. 1714), I find such an odious charge advanced. I do not draw
attention to it with the slightest shadow of belief in a story so
ridiculous and incredible; but to ask, whether there existed any
foundation for the following statement regarding the "steel box," and if
so, what were its contents?
"In the first Civil War, when the Prince of _Conde_ was in all
appearance likely to prevail, and _Katherine_ was thought to be
very near the End of her much desir'd Regency, during the Young
King's Minority, she was known to have been for Two days together,
retir'd to her Closet, without admitting her menial Servants to
her Presence. Some few Days after, having call'd for Monsieur _De
Mesme_, one of the Long Robe, and always firm to her Interest, she
deliver'd him a Steel Box fast lock'd, to whom she said, giving
him the Key, _That in respect she knew not what might come to be
her Fortune, amidst those intestine Broils that then shook_
France, _she had thought fit to inclose a thing of great Value
within that Box, which she consign'd to his Care, not to open it
upon Oath, but by an Express Order under her own Hand._ The Queen
Dying, without ever calling for the Box, it continued many Years
unopen'd in the Family of _De Mesme_, after both their Deaths,
till at last Curiosity, or the Suspicion of some Treasure from the
heaviness of it, tempted Monsieur _De Mesme's_ Successor to break
it open, which he did. Instead of any Rich Present from so great a
Queen, what Horror must the Lookers on have, when they found a
Copper Plate of the Form and Bigness of one of the Ancient _Roman_
Votive Shields, on which was Engraven _Queen_ Katherine de Medicis
_on her Knees, in a Praying Posture, offering up to the Devil
sitting upon a Throne, in one of the ugliest Shapes they use to
Paint him,_ Charles the IXth. _then Reigning, the Duke of_ Anjou,
_afterwards_ Henry _the_ IIId., and _the Duke of_ Alanson, _her
Three sons, with this Motto in_ French, _So be it, I but Reign._
This very Plate continues yet in the Custody of the House of
_Mesme_, of which Monsieur _D'Avaux_, so famous for his Ambassies,
was a Branch, and was not only acknowledged by him to be so, when
Ambassador in _Holland_, but he was also pleas'd at that time, to
promise a Great Man in _England_, a Copy of it; which is a
Terrible Instance of the Power of Ambition in the Minds of
_French_ Princes, and to what Divinity, if one dares give the
Devil that name, even in Irony, they are ready to pay their
adoration, rather than part with their hopes of Empire."--Pp. 6,
7.