After this fatal event, which was as unfortunate for France as
for me, we went to Lyons to give the meeting to the King of Poland,
now Henri III. of France. The new King was as much governed by
Le Guast as ever, and had left this intriguing, mischievous man
behind in France to keep his party together. Through this man's
insinuations he had conceived the most confirmed jealousy of my
brother Alençon. He suspected that I was the bond that connected
the King my husband and my brother, and that, to dissolve their
union, it would be necessary to create a coolness between me and
my husband, and to work up a quarrel of rivalship betwixt them
both by means of Madame de Sauves, whom they both visited. This
abominable plot, which proved the source of so much disquietude
and unhappiness, as well to my brother as myself, was as artfully
conducted as it was wickedly designed.
Many have held that God has great personages more immediately
under his protection, and that minds of superior excellence have
bestowed on them a good genius, or secret intelligencer, to apprise
them of good, or warn them against evil. Of this number I might
reckon the Queen my mother, who has had frequent intimations
of the kind; particularly the very night before the tournament
which proved so fatal to the King my father, she dreamed that she
saw him wounded in the eye, as it really happened; upon which she
awoke, and begged him not to run a course that day, but content
himself with looking on. Fate prevented the nation from enjoying so
much happiness as it would have done had he followed her advice.
Whenever she lost a child, she beheld a bright flame shining before
her, and would immediately cry out, "God save my children!" well
knowing it was the harbinger of the death of some one of them,
which melancholy news was sure to be confirmed very shortly after.
During her very dangerous illness at Metz, where she caught a
pestilential fever, either from the coal fires, or by visiting
some of the nunneries which had been infected, and from which
she was restored to health and to the kingdom through the great
skill and experience of that modern Æsculapius, M. de Castilian her
physician--I say, during that illness, her bed being surrounded by
my brother King Charles, my brother and sister Lorraine, several
members of the Council, besides many ladies and princesses, not
choosing to quit her, though without hopes of her life, she was
heard to cry out, as if she saw the battle of Jarnac: "There!
see how they flee! My son, follow them to victory! Ah, my son
falls! O my God, save him! See there! the Prince de Condé is
dead!" All who were present looked upon these words as proceeding
from her delirium, as she knew that my brother Anjou was on the
point of giving battle, and thought no more of it. On the night
following, M. de Losses brought the news of the battle; and, it
being supposed that she would be pleased to hear of it, she was
awakened, at which she appeared to be angry, saying: "Did I not
know it yesterday?" It was then that those about her recollected
what I have now related, and concluded that it was no delirium,
but one of those revelations made by God to great and illustrious
persons. Ancient history furnishes many examples of the like
kind amongst the pagans, as the apparition of Brutus and many
others, which I shall not mention, it not being my intention to
illustrate these Memoirs with such narratives, but only to relate
the truth, and that with as much expedition as I am able, that
you may be the sooner in possession of my story.
I am far from supposing that I am worthy of these divine admonitions;
nevertheless, I should accuse myself of ingratitude towards my God
for the benefits I have received, which I esteem myself obliged
to acknowledge whilst I live; and I further believe myself bound
to bear testimony of his goodness and power, and the mercies he
hath shown me, so that I can declare no extraordinary accident
ever befell me, whether fortunate or otherwise, but I received
some warning of it, either by dream or in some other way, so
that I may say with the poet--
"De mon bien, ou mon mal,
Mon esprit m'est oracle."
(Whate'er of good or ill befell,
My mind was oracle to tell.)
And of this I had a convincing proof on the arrival of the King
of Poland, when the Queen my mother went to meet him. Amidst
the embraces and compliments of welcome in that warm season,
crowded as we were together and stifling with heat, I found a
universal shivering come over me, which was plainly perceived
by those near me. It was with difficulty I could conceal what
I felt when the King, having saluted the Queen my mother, came
forward to salute me. This secret intimation of what was to happen
thereafter made a strong impression on my mind at the moment, and
I thought of it shortly after, when I discovered that the King
had conceived a hatred of me through the malicious suggestions
of Le Guast, who had made him believe, since the King's death,
that I espoused my brother Alençon's party during his absence,
and cemented a friendship betwixt the King my husband and him.