Amusements of Bassompierre during the winter of 1608--His
gambling-parties--Embarrassment which the fact of having several
love-affairs on his hands simultaneously sometimes occasions
him--Death of Charles III of Lorraine--Bassompierre goes to Nancy
to attend the Duke’s funeral--Gratifying testimony which he
receives during his absence of the esteem in which he is held by
the ladies of the Court of France--“The star of Venus is very much
in the ascendant over him”--Marriage arranged between Marie
d’Entragues and the Comte d’Aché, of Auvergne--The affair is broken
off--Frenzied gambling at the Court: gains of Bassompierre--Secret
visits paid by him and the Duc de Guise to Madame de Verneuil and
Marie d’Entragues at Conflans--Visit of the Duke of Mantua to the
Court of France.
Bassompierre begins his journal for the year 1608 in the following
strain:--
“In the year 1608 I embarked in an affair with a blonde lady. I won
a great deal at play that year, and gave away much at the Foire. We
danced a number of ballets.... I had more mistresses at the Court,
and was on excellent terms with Antragues. M. de Vendôme also
danced a ballet, in which the King would have Cramail, Termes, and
myself, who were called _les dangereux_, assist. We went to dance
it at M. de Montpensier’s, who rose to see it, though he was
dying.”[54]
After Easter the King went to Fontainebleau, where on April 25 the Queen
gave birth to her third son, Gaston, Duc d’Anjou, afterwards Duc
d’Orléans. Bassompierre, however, excused himself from accompanying his
Majesty, apparently on the plea of illness, and remained in Paris,
where, he tells us, he passed his time very agreeably.
“I pretended to be suffering from a weakness of the lungs, so that
no one saw me until midday, when all the Court came to my lodging
to pass the time until nine o’clock in the evening, when I made
believe to retire, on account of my delicate state of health; but
it was to pass the night in good company.”
The “good company” he speaks of was a little coterie of gamblers, “eight
or ten worthy men of the town, and of the Court, M. de Guise, Créquy,
and myself,” who played for tremendously high stakes, since Bassompierre
had considerately introduced amongst them a Portuguese merchant named
Fernandez, who came prepared to make good the losses of those upon whom
Fortune happened to frown, in return for approved security. This kind of
arrangement was so convenient that, when the King returned from
Fontainebleau, he wished to be of the party, which met every day either
at the Louvre, Zamet’s, or the Marquis de Roquelaure’s; and doubtless
the organiser of these _séances_, who appears to have been one of the
luckiest gamblers who ever turned a card or rattled a dice-box, and the
accommodating Fernandez, derived substantial benefits from them.
In July, Queen Marguerite gave a grand _fête_ at the Arsenal, the
principal feature of which was the then fashionable pastime of tilting
at the ring. Bassompierre, of course, attended it, very splendidly
arrayed, but also very reluctantly, since, as he naïvely explains, those
gentlemen who, like himself, had several love-affairs on their hands
simultaneously were often sadly embarrassed at these great assemblies,
since all the ladies whom they professed to adore were sure to be
present, and it was practically impossible to pay sufficient attention
to one without giving umbrage to the others.
“I thought,” he continues, “that I should experience great
difficulty there; but Fortune came to my aid in such fashion that,
without neglecting anyone, I contented all. For, in short, having
stationed myself unintentionally beneath the Queen’s stand, where
Mlle. de Montmorency[55] was sitting, Pérault,[56] who had served
with me in Hungary, insisted on my taking his place; and then, for
the first time, I spoke to her and strove to insinuate myself into
her good graces, little imagining what was to happen later. After
the _fête_ was over, I was delighted to see that I had contented
all the ladies with whom I was on good terms, and that not one of
them had had reason to be jealous of another, a thing which very
rarely happened on such occasions.”
On May 14, 1608, Charles III of Lorraine, who had been in bad health for
some time past, died. Bassompierre went to Nancy to attend his funeral,
and was away three weeks, during which, he tells us, he received the
most gratifying testimony to the esteem in which he was held by the
ladies of the Court of France:--
“It is impossible to describe how much care the ladies took to send
me frequently news of themselves and to despatch couriers to me
with letters and presents. The star of Venus was very much in the
ascendant over me. I returned to Paris, and four ladies in a coach
came beyond Pantin to meet me, making believe that they were merely
taking a drive. They placed me in their coach and brought me to the
Porte de Saint-Honoré, where I remounted my horse to enter Paris.”
On his arrival in the capital, he learned that Marie d’Entragues had
gone, with her mother and Madame de Verneuil, to Malesherbes, to marry a
certain Comte d’Aché, of Auvergne; but, as may be supposed, his other
lady-loves made every effort to console him for his loss, which, in
point of fact, proved to be only a temporary one, since the parties were
unable to agree about the marriage-articles, and the affair was broken
off. In after years Bassompierre had good reason to regret that the
projected marriage had not taken place, in which event he would have
been spared great trouble and expense.
The King, learning that he had returned, wrote telling him to come at
once to Fontainebleau, where the Court was then in residence, and
informing him that, although he had until then been the greatest gambler
in his circle of friends, since his absence in Lorraine a Portuguese
gentleman named Pimentel had appeared upon the scene, who played much
higher than even he did. He must lose no time in redeeming his lost
reputation.
Bassompierre hastened to obey, and plunged once more into this ruinous
amusement--ruinous, that is to say, to others, for, as we know, he was
well able to take care of himself--with all the zest begotten of a three
weeks’ abstinence from the card-table. For, though he had probably
gambled at Nancy, the stakes in vogue there must have seemed a mere
bagatelle compared with those for which Henri IV and his intimates
played.
“We remained some days at Fontainebleau,” he says, “playing the
most frenzied game that I have ever heard of. Not a day passed on
which there were not gains or losses of 20,000 pistoles. The
counters of the least value which were used were for 50 pistoles.
The highest were worth 500 pistoles; so that it was possible to
hold in one’s hand at one time counters to the value of 50,000
pistoles. I won that year there more than 500,000 francs at play,
notwithstanding that I was distracted by a thousand follies of
youth and love. The King returned to Paris, and from there went to
Saint-Germain. Play on the same scale continued, and Pimentel won
more than 200,000 crowns.”
In July, Madame d’Entragues and her two daughters returned from
Malesherbes, and went to stay at Conflans, Madame de Verneuil in one
house, and Madame d’Entragues and Marie in another. Marie, however,
frequently found a pretext for spending the night with her elder sister,
and on these occasions, says Bassompierre, “M. de Guise and I played the
part of knights-errant and went to visit them.” After a short stay at
Conflans, the d’Entragues returned to Paris, where Marie and
Bassompierre had another quarrel--for what reason he does not tell
us--and “he broke entirely with her.” Like the last, however, it would
not appear to have been of long duration.
At the beginning of August, the Duke of Mantua came to the French Court,
where, as the husband of the Queen’s sister, he was magnificently
entertained. His Highness, however, seems to have spent a considerable
part of his visit at the card-tables, for, “being a great gambler, he
was delighted to take part in the high play which went on, which was to
him extraordinary.” When the Duke took his departure, Bassompierre, who
spoke Italian fluently, was deputed to accompany him on his homeward
journey so far as Montargis.