Chapter V

Bassompierre goes to Prague, where the Imperial Court is in residence--He is presented by Rossworm to the lords of the Council--He dines at the house of Prestowitz, Burgrave of Karlstein, and falls in love with his widowed daughter, “Madame Esther”--Bassompierre and Rossworm engage in an amorous adventure, from which they narrowly escape with their lives--Bassompierre plays tennis with Wallenstein, with the Emperor Maximilian an interested spectator--He is presented to the Emperor, who receives him very graciously and commissions him to raise troops in Lorraine for service against the Turks--Bassompierre, Rossworm and other nobles parade the streets masked and have an affray with the police--Singular sequel to this affair--Bassompierre spends the Carnival with the Prestowitz family at Karlstein--Amorous escapade with “Madame Esther”--Bassompierre sets out for Lorraine--He engages in a drinking-bout with the canons of Saverne which very nearly has a fatal termination--Death of his brother Jean, Seigneur de Removille, at the siege of Ostend--Grievances of Bassompierre against the French Government--Henri IV promises that “justice shall be done him” and invites him to return to his Court--Bassompierre renounces his intention of entering the Imperial service and sets out for France.....pp. 50-63

CHAPTER VI

Bassompierre arrives at Fontainebleau and is most graciously received by Henri IV--He falls in love with Marie d’Entragues, sister of the King’s mistress--The conspiracy of the d’Entragues--The Sieur d’Entragues and the Comte d’Auvergne are arrested and conveyed to the Bastille, and Madame de Verneuil kept a prisoner in her own house--Jacqueline de Bueil temporarily replaces Madame de Verneuil in the royal affections--The King, unable to do without the latter, sets her and her father at liberty--Bassompierre becomes the lover of Marie d’Entragues--He is dangerously wounded by the Duc de Guise in a tournament, and his life is at first despaired of--He recovers--Attentions which he receives during his illness from the ladies of the Court.....pp. 64-70

CHAPTER VII

Quarrel between Bassompierre and the Marquis de Cœuvres--Bassompierre sends his cousin the Sieur de Créquy to challenge the marquis to a duel--The King sends for the two nobles and orders them to be reconciled in his presence--Bassompierre and Créquy are forbidden to appear at Court, but are soon pardoned--Visit of Bassompierre to Plombières--He returns to Paris, and “breaks entirely” with Marie d’Entragues--The Chancellor, Pomponne de Bellièvre, ordered to resign the Seals--His conversation with Bassompierre at Artenay--Bassompierre wins more than 100,000 francs at play--He is reconciled with Marie d’Entragues--He joins Henri IV at Sedan--The adventure of the King’s love-letter--Henri IV gives orders that a watch shall be kept on Marie d’Entragues’s house to ascertain if Bassompierre is secretly visiting that lady--A comedy of errors--Madame d’Entragues surprises her daughter and Bassompierre.....pp. 71-86

CHAPTER VIII

A strange adventure--Bassompierre sent as Ambassador Extraordinary to Lorraine to represent Henri IV at the marriage of the Duke of Bar and Margherita di Gonzaga--He returns to Paris and orders a gorgeous suit, which is to cost fourteen thousand crowns, for the baptism of the Dauphin and Madame Élisabeth, though he has only seven hundred in his purse--He wins enough at play to pay for it--Charles III of Lorraine writes to request his presence at the Estates of Lorraine--Henri IV refuses him permission to leave France, but he sets out notwithstanding this--He is arrested by the King’s orders at Meaux, but set at liberty on his promising to return to Court--He is allowed to leave for Lorraine a few days later--Affair of the Prince de Joinville and Madame de Moret.....pp. 87-94

CHAPTER IX

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.....pp. 95-99