from their allegiance to the King adherents who were attached to him by
love alone, and whose coronets contained as many diamonds as his own
locked-up crown. It is also certain that ambition could not then attack
all classes, since such expenses could come only from rich hands, and
since gold comes only from mines. Those great houses, which are being so
furiously assailed, were not ambitious, and frequently, desiring no
employment from the Government, maintained their places at court by their
own weight, existed upon their own foundation, and might say, as one of
them did say, 'The Prince condescends not; I am Rohan.' It was the same
with every noble family, to which its own nobility sufficed; the King
himself expressed it in writing to one of my friends: 'Money is not a
common thing between gentlemen like you and me.'"

"But, Monsieur le Marechal," coldly, and with extreme politeness,
interrupted M. de Launay, who perhaps intended to anger him, "this
independence has produced as many civil wars and revolts as those of
Monsieur de Montmorency."

"Monsieur! I can not consent to hear these things spoken," said the
fiery Marechal, leaping up in his armchair. "Those revolts and wars had
nothing to do with the fundamental laws of the State, and could no more
have overturned the throne than a duel could have done so. Of all the
great party-chiefs, there was not one who would not have laid his victory
at the feet of the King, had he succeeded, knowing well that all the
other lords who were as great as himself would have abandoned the enemy
of the legitimate sovereign. Arms were taken against a faction, and not
against the sovereign authority; and, this destroyed, everything went on
again in the old way. But what have you done in crushing us? You have
crushed the arm of the throne, and have not put anything in its place.
Yes, I no longer doubt that the Cardinal-Duke will wholly accomplish his