interest with the King her brother; and her authority was so
great, that the King, on concluding the peace, consented to
restore Piemont, in order to marry her with the Duke of Savoy.
Though she had always had a disposition to marry, yet would she
never accept of anything beneath a sovereign, and for this reason
she refused the King of Navarre, when he was Duke of Vendome, and
always had a liking for the Duke of Savoy; which inclination for
him she had preserved ever since she saw him at Nice, at the
interview between Francis I, and Pope Paul III. As she had a
great deal of wit, and a fine taste of polite learning, men of
ingenuity were always about her, and at certain times the whole
Court resorted to her apartments.

The Prince of Cleves went there according to his custom; he was
so touched with the wit and beauty of Mademoiselle de Chartres,
that he could talk of nothing else; he related his adventure
aloud, and was never tired with the praises of this lady, whom he
had seen, but did not know; Madame told him, that there was
nobody like her he described, and that if there were, she would
be known by the whole world. Madam de Dampiere, one of the
Princess's ladies of honour, and a friend of Madam de Chartres,
overhearing the conversation, came up to her Highness, and
whispered her in the ear, that it was certainly Mademoiselle de
Chartres whom the Prince had seen. Madame, returning to her
discourse with the Prince, told him, if he would give her his
company again the next morning, he should see the beauty he was
so much touched with. Accordingly Mademoiselle de Chartres came
the next day to Court, and was received by both Queens in the
most obliging manner that can be imagined, and with such
admiration by everybody else, that nothing was to be heard at