A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Foix, Margaret de, Duchess d'Epernon
FOIX, MARGARET DE, DUCHESS D'EPERNON.
In 1588, the chief of the league, wishing to rain the duke, rendered him an object of suspicion at court, and obtained an order to take from him the castle of Angouleme, of which he was governor. The magistrate charged with the execution of this act seized the duchess, and conducted her to the principal gate of the citadel, in order that her danger might induce the duke to submit. In this situation, one of the officers by whom the duchess was led was killed at her feet, and another mortally wounded. Calm amidst the dangers which menaced her, and insensible to the remonstrances of the enemy, who urged her to exhort her husband to surrender, she replied, magnanimously, that she knew not how to give ill counsel; nor would she enter into a treaty with murderers. "In what terms," said she "can a wife, who is afflicted only that she has but one life to offer for the honour and safety of her husband, persuade him to an act of cowardice?" She went on to declare, that she would shed, with joy, the last drop of her blood to add new lustre to the reputation of her husband; or to lengthen his existence but a single day; that she would be guilty of no weakness that would disgrace him; and that she would die with pleasure at the castle-gate for him, without whom she would abhor life even on a throne.
To the duke, whom they endeavoured to terrify by the danger which threatened his wife, she held out her arms, and implored him not to suffer his resolution to be shaken by any considerations which respected her safety. It was her wish, she told him, that her body might serve him for a new rampart against his enemies. On him, she declared, in whom alone she lived, depended her fortune and her fate. That by sacrificing himself he would gain no advantage, since she was determined not to survive him; but that to live in his remembrance would, in despite of their adversaries, constitute her happiness and her glory.
The grace and energy with which she expressed herself, softened the hearts of the enemy, who deliberated on other means by which their purpose might be effected. In the interval the duke was relieved by his Mends; when the duchess, impatient to rejoin this beloved husband, of whom she had proved herself so worthy, without waiting till the castle-gate was cleared, entered by a ladder at one of the windows, and was received with the honours and tenderness she merited.