here, if ſhe had commanded me to kill you, I would have ſheath'd this Blade in your heart." Father Canaye, ſurpriz'd at this discourse, but more frighted at this ſudden tranſport, had immediate recourſe to his mental Devotion, and ſecretly pray'd to his Maker, that he would deliver him from the danger wherein he found himſelf. But not truſting altogether to Prayer, he inſenſibly got out of the Mareſchal's reach, by an unperceivable motion of his Buttocks. The Mareſchal kept ſtill within Arms-length of him, by the ſame motion, with the Knife lifted up, ſo that one would have ſworn, that he was going to put the Lady's order in execution.
My ill nature made me take pleaſure, for a while, in the fright of our reverend ſpark; but fearing, at length, that the Mareſchal, in his paſſion, might render that ſcene melancholy, which was before pleaſant; I put him in mind that Madam de Montbazon[1] was dead; and told him, That it was Father Canaye's good fortune, that he had nothing to fear from a perſon that was no more.
"God does every thing for the beſt, replied the Mareſchal: the faireſt Woman in the World[2] began to be troubleſome to me, when she kick'd up her heels and died. She had always at her tail one Abbot de Rancé[3] who diſcours'd
- ↑ The Dutcheſs of Montbazon, Daughter to Count de Vertus, was then ſtill alive; for ſhe died in the year 1657. M. de St. Evremond was not ignorant of it, but he thought that this Anachroniſm might be eaſily forgiven him, conſidering it was difficult otherwiſe to recover Father Canaye from the fright he was in.
- ↑ Thus the Mareſchal d'Hocquincourt called Madam de Montbazon.
- ↑ Armand John Baptiſt de Rancé, ſo famous afterwards under the name of the Abbot de la Trappe, was one of the Dutcheſs of Montbazon's Lovers: and let his Panegyriſts ſay what they pleaſe, 'tis certain, that the ſudden and unexpected death of that
