Those were stirring days in France. Anne of Austria, then in her
maturity, was governed by Mazarin, the most artful of ministers, an
Italian to the very heart's core, with a love of amassing wealth
engrafted in his supple nature that amounted to a monomania. The whole
aim of his life was gain. Though gaming was at its height, Mazarin never
played for amusement; he played to enrich himself; and when he played,
he cheated.
The Chevalier de Grammont was now rich, and Mazarin worshipped the rich.
He was witty; and his wit soon procured him admission into the clique
whom the wily Mazarin collected around him in Paris. Whatever were De
Grammont's faults, he soon perceived those of Mazarin; he detected, and
he detested, the wily, grasping, serpent-like attributes of the Italian;
he attacked him on every occasion on which a 'wit combat' was possible:
he gracefully showed Mazarin off in his true colours. With ease he
annihilated him, metaphorically, at his own table. Yet De Grammont had
something to atone for: he had been the adherent and companion in arms
of Conde; he had followed that hero to Sens, to Nordlingen, to Fribourg,
and had returned to his allegiance to the young king, Louis XIV.
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