In the year upon which we are now about to enter, the subject of our biography occupies, unfortunately, but a small space, destined as it was to give birth to the most violent and the most dangerous passion of the whole life of Henry IV., and that which left the most indelible stain upon his memory, both as a man and as a monarch.

On the 7th of February the court went into mourning for the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, the uncle of the Queen, to whom she was ardently attached, and all the carnival amusements were consequently suspended; but not before the Queen had resolved upon the performance of the ballet which she had previously refused to sanction, when her royal consort had proposed as one of its performers the Countess de Moret, his late favourite. The rehearsal of this entertainment took place on the 16th of January; and the nymphs of Diana were represented by the twelve reigning beauties of the court, among whom the most lovely was Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency. So extraordinary, indeed, were her personal attractions, combined with a modesty of demeanour more than unusual at the court in that age, that even the most experienced of the great nobles were compelled to confess that they had never heretofore seen any person who could compete with her.