CHAPTER IX.
1610 Preparations for the coronation of Marie de Medicis--Wherefore deferred--They are resumed--The Cathedral of St.Denis---Gorgeous _coup d'oeil_--The procession--Indignation of the ex-Queen Marguerite--The Comte and Comtesse de Soissons leave Paris--Magnificence of Marie de Medicis and her Court--The coronation--The Queen is affectionately received by the King on reaching the Palace--The banquet--The Court returns to the Louvre--Last advice given by the King to the Queen-Regent--Gloomy forebodings--The Queen's toilet--The Duc de Vendome and the Astrologer--The King's coach--Assassination of Henri IV--The Queen and the Chancellor--The royal children are placed under the care of M.de Vitry--Examination of the royal body--The King's heart--The state bier--The royal funeral.
Having resolved that the coronation of the Queen should take place before his departure for Germany, and being anxious to commence the projected campaign with the least possible delay, Henry named the 5th of May as the day on which the ceremony was to be performed; but having learnt from a private despatch that the Archduke had resolved at the eleventh hour not to incur the hazard of a war with France upon so frivolous a pretext as the forcible retention of a Princess, who moreover, remained under his charge against her own free will, and that Madame de Conde was accordingly about to return to the French Court, he resolved to defer the pageant until the advent of the fair fugitive who would, as he felt, constitute its brightest ornament.

The succeeding courier from the Low Countries, however, dispelled this brilliant vision.

Whatever might have been the personal inclination of the Archduke, Philip of Spain determined to retain his hostage; and the return of the Princess to France was interdicted.

Enraged by the deceit which had been practised upon him, but unwilling to forfeit his word to the Queen, Henry had no alternative save to order the instant renewal of the preparations which he had himself suspended; and despite the entreaties of the municipal authorities of Paris, who represented the impossibility of completing their arrangements before the end of the month, he persisted in his resolution of causing the Queen to be crowned on the 13th, and commanded her public entry into Paris for the following Sunday.[1] On the 11th (Tuesday) he said to those around him, "I shall sleep at St.
Denis to-morrow night, and return to Paris on Thursday; I shall arrange all my private affairs on Friday; on Saturday I shall drive about the city; Sunday will be the state entry of the Queen; on Monday my daughter De Vendome will be married; on Tuesday the banquet will take place; and on Wednesday I mount for Germany." [2] The Court accordingly slept at St.Denis on the night of the 12th, in order to be in readiness for the ceremony of the morrow; and the morning of the eventful day which was to witness the crowning triumph of Marie de Medicis at length dawned.

A brilliant spring sun robed the earth in brightness; but nowhere did it light up a scene of greater magnificence than when, filtered through the windows of stained glass, it poured itself in a living mosaic over the marble pavement of the cathedral, and flashed upon the sumptuous hangings and golden draperies which were distributed over the spacious area of the edifice.