He had, nevertheless, had her coronation solemnized, and had provided by anticipation for the necessities of government.

On the king's death, and at the imperious instance of the Duke of Epernon, who at once introduced the queen, and said in open session, as he exhibited his sword, "It is as yet in the scabbard; but it will have to leap therefrom unless this moment there be granted to the queen a title which is her due according to the order of nature and of justice," the Parliament forthwith declared Mary regent of, the kingdom.

Thanks to Sully's firm administration, there were, after the ordinary annual expenses were paid, at that time in the vaults of the Bastille or in securities easily realizable, forty-one million three hundred and forty-five thousand livres, and there was nothing to suggest that extraordinary and urgent expenses would come to curtail this substantial reserve.

The army was disbanded, and reduced to from twelve to fifteen thousand men, French or Swiss.

For a long time past no power in France had, at its accession, possessed so much material strength and so much moral authority.
[Illustration: Concini, Leonora Galigai, and Mary de' Medici----149] But Mary de' Medici had, in her household and in her court, the wherewithal to rapidly dissipate this double treasure.