A terrible battle in the Faubourg St. Antoine broke Conde's force,
and the remnant was only saved by Mademoiselle's insisting on their
being allowed to pass through Paris. After one ungrateful attempt to
terrify the magistrates into espousing his cause and standing a siege
on his behalf, Conde quitted Paris, and soon after fell ill of a
violent fever.
His party melted away. Mazarin saw that tranquillity might be
restored if he quitted France for a time. The King proclaimed an
amnesty, but with considerable exceptions and no relaxation of his
power; and these terms the Parliament, weary of anarchy, and finding
the nobles had cared merely for their personal hatreds, not for the
public good, were forced to accept.
Conde, on his recovery, left France, and for a time fought against
his country in the ranks of the Spaniards. Beaufort died bravely
fighting against the Turks at Cyprus. Cardinal de Retz was
imprisoned, and Mademoiselle had to retire from Court, while other
less distinguished persons had to undergo the punishment for their
resistance, though, to the credit of the Court party be it spoken,
there were no executions, only imprisonments; and in after years the
Fronde was treated as a brief frenzy, and forgotten.
Perhaps it may be well to explain that Mademoiselle was Anne
Genevieve de Bourbon, daughter of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, by his
first wife, the heiress of the old Bourbon branch of Montpensier.
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