Finding that they had such supporters, the
Parliament was more than ever determined to make a stand for its
rights--whatever they might be.
The Queen had sent to command the Coadjutor to appease the sedition,
but he had answered that he had made himself so odious by his
exertions of the previous day that he could not undertake what was
desired of him.
The next thing we heard was that the First President, Mathieu Mole,
one of the very best men then living, had gone at the head of sixty-
six Counsellors of Parliament, two and two, to seek an audience of
the Queen. They were followed by a huge multitude, who supposed
Broussel to be still at the Palais Royal.
The Counsellors were admitted, but the Queen was as obdurate as ever.
She told them that they, their wives and children, should answer for
this day's work, and that a hundred thousand armed men should not
force her to give up her will. Then she got up from her chair, went
out of the room, and slammed the door! It is even said that she
talked of hanging a few of the Counsellors from the windows to
intimidate the mob; but Mademoiselle assured me that this was not
true; though M. de Meilleraye actually proposed cutting off
Broussel's head and throwing it out into the street.
The Counsellors were kept waiting two hours in the Great Gallery,
while the mob roared outside, and the Cardinal, the Dukes of Orleans
and Longueville, and other great nobles, argued the matter with the
Queen.
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