Series 3 > Foreign correspondence with Marie de Lorraine, Queen of Scotland, from the originals in the Balcarres papers > Volume 7

INTRODUCTION
xiii
references to him 1 told how he had been with the King at
Turin and had been sent back to France to accompany
the Duchess Antoinette when she met Mary Stuart. To
him, as a courtier, she would commend Lady Fleming’s
son, for whom, she assured her daughter, he would do all
he could, ‘ according to his power which is not yet as great
as his goodwill.’ In another letter of the same time the
Duchess 2 assured his mother of his good looks. Francois
himself wrote to her a few days before the King’s first
meeting with the little Queen of Scots : ‘ Madame, I have
not yet been able to inform you sooner of the condition of
the Queen my sister, whose health is as good, praise God,
as you could desire. . . . She will soon see the King in this
place of Saint Germain, which will be a very great pleasure
to him (or her), as it will be to me all my life to do her
service.’ The pronouns leave room for doubt whether the
pleasure was to be Mary’s or the King’s, but there is no
doubt as to the Duke’s welcome of his half-sister. The
letter3 which recounts his uncle’s wedding ended with
reported praise of her : ‘ The little Queen of Scots is
thought so very pretty by this company that the King is
well content ’ ; also he intended to serve her everywhere
as best he could.
In January 1548-9, he begged 4 the Queen to help him
obtain from the King a company of fifty men-at-arms,
by writing a letter on his behalf ‘ the most gracious and
affectionate that you can.’ The rest of this letter was in
answer to one which he had received from his mother in
which she had given him advice as to his conduct on
reaching ‘ the age of reason ’ ; he assured her that he would
learn and practise it diligently. His governor, M. de la
Brousse,5 wrote to the Queen Dowager of the proposal to
give the Duke ten men-at-arms in the next tournament;
2 Letter VII.
6 Letter XXII.
1 Letter V.
4 Letter XVI.
3 Letter XIII.