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

XX
BALCARRES PAPERS
by the Duchess, who mentioned Madame de Parrois as the
Queen’s governess, with no word of the departure of Lady
Fleming or of its cause, the attempt by Montmorency 1 to
substitute the Scotswoman for the Duchess of Valentinois
in the favour of Henri n. A letter of Catherine de’ Medici2
to the Duchess of Guise, of the 18th April 1551, gives the
time of Lady Fleming’s departure from Court, to obtain
which the Queen and the mistress had joined forces :
‘ The Countess took leave of me yesterday, but slept in
this town at night without presenting herself before
Madame de Valentinois or me.’ The change was satis¬
factory, but not for long.
The Dowager Duchess wrote also of her intentions to
instruct the little Queen in her duties. At the end of the
letter was a suggestion that Marie de Lorraine, having
reduced the kingdom of Scotland to such order that the
French King might easily keep it for her daughter, should
return to France and rest from her labours. The Duchess’s
remark is a fair statement of what the Scots had to fear
from French influence. It is evident that the old Duchess
took much interest in her grand-daughter’s welfare, and
supplied details which might otherwise have been passed
over. At first she approved the appointment of Madame
de Parrois and considered her a suitable guardian of the
child ; she also concerned herself 3 with the moral welfare
of the little Queen, and wrote on one occasion that she
would not spare trouble to teach her to serve God well and
live virtuously, knowing that such instruction was what
her daughter most desired, adding ‘ Dieu y veuille mestre
ce qui est bon pour son salut.’ Whether it was wholly
due to her grandmother’s teaching or not, the Cardinal 4
reported that his niece was ‘ tr£s devote.’ The Dowager
1 Lavisse, vol. v. ; Baschet, p. 440.
2 Lettres de Catherine de Mtdicis (Textes inedits), p. 39.
3 Letter CXXVI. 4 Letter CLXXXIII.