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126 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. Mi'iic Leonora Galigai, who had unlimited power over the weak and foolish queen. Trusty old Sully saw the treasure which he had gathered for his master lavished on these unworthy favourites, and he- was treated with neglect bordering on insolence. The war was abandoned, and an alliance was sought with Spain, and strengthened by a contract of marriage for the young king and his sister with the two eldest children of Philip III. The Princt of Conde returned, and there was a constant rivalry between him and the Duke of Guise ; but they were as inferior to their grandfathers in spirit and purpose as the present Florentine regent was to Catharine in talent and strength of will. Every office in Church or State could be bought by bribes to Madame d'Ancre, and her husband's magnificence was intolerable to the proud old nobility, while the king, naturally a dull and backward boy, was purposely under-educated that their power might the longer endure. 24. The States-General, 1614. — The king was declared of age at fourteen on the 2nd of October, 1614, and three weeks afterwards a meeting of the States- General took place. In the last reign a financier named Patilct had increased the revenue by allowing magistrates to purchase the succession to their offices for their families. This right was called la Paulette, and the nobles demanded both its abolition and their own continued exemption from ta.xation. On the other hand, the TJiird Estate or commons, consisting of deputies from the towns, demanded to have the taxes reduced by one quarter, and also a suspension of pensions. Every noble in office about the court had a pension paid out of the taxes, and since the death of Henry IV. the number of these had been doubled. Thus the burghers and peasants paid to feed the luxury of the nobles, who were never taxed at all, and whose exemption belonged not only to the head of each family, but to every branch to the remotest genera- tion. When tlic brave Auvergnat deputy Savaron warned the nobility to their faces of the consequences of such oppression, such an uproar at his insolence arose that the clergy interfered and he made a sort of apology. Still the burgher deputies demanded some account of the ex- penditure of the sums they paid ; but the clergy were the first to exclaim that this would be opening the forbidden sanctuary to the people. After three months' debate, weary of the strife, the nobles and clergy promised tha-t