, the
favourite took care that the post should be given to some one else,
although it had been promised to our author by the late monarch. This
disappointment and the continued opposition of Richelieu killed De Thou,
who died in 1617. But the revenge of the minister was unsated. Frederick
Augustus de Thou, the son of the historian, and formerly a _protege_ of
Richelieu, was condemned to death and executed. Enraged by the treatment
which his father had received from the minister, he had turned against his
former patron, and some imprudent letters to the Countess of Chevreuse,
which fell into Richelieu's hands, caused the undying animosity of the
minister, and furnished a pretext for the punishment of his former friend,
and the completion of his vengeance upon the author of _Historia sui
temporis_. Casaubon declares that this history is the greatest work of its
kind which had been published since the Annals of Livy. Chancellor
Hardwicke is said to have been so fond of it as to have resigned his
office and seals on purpose to read it. The book contains some matter
which was written by Camden, and destined for his _Elizabeth_, but erased
by order of the royal censor. Sir Robert Filmer, Camden's friend, states
that the English historian sent all that he was not suffered to print to
his correspondent Thuanus, who printed it all faithfully in his annals
without altering a word.
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