The Queen spared no pains to read anything which struck her fancy.  On one occasion I saw her embarking at Blaye on her way to dine at Bourg, and occupying the whole journey by reading from a parchment, like some reporter or lawyer, a deposition made by Derdois, favourite secretary of the late M. le Connetable, concerning certain actions and information of which he had been accused and for which imprisoned at Bayonne.  She never lifted her eyes until she had finished reading the whole thing, and there were more than ten pages of it.  When she was not prevented she herself read all letters of importance addressed to her, and often wrote the reply with her own hand, whether to the most exalted or insignificant person.  I saw her once, after dinner, indite twenty such letters of considerable length.

She wrote and spoke French very well, although an Italian.  She even addressed those of her own nation often in French, so much did she honour it, making special effort to exhibit its fine diction to strangers and ambassadors who came to pay her their respects after seeing the King.  She would reply to them very pertinently, with grace and dignity, just as I have heard her speak to the courts of parliament both publicly and privately; often keeping them well in hand when they were extravagant or over-cautious, and did not wish to yield to the royal edicts or to the wishes of the King or herself.  You may be sure that she spoke as a Queen and made herself feared as such.  I saw her once at Bordeaux when she took her daughter, the Queen of Navarre, to her husband.  She had commanded the Court to come with her and spoke urgently on the subject to these gentlemen, who did not wish to abolish a certain fraternity which they had founded and adhered to, and which she wished to dissolve, foreseeing that it might lead to some end prejudicial to the state.  They came to visit her in the Bishop’s garden, where she was walking one Sunday morning.  One of them, the spokesman, showed to her the usefulness of this fraternity and its good offices for the people.  She, without preparation, responded so well, with such apt words and cogent reasons to show why it was badly founded and odious, that there was none present who could help but admire the spirit of the Queen or remain astonished and confused at her logic.  She concluded with these words:  “No, I wish it, and the King my son wishes that this order shall be abolished and that the subject may never again be discussed, for secret reasons which I shall not give you, in addition to those which I have given; otherwise I shall make you sensible of what it means to disobey the King and me.”  After that they all went their way, and nothing more was heard of the matter.