MEMOIR. FRANÇOIS, Duke de la Rochefoucauld and Prince de Marsillac, (son of François, the fifth of that name, and nephew to the Cardinal,) was born in 1613. Like all noblemen of that period, his early education had been much neglected; but nature bountifully supplied the deficiency. He is described by Madame de Maintenon as having "a most agreeable countenance, a noble air, considerable intellect, and very little learning." The period at which he first began to mix in society was one that formed a kind of turningpoint in the manners of the French nation. The influence of the nobility, humbled and kept in check by the Cardinal de Richelieu's despotic and vigorous administration, was still struggling against his powerful sway,-only the spirit of faction had given way to the spirit of intrigue. It must not, however, be thought that intrigue was exactly the same thing in those days as it is with us. Manners were less toned down than in our modern times, and people strove for loftier aims; they intrigued in order to make them |