's reign. He represented, through his youth, the
purely military and aristocratic element in the society of that age.
If he had died when he was thirty, or at the close of the career of
Richelieu, nothing would have distinguished him from the mob of
violent noblemen who made the streets of Paris a pandemonium.
To understand the influence of La Rochefoucauld it is even more
needful than in most similar cases to form a clear idea of his
character, and this can only be obtained by an outline of his
remarkable career. Francois VI. Duke of La Rochefoucauld, as a typical
Parisian, was born in the ducal palace in the rue des Petits-Champs,
on September 15, 1613. The family was one of the most noble not merely
in France but in Europe, and we do not begin to understand the author
until we realize his excessive pride of birth. In a letter he wrote to
Cardinal Mazarin in 1648 he says, "I am in a position to prove that
for three hundred years the monarchs [of France] have not disdained to
treat us as members of their family." This arrogance of race inspired
the early part of his life to the exclusion, so far as we can
perceive, of any other stimulus to action.
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