Let his detractors remember that Mme de Sevigne, who knew what she was
talking about, wrote that "he is the most lovable man I have ever
known," His sufferings, his disenchantments and disappointments, only
seemed to accentuate his beautiful patience. Just before his fatal
illness (January 31, 1680) Mme de Sevigne writes again: "I have never
seen a man so obliging, nor more amiable in his wish to give pleasure
by what he says." [9] Her detailed and pathetic account of his last
hours, which closed on the night of March 16, 1680, testifies to her
deep attachment and to Mme de La Fayette's despair.
[Footnote 9: Two of La Fontaine's fables, "L'Homme et son
Image" and "Les Lapins," were dedicated to La Rochefoucauld
in 1668. In the former we read:--
_On voit bien ou je veux venir.
Je parle a tous, et cette erreur extreme
Est un mal que chacun se plait d'entretenir
Notre ame, c'est cet homme amoureux de lui-meme;
Tant de miroirs, ce sont les sottises d'autrui,
Miroirs, de nos defauts les peintres legitimes;
Et quant au canal, c'est celui,
Que chacun sait: le livre des Maximes.
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