Reflections | Page 4

then at Court with
him, was, upon the pretext of a liaison with Mdlle. d'Hautefort, one of
the ladies in waiting on the Queen (Anne of Austria), but in reality to
pre- vent the Duke learning what was passing at Paris, sent with his
father. The result of the exile was Roche- foucauld's marriage. With the
exception that his wife's name was Mdlle. Vivonne, and that she was
the mother of five sons and three daughters, nothing is known of her.

While Rochefoucauld and his father were at Blois, the Duchesse de
Chevreuse, one of the beauties of the Court, and the mistress of Louis,
was banished to Tours. She and Rochefou- cauld met, and soon became
intimate, and for a time she was destined to be the one motive of his
actions. The Duchesse was engaged in a correspondence with the Court
of Spain and the Queen. Into this plot Rochefoucauld threw himself
with all his energy; his connexion with the Queen brought him back to
his old love Mdlle. d'Hautefort, and led him to her party, which he
afterwards followed. The course he took shut him off from all chance
of Court favour. The King regarded him with coldness, the Cardinal
with irritation. Although the Bastile and the scaffold, the fate of Chalais
and Montmorency, were before his eyes, they failed to deter him from
plotting. He was about twenty-three; returning to Paris, he warmly
sided with the Queen. He says in his Memoirs that the only persons she
could then trust were him- self and Mdlle. d'Hautefort, and it was
proposed he should take both of them from Paris to Brussels. Into this
plan he entered with all his youthful indiscretion, it being for several
reasons the very one he would wish to adopt, as it would strengthen his
influence with Anne of Austria, place Richelieu and his master in an
uncomfortable position, and save Mdlle. d'Hautefort from the attentions
the King was showing her.
But Richelieu of course discovered this plot, and Rochefoucauld was,
of course, sent to the Bastile. He was liberated after a week's
imprisonment, but banished to his chateau at Verteuil.
The reason for this clemency was that the Cardinal desired to win
Rochefoucauld from the Queen's party. A command in the army was
offered to him, but by the Queen's orders refused.
For some three years Rochefoucauld remained at Verteuil, waiting the
time for his reckoning with Richelieu; speculating on the King's death,
and the favours he would then receive from the Queen. During this
period he was more or less engaged in plotting against his enemy the
Cardinal, and hatching treason with Cinq Mars and De Thou.
M. Sainte Beuve says, that unless we study this first part of
Rochefoucauld's life, we shall never under- stand his maxims. The
bitter disappointment of the passionate love, the high hopes then
formed, the deceit and treachery then witnessed, furnished the real key
to their meaning. The cutting cynicism of the morality was built on the

ruins of that chivalrous ambition and romantic affection. He saw his
friend Cinq Mars sent to the scaffold, himself betrayed by men whom
he had trusted, and the only reason he could assign for these actions
was intense selfishness.
Meanwhile, Richelieu died. Rochefoucauld re- turned to Court, and
found Anne of Austria regent, and Mazarin minister. The Queen's
former friends flocked there in numbers, expecting that now their time
of prosperity had come. They were bitterly dis- appointed. Mazarin
relied on hope instead of grati- tude, to keep the Queen's adherents on
his side. The most that any received were promises that were never
performed. In after years, doubtless, Rochefoucauld's recollection of
his disappointment led him to write the maxim: “We promise according
to our hopes, we per- form according to our fears.” But he was not even
to receive promises; he asked for the Governorship of Havre, which
was then vacant. He was flatly refused. Disappointment gave rise to
anger, and uniting with his old flame, the Duchesse de Chevreuse, who
had received the same treatment, and with the Duke of Beaufort, they
formed a conspiracy against the govern- ment. The plot was, of course,
discovered and crushed. Beaufort was arrested, the Duchesse banished.
Irri- tated and disgusted, Rochefoucauld went with the Duc d'Enghein,
who was then joining the army, on a campaign, and here he found the
one love of his life, the Duke's sister, Mdme. de Longueville. This lady,
young, beautiful, and accomplished, obtained a great ascendancy over
Rochefoucauld, and was the cause of his taking the side of Condé in the
subsequent civil war. Rochefoucauld did not stay long with the army.
He was badly wounded at the siege of Mardik, and returned from
thence to Paris. On recovering from his wounds, the war of the