RICHELIEU. 



873 



temper, but for which Mrs Barbauld finds a bette 

 reason in his bad nerves. He encouraged his mei 

 to be industrious, sometimes by putting half-a-crown 

 among the types, as a prize to him who came firs 

 in the morning, at others by sending fruit for the 

 same purpose from the country. Regarding his 

 personal appearance, he describes himself, in middle 

 iige, in a letter to a lady, as " short, rather plump 

 abbot five feet five inches, fair wig, one hand gene- 

 rally in his bosom, the other a cane in it, which he 

 leans upon under the skirts of his coat, that it may 

 imperceptibly serve him as a support, when attackec 

 by sudden tremors or dizziness ; of a light brown 

 complexion, teeth not yet failing; looking directly 

 forward, as passengers would imagine, but observ- 

 ing all that stirs on either hand of him, without 

 moving his short neck ; a regular even pace, steal- 

 ing away ground without seeming to rid it ; a grey 

 eye, too often overclouded by mistiness from the 

 head ; by chance lively, very lively, if he sees any 

 he loves." 



Richardson was twice married, and had several 

 children, but only four daughters grew up to com- 

 fort him in his old age. 



RICHELIEU, ARMAND JEAN DU PLESSIS, car- 

 dinal, duke de, one of the greatest statesmen of 

 France, was born at Paris, in 1585, and at the age 

 of twenty-two years was made bishop of Lugon. 

 His country had already been restored from its long 

 troubles to tranquillity, prosperity, and order, by 

 Henry IV. and his great minister Sully. In 1616, 

 the queen-mother, Mary of Medici, into whose fav- 

 our Richelieu had insinuated himself, made him her 

 grand almoner and one of the secretaries of state. 

 On the disgrace of the queen (see Mary of Medici], 

 he continued attached to her cause, and effected a 

 reconciliation between her and her son Louis XIII. 

 (1619), which, however, was soon interrupted by 

 her intrigues against the constable Luynes, the 

 favourite of the king. Richelieu, who was thus 

 placed between the two contending parties, loved 

 by neither, but considered by both as a useful in- 

 strument, had a difficult part to act, and it required 

 all his prudence to enable him to keep his position. 

 In 1622, he obtained the cardinal's hat, through the 

 influence of Mary, and, in 1624, entered the council 

 of state, and was soon at the head of affairs. The 

 premier now felt himself in a condition to drop the 

 mask which he had hitherto worn, and Mary too 

 late regretted the protection she had extended to 

 him. The adherence of this princess to the political 

 system of the house of Hapsburg was injurious to 

 the interests of France. Almost all the French 

 princes had kept up a constant opposition to that 

 powerful family, and no sooner was Richelieu seated 

 in his high post, than he began systematically to 

 extend the power of the crown by overthrowing 

 the privileges of the great vassals, and to increase 

 the influence of the French monarchy by undermin- 

 ing that of the Hapsburgs, both beyond the Pyrenees 

 and in Germany. Louis XIII., who was sensible 

 of the energy of his minister, favoured his plans, 

 while he always showed a dislike for the man, whom 

 he would gladly have destroyed, had he been able 

 to govern without him. The Reformed (Huguenots) 

 in France had for a long time resisted the royal 

 power; and bloody insurrections, in several pre- 

 ceding reigns, had arisen from their struggles with 

 tiie spiritual and temporal authorities, in defence of 

 their civil rights and freedom of conscience. The 

 \visilom and mildness of Henry IV. had assuaged 

 the excitement of the contending parties, hut his 

 reign was too short to extinguish the fires which 

 still glowed beneath the embers. The struggle for 

 rtligious freedom was too often, indeed, made a 



pretext, by the nobles, and even the princes of the 

 blood royal, to cloak and further their own ambi- 

 tious designs ; and both religious parties, Catholics 

 as well as Protestants, had thus alternately served 

 as a check upon the despotic exercise of the royal 

 power. Richelieu, therefore, resolved to crush the 

 weaker by the aid of the stronger party, and thus to 

 deprive those, who should be disposed to resist his 

 schemes, of their main prop. By the edict of Nan- 

 tes, the Huguenots had been placed on nearly the 

 same footing with the other subjects of the kingdom: 

 there were some provinces in which they had the 

 ascendency, and their armed force was sufficient to 

 shake the throne, should they be excited to rise 

 against it. Their rallying point was Rochelle ; and 

 Richelieu neglected no means to make himself 

 master of that city. In the celebrated siege of 

 Rochelle, he commanded the army in person. The 

 attack and defence of the place are considered as 

 affording models of perseverance, valour, and mili- 

 tary skill. Rochelle, supported by England, from 

 which it continually received supplies, held out for 

 a longtime against all the efforts of the cardinal ; 

 and the hope of reducing it was already nearly 

 abandoned, when Richelieu, by the erection of an 

 immense mole, cut off the communication by sea, 

 and finally compelled it to surrender by famine 

 (1629.) The second step of Richelieu was the re- 

 moval of the queen-mother from court. That 

 princess endeavoured to effect the fall of the mini- 

 ster : she had already gained over the king to her 

 purpose, in a secret interview, when Richelieu en- 

 tered the cabinet : the queen overwhelmed him 

 with reproaches. He continued calm, had recourse 

 to prayers and tears, and finally requested the king's 

 permission to leave the court. The preparations 

 were already made for his departure ; but the king, 

 who was not less offended by the violence of the 

 queen, than pleased by the respectful demeanor of 

 the cardinal, asked the advice of his favourite, St 

 Simon. The latter represented to him the services 

 of Richelieu, and the impossibility of dispensing with 

 his aid. Louis, therefore, ordered him to Versailles, 

 and assigned him apartments in the palace directly 

 below his own. This day (November 10, 1630), on 

 which the hopes of the queen and of the cardinal's 

 enemies were disappointed, was called the "day of 

 .he dupes" (la Journee des dupes.) As the queen 

 continued to declare herself irreconcileable with 

 Richelieu, the cardinal prevailed upon the king to 

 banish her (1631) to Compiegne. removed her 

 Viends from place, and threw spme of them into 

 he Bastile. This step, and the almost total anni- 

 lilation of the privileges of the parliaments and the 

 clergy, excited all classes against the despotic ad- 

 ministration of the cardinal, and the discontents 

 jroke out in numerous risings and conspiracies, 

 which, however, were not only suppressed by the 

 )rudence and vigour of his measures, but also con- 

 ributed $o the furtherance of his plan, and gradually 

 rendered the royal power entirely absolute. In 

 1632, the royal arms, directed by Richelieu, sup- 

 messed the rebellion of the dukes of Orleans and 

 Montmorency,the adherents of the banished queen, 

 nd Montmorency perished on the scaffold, although 

 he royal family itself interceded in his behalf 

 Equally unsuccessful were the attempts of the dukes 

 jf Lorraine, Guise, Bouillon, &c. ; even those whom 

 he king privately favoured were obliged to yield to 

 he all-powerful minister, and paid with their lives 

 or their rashness in venturing to oppose him, as in 

 he instance of Cinqmars, who, a short time before 

 Richelieu's death, had entered into a conspiracy 

 against him, which the king was, not without rea- 

 on, believed to have favoured. While the minister 



