87i 



RICHELIEU RICHMOND. 



was thus extending the power of the crown at home, 

 In- >li<i not iici;lfci tin- aggrandizement of the mon- 

 archy abroad. The thirty years' war gave him an 

 ii|>|Hirtuniiy of effecting this object. Tn same man 

 \vlu> pcr-eciKeil, \viih tin- re:iiest severity, the Pro- 

 ii-xiantx in France, employed all the arts of nego- 

 n.iuiin, and even force of anus, to protect the same 

 in ticrinany, for the purpose of humbling the 

 house of Austria. The king of Sweden, the great 

 bulwark of religious liberty in Germany, received 

 it id of every kind from Richelieu, as long as he was 

 not in danger of becoming formidable to France ; 

 but when the brilliant victories of Gustavus Adol- 

 I'luis gave the cardinal reason to consider his power 

 us more luii'/cntiix than that of Austria, he abandon- 

 ed that prince in the midst of his successes. The 

 \\ar which he undertook against Spain, and which 

 continued till 1659, put France in possession of Cata- 

 lonia and Ronssillon, and the separation of Portu- 

 gal from Spain was effected by his assistance. He 

 also endeavoured to weaken the Austrian influ- 

 ence in Italy, and procured the transfer of the duchy 

 of Mantua to the duke of Nevers. In general, how- 

 ever objectionable may have been his character as 

 a man, the duke de Richelieu must be allowed to 

 have deserved the character of a great statesman : 

 he cannot be denied the glory of having raised the 

 power of the sovereign in France to its highest 

 pitch ; but he was proud, arrogant, vindictive and 

 unprincipled. The protection which he gave to 

 letters and art (in the establishment of the French 

 Academy, 1 635, and of the Jardin des Plantes, for 

 example) cannot reconcile us to his faults. (See 

 Corneille.) Richelieu died December 4, 1642, after 

 having indicated Mazarin as his successor. Louis 

 XIII. died a few months after him ; but in the long 

 reign of Louis XIV., the effects of Richelieu's policy 

 lwaine visible. See Maximes d'Etat ou Testament 

 putitiqiie du Cardinal de Richelieu (1'aris, 1746), 

 Leclerc's Vie de Richelieu, and Jay's Histoire du 

 Minister e de Richelieu (1815.) 



RICHELIEU, Louis FRANQOIS ARMAND ouPLEs- 

 818, duke tie, marshal of France, member of the 

 French academy, and of the academy of sciences, 

 was born at Paris in 1696. His handsome person, 

 his vivacity, and his wit, early made him a favourite 

 Ht court, and particularly with the duchess of Bur- 

 gundy (1711). His childish follies were made a 

 handle of by malice, and the jolie poupee, as he 

 was called at court, was thrown into the Bastile. 

 After his release, he was made aid of marshal Vil- 

 lars, who was pleased with his liveliness, and his 

 free and reckless manners. -He was distinguished, 

 even at the court of the regent, for his amours and 

 aiiairs of honour, and was twice confined in the 

 Bastile. In the twenty-fourth year of his age, the 

 French academy chose him one of its members, al- 

 though lie had never written any thing beyond a 

 billet doux, and was entirely ignorant of orthogra- 

 phy. Fontenelle. Campistron, and Destouches, 

 each, prepared for him an inaugural discourse, 

 from each of which lie selected such parts as he 

 liked, to form a whole. He distinguished himself 

 at the siege of Philipsburg (1734), and in the battle 

 of Fontenoy (1745), by his courage an'd presence 

 of mind. On the occasion of the marriage of the 

 dauphin with the princess of Saxony, he was sent 

 as ambassador to the court of Dresden, where lie 

 made the most extraordinary display of pomp. 

 Nothing, however, could equal the magnificence of 

 his entry into Vienna, as ambassador to that court, 

 when the horses of his retinue were shod with sil- 

 ver, in such a manner that the shoes should fall off, 

 to be picked up by the populace. In 1756, he was 

 created marslial, and commanded at the siege of 



Million, which was occupied by the British. Af- 

 ter the capture of that place (June 28, 1756), he 

 received the command of the French army HI Ger- 

 many. But the marslial had offended Mad. de 

 Pompadour, by rejecting her proposal of a match 

 between his son and her daughter ; and after the 

 convention of Closter Seven (1757), he was re- 

 called. He had enriched himself while in Ger- 

 many, where he had also indulged his soldiers in 

 license and plunder, by his exactions. It should 

 always be remembered to his credit, that he dis- 

 suaded Louis XV. from persecuting the Protestants. 

 His example contributed greatly to extend the pre- 

 valence of licentiousness in France, since he was 

 the dictator of fashion. He continued to prosecute 

 affairs of gallantry even in his old age, and was 

 married, the third time, at the age of eighty-four 

 years. The Memoires du Marechal de Richelieu 

 were written, under his direction, by Soulavie. He 

 died August 3, 1788, ninety-three years old; and 

 two days before his death, a lady having observed 

 to him that his face still retained its beauty, he re- 

 plied, " Madame, you take my face for your mir- 

 ror." Marshal Richelieu had the courage, the for- 

 tune and the talents of a great general, the saga- 

 city, prudence and penetration of a great states- 

 man ; but, with these and many amiable qualities, 

 he chose to be nothing but a common courtier. 



RICHELIEU, ARMAND EMANOEL DU PLF.SSIS, 

 duke de, minister of state under Louis XVI II., 

 grandson of the preceding, was born at Paris in 

 1766, and, after studying in the college of Plessis, 

 travelled in Italy, whence he returned, at the com- 

 mencement of the revolution, in 1789. He soon 

 after obtained permission from the king to go to 

 Vienna, where he was well received by the em- 

 peror Joseph II ; but he soon quitted that capital 

 with the young prince de Ligne, and entered into 

 the service of Catherine II., then at war with the 

 Turks. He distinguished himself at the taking of 

 Ismail by Suwarrow, and was rewarded with the 

 rank of major-general. In 1794, he was with 

 Louis XVI II. in England, whence he returned to 

 Russia; but, not being well treated by the emperor 

 Paul, he quitted that country, and, after the peace 

 of 1801, revisited France, where Bonaparte in vain 

 attempted to attach him to his service. He went 

 again to St Petersburg, and, at the commencement 

 of 1803, was nominated civil and military gover- 

 nor of Odessa, a Russian colony on the Black sea, 

 which flourished greatly under his superintendence. 

 On the restoration of Louis XVIII., the duke de 

 Richelieu took his seat in the chamber of peers, 

 and resumed his functions as first gentleman of the 

 bed-chamber. In March, 1815, he accompanied 

 the king to Ghent, and, returning with him to 

 Paris, after the battle of Waterloo, he was appointed 

 president of the council of ministers, and placed 

 at the head of the foreign department. He pre- 

 sided at the installation of the four academies in 

 April, 1818, and in September following he wa" 

 made president of the French academy. In the 

 same month, he appeared at the congress of Aix- 

 la-Chapelle. He subsequently resigned his office 

 as minister of state (see Decazes, and Louis 

 XFJH.); but on the assassination of the duke of 

 Berry, in 1820, he again became president of the 

 council. He fruitlessly opposed the establishment 

 of the censorship of the press, and, finding he had 

 lost his influence, he again retired from office (see 

 Villele) , and died soon after, in May, 1822. 



RICHMOND; a village of England, situated 

 in the county of Surrey, nine miles S. W. from Lon- 

 don, on an eminence on the south bank of the 

 Thames, of great celebrity for the beauty of its 



