ART. IX.-A LIBERAL FRENCH NOBLE OF Un Philanthrope d'Autrefois. La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, 1747-1827. Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie, 1903. TH HE opening of May, 1774, found Paris excited and restless. The long and hateful reign of Louis XV. was drawing to its close. The king lay dying at Versailles, a singular spectacle for princes and people. Terrified at the approach of death, he had summoned physicians, surgeons and apothecaries, and as they defiled before him called out his symptoms to each in turn, begging, promising and praying in the same breath. Despite the loathsome nature of the disease, a crowd of courtiers were flocked together, who gossiped, intrigued, and gambled on the life or death of the royal patient. The presence of the Dubarry, whom the king had dismissed for the last time, alone was wanting to complete the significance of the wretched picture. It was not a deathbed scene appropriate to the anointed of God, but it possessed a significance greater than the death of any king before him, for royalty itself, ancient beliefs, the old order of things, worn out also, were perishing likewise. Standing somewhat apart among the courtiers was a young noble whose interest in the scene was indicated only by coldly curious glances at the king and by the scarcely concealed contempt with which he regarded his companions. It was plain that the sympathy of the Duc de Liancourt was with the Parisians who were singing in the streets : 'Ami des propos libertins, Buveur fameux et roi célèbre Par la chasse et par les courtisanes, The administration of Louis XV., as it proceeded, bad been an excellent school for the propaganda of liberal ideas. The philosophy of the Encyclopedists had generally permeated society, leading to a point of view which made a bond of union, hitherto unknown, possible between the different classes. The Duc de Liancourt, the friend of Condorcet and Turgot, the nephew of the Duchesse de La Rochefoucauld-d'Enville, 'la sœur du pot des philosophes,' as she was styled by the philosophers, in recognition of her good will, was one of those nobles for whom the times were preparing a difficult part. Belonging to one of the oldest and most distinguished families in France, which had loyally served its king in every department of public life, the monarchical faith was to the young nobleman the most sacred of ideals, the monarchical principle a foundational conviction of mind. Against this mental attitude were arrayed the arguments which must assail a man who is a companion of philosophers, a patriot and, in his case, one whose altruistic tendencies could not be suppressed. This king's life and death were shameful and, as he watched the scene, the duke's thought ran in unison with those of the Parisian populace. The history of the Duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt gives a fresh insight into some features of pre-Revolutionary times, and contributes some interesting facts to the sum of our knowledge in respect to that effervescent period which immediately preceded the Revolution. The life led by the nobles and the part they took in society and politics are commonly underrated. A notion is current in the nature of an 'idée fixe' that they were all either idle or bad, and uniformly opposed to progress; the nobleman who was anxious to improve the state of affairs, who was liberal-and not extreme-in his views, is a figure we do not know. But there is a large number, of whom Liancourt, his cousin, the Duc de La Rochefoucauld-d'Enville, and his friend Condorcet may be taken as extraordinary examples, whose private lives were irreproachable and who placed the public good before their own. Nowhere in history are there more striking instances of devotion to duty, of self-sacrifice, of fidelity to ideals, than are to be seen among the nobility of the old régime in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The La Rochefoucaulds were truer representatives of the purely philanthropical spirit than Condorcet, whose range of mental activity knew no bounds. La Rochefoucauld-d'Enville, who possessed all his clever and kindly mother's qualities of mind and heart, was acknowledged by his contemporaries to justify the verdict of Barère as l'homme le plus vertueux, plus français, le plus respectable que j'ai connu.' According to Madame de Chastenay, he had taken from the philosopUST. tout ce qui s'accordait réellement avec les vertu 6 ' cœur.' Benevolent undertakings and reform IVANTAN, TE were his first concern, and philanthropy and ef were the sole aim and labour of Liancourt. but made no pretensions to literary art almanac he took as a model, ST utilitarian and philanthropical ideas, to call the attention of the authorities and the public to the state of the poor, the sick and the wretched, or for the purpose of teaching the working classes. He was in sympathy with the philosophers, not, however, so much from the love of abstract truth as from the love of humanity. François Alexandre Frédéric, Duc de La RochefoucauldLiancourt, was born January 11, 1747, at the château of La Roche-Guyon whence, a few years before, his grandfather, Duc Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld-whom his grandson strongly resembled in qualities and character-had been banished to please the reigning favourite at Court, an early example of the disgrace of the counsellors and companions of the king's better moments to appease the desire for vengeance on the part of his mistresses. Duc Alexandre was one of the most progressive of the old noblesse, to the scandal of everybody even going to the length of having his grandson vaccinated—an innovation which cost him 1,106 livres-but, though advanced in his mode of thought, his mode of life did not cease to retain the best features of the feudal system; one of the first to put into practice the new ideas which were in the air, he was one of the last of the grand seigneurs to live on his estates. He wasted no time in vain regrets for the Court or Paris, but made good use of his practical turn of mind and spent his life in beautifying his properties and improv ing the condition of the people. Water was brought by aqueduct for the use of the village, roads were mended, forests replanted, the poor were assisted and industry encouraged; the larger part of his time and immense revenues were thus employed for the public benefit. At the same time he held, like the Duc de Choiseul-not long afterward in the same exiled condition-a numerous court of his own. The village, which runs along the bank of the Seine, lies in a sparsely populated district, out of the path of railways, and has been left singularly undisturbed. Many traces of the residence of Duc Alexandre are to be seen. Before his time the immediate surroundings had been denuded of trees, and the grove in which the steep-pitched grey roofs are intermingled at the foot of the château, whose crumbling tower on the hilltop dominates the country about, was planted under the direction of Madame d'Enville, and the richly sculptured fountain, which the Duke erected before his gates, still serves its ancient purpose. The frivolity and low moral tone of the period had not affected any part of the family of La Rochefoucatia vingi na given France a queen, writers, soldiers, governors an courtiers. For centuries this house had beer charactement by its philanthropy: Cette maison de La Rochelone i ( une tribu d'Israël, ce sont d'honnêtes et de botes gens 'n'y a point de morgue dans toute cette famille iyi Do sens et de la simplicité,'t writes Madame at Jefan & never too tender critic, and Lianoon by Le maner & C Vie z simply carried out the traditions of his ine. details about his parents, but we read that both virtuvas to the point of severity, and to Armand de La Rochefoucauld de LOTE TIL TH Duc d'Estissac on his marriage with a moise ir daughter of Duc Alexandre, was much ver He belonged to a branch of the La Evensong separated from the main stock in the s eldest daughter of Duc Alexandre the newest e In his aunt, Madame d'Enrile sometne -whose influence was importar r career, a quick imagination practical qualities and led or philosophy. Son cœur étar à tous les systèmes true that she was qui considered a righteous escape from Paris and rehabilitation of Cu and M. d'Étallone. befriended Madem Madame du Defund terms with her wise me throughout her Horace Way • Rochefouca nom de La bisc * The Br Liancourt * Nature = Ku 'ancêtres fut égorgé à la Saint-Barthélemy.' And another time: Cette femme ne vous deplaira pas; elle n'a pas les 'grands airs de nos grandes dames, elle a le ton assez animé, 'elle est un peu entichée de la philosophie moderne, mais 'elle la pratique plus qu'elle ne la prêche.' The duchess was the good friend of every prominent man and woman in Paris who was progressive, and chief among these friends stood the philosophers. Diderot speaks of her as one of the most excellent women he had ever known, and Grimm loved and respected her. They met Turgot and his confrères at her magnificent hôtel, and Young, the English agriculturist who, when abroad, made either her house or the château of Liancourt his headquarters, and scholars, chemists and physicians hobnobbed with the flower of the aristocracy of France in her salon. Her husband dying a few years after their marriage, her son, the young Duc de La Rochefoucauld, who was her inseparable companion, had the same inclinations and the same friends as her own. He was one of the greatest admirers of Mademoiselle de Lespinasse. Madame du Deffand seldom referred to Mademoiselle de Lespinasse, her hatred was too strong, but affection for the duchess drew forth a complaint from her sore heart and she broke the silence of years on this painful subject in a letter to the Duchesse de Choiseul. 'Ce sera M. de La Rochefoucauld* qui vous rendra cette 'lettre. Il est le plus assidu courtisan de Mademoiselle de 'Lespinasse; je ne sais si c'est cette liaison qui a nui à ma 'connaissance avec lui et avec Madame d'Enville, mais je 'les vois plus rarement qu'autrefois.' † Liancourt was not such a favourite or so widely known in the brilliant circles of the salons as his cousin d'Enville; he was sensitive, and had all the self-consciousness, reserve, and pride of such a birthright, and, not willing to be commonplace, he would not speak unless he had something to say. He had no conversational gifts, and so he seemed slow and dull in that quick-witted, vivacious society. Though Madame du Deffand knew La Rochefoucauld-d'Enville so well, her attention had to be drawn to Liancourt by Horace Walpole, who, meeting him in London, sung his praises, and, in this case quicker witted than the Parisians themselves, ridiculed those who had called him stupid. 'C'est de tous vos * The Duc de La Rochefoucauld-d'Enville was four years the senior of his cousin the Duc de Liancourt. + Correspondance de Madame du Deffand, vol. ii. p. 173, Paris, 1877. |