THE MARQUISE DE BICHELIEU. 91

the connecting walls, in order to be able thus to reach the
place of rendezvous without being suspected.

Jealous and cruel to his mistresses, he had, amongst others, the
Marquise de Richelieu; whom I name, because she is not worth
the trouble of being silent upon. He was hopelessly smitten
and spent millions upon her and to learn her movements. He
knew that the Oomte de Roucy shared her favours (it was for
her that sagacious Comte proposed to put straw before the
house in order to guarantee her against the sound of tie church
bells., of which she complained). M. le Prince reproached her
for favouring the Count. She defended herself; but he watched
her so closely, that he brought home the offence to her without
her being able to deny it. The fear of losing a lover so rich
as was M. le Prince furnished her on the spot with an excel-
lent suggestion for putting him at ease. She proposed to
make an appointment at her own house with the Comte de
Honey, M. le Prince's people to lie in wait, and when the
Comte appeared, to make away with him. Instead of the suc-
cess she expected from a proposition so humane and ingenious,
M. le Prince was so horror-struck, that he warned the Comte
de Roucy, and never saw the Marquise de Richelieu again all
his life.

The most surprising thing was, that with so much ability,
penetration, activity, and valour, as had ML le Prince, with the
desire to be as great a "Warrior as the Great Cond6, Ms father*
he could never succeed in understanding even the first elements
of the military art. Instructed as he was by Ms ikther, lie
never acquired the least aptitude in war. It was a profession
he was not born for, and for which he could not qualify him-
self by study.

During the last fifteen or twenty years of his life, he was
accused of something more than fierceness and ferocity. "Wan-
derings were noticed in his conduct, which were not exhibited
in his own house alone. Entering one morning into the apart-
ment of the Marechale de Noailles (she herself has related this
to me) as her bed was being made, and there being only the
counterpane to put on, he stopped short at the door, crying with