|
Dromo's Den
|
|
[Up] [Dromo's Den] Francois La Rochefoucault LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, François (1613–80), sixth Duke of, Prince of Marcillac. A French epigrammatic moralist, born in Paris, Dec. 15, 1613. He is a type of the cynical satirist of human nature. Of ancient and powerful family, he had little scholastic education, but was an apt pupil in the school of public life. He joined the army. at 16, being already nominally married to Andrée de Vivonne, of whom little is known. He served in the army for some years bravely but without distinction, became attached to Madame de Chevreuse and through her to Queen Anne, and engaged in intrigues against Richelieu and in the plots of the Fronde. His Apologie du prince de Marcillac appeared in 1649. His father died in 1650. He was shot in the head at the battle of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 1652, spent some years in country retirement, returned to court shortly before Mazarin's death, became a leading light of the literary salon of Madame de Sablé, was vexed and imperiled by the publication of alleged Mémoires in 1662, and in 1665 published anonymously his famous Maximes, under the title Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales. From this year till his death (March 17, 1680) he was a close friend of Madame de La Fayette (q.v.) and lived in dignity and honor, troubled only by the gout, of which he died. His Mémoires, first published in an approximately genuine form in 1817, are among the best of a time peculiarly rich in this form of writing; his Lettres, first published in 1818, are of great historic and social interest; his Maximes, passing through five editions in his lifetime and increased by 50 in an edition of 1693, are astonishingly acute analyses of motive. They combine to a degree never surpassed clearness, point, pregnancy, and brevity. The social philosophy that they enforce is that of self-interest, "in which all virtues are lost like rivers in the sea"; but it is an inference, not a doctrine. There are some 700 of these maxims, often of but two or three lines, never of more than 20, and all so expressed as to be an enduring artistic delight. La Rochefoucauld's Œuvres are admirably edited by Gilbert and Gourdault (3 vols., Paris, 1868–84). Editions of the Maximes are many. The finest is the Edition des bibliophiles (1870). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 573-574. |