"
Or that of Addison, who speaks of Rochefoucauld
"as the great philosopher for administering consola-
tion to the idle, the curious, and the worthless part of
mankind."
We are fortunately in possession of materials such
as rarely exist to enable us to form a judgment of
Rochefoucauld's character. We have, with a vanity
that could only exist in a Frenchman, a description
or portrait of himself, of his own painting, and one of
those inimitable living sketches in which his great
enemy, Cardinal De Retz, makes all the chief actors in
the court of the regency of Anne of Austria pass
across the stage before us.
We will first look on the portrait Rochefoucauld has
left us of himself: "I am," says he, "of a medium height,
active, and well-proportioned. My complexion dark,
but uniform, a high forehead; and of moderate height,
black eyes, small, deep set, eyebrows black and thick
but well placed. I am rather embarrassed in talking of
my nose, for it is neither flat nor aquiline, nor large;
nor pointed: but I believe, as far as I can say, it is too
large than too small, and comes down just a trifle too
low.
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