rs, and daughter of
the Duke de Longueville, are short, but among the most interesting of
all those dealing with the Fronde, from the vividness and decision of
their personal traits.

[Sidenote: Madame de Motteville.]

More important still among the memoirs of this time are those of
Francoise Bertaut, Madame de Motteville, a member of the family of the
poet Bertaut. She was introduced by her mother, when very young, to Anne
of Austria, and soon became her most intimate confidante. The jealousy
of Richelieu banished her for a time from the court, and she married M.
de Motteville, a man of wealth and position in the civil service of the
province of Normandy. Shortly before Richelieu's death she lost her
husband; and as soon as Anne of Austria succeeded to the regency she was
recalled to court, and spent her time there during the queen's life. She
survived her mistress many years, and was a member of the society of
Madame de Sevigne. She died in 1689. Her memoirs, which were not
published till many years after her death, contain many curious
revelations of the court history of the time, for she was not only
intimate with Anne of Austria, but also with the unfortunate Henrietta
Maria of England, and with La Grande Mademoiselle. With the latter she
interchanged some curious and characteristic letters on a fantastic
project of Mademoiselle's for founding a new abbey of Thelema. The
general style of her memoirs is sober and intelligent, but it is injured
by the abundance of moral reflections, in matter according to the
taste, but in manner lacking much of the piquancy, of the time. These
memoirs are somewhat voluminous, and extend to the death of Anne of
Austria. Madame de Motteville, notwithstanding her affection for her
mistress, is one of the best authorities for the period of the Fronde,
because, unlike Retz and La Rochefoucauld, she was only secondarily
interested in the events she relates. Some curious details of the later
Fronde are found in the short memoirs of Pere Berthod, of whom nothing
is known. Of the Comte de Brienne, who was a favourite and minister of
Anne of Austria, and whose book contains much information on foreign,
and especially English affairs; of Montresor and Fontrailles, both
followers of Gaston of Orleans, and the latter the author of a relation
of the Cinq Mars conspiracy, short, but minute and striking; of La
Chatre, an industrious courtier and intriguer, and a vivid and
picturesque writer, whos