I to Languedoc, where
he distinguished himself at the siege of Clerac; and in the following
campaign he served under the Prince de Conde with equal credit. After
struggling successfully throughout the long and stormy administration of
Richelieu, he incurred the displeasure of Louis XIII a short time after
the death of that minister, and disposed of his office as secretary of
state; but during the regency of Anne of Austria he was recalled; and
until Louis XIV undertook to govern the nation in his own person, he
retained great influence in the Council. Age was, however, creeping upon
him; and a short time subsequent to the marriage of that monarch, having
attained his sixty-seventh year, he retired from the Government. He
died in 1666.

[182] Petitot, _Notice sur le Comte de Brienne_, p. 278.

[183] This privilege rendered the financial and judicial offices
hereditary, on the payment of an annual tax of one-tenth of the sum at
which they had been originally purchased; and the nobility were jealous
of this hereditary tenure of the most lucrative civil appointments under
the Crown, all of which were thus, as a natural consequence, engrossed
by the _tiers-etat._ The _paulette_ owed its name to Charles Paulet, who
was the inventor of this extraordinary source of revenue.

[184] _Tiers-etat,_ or middle state, was the name given to that portion
of the French people who belonged neither to the aristocracy nor to
the Church.

[185] Pierre de Roncherolles, Baron du Pont Saint-Pierre.

[186] Robert Miron, Provost of the Merchants, an able politician, whose
zeal and talents were recompensed by the confidence and favour of Louis
XIII, by whom he was, in 1625, entrusted with the embassy to
Switzerland.

[187] Bonnechose, vol. i. pp. 451, 452. Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 73-78. Le
Vassor, vol. i. pp. 298-302.

[188] Marville, _Melanges d'Histoire et de Litterature_.

[189] Nicolas Le Fevre was born at Paris, in 1544, and devoted himself
to literature. Henri IV entrusted to him the education of the Prince de
Conde; and he subsequently became, under Marie de Medicis, the preceptor
of Louis XIII. He died in 1612.

[190] David de Rivault, Sieur de Flurance, was born at Laval in 1571,
and died at Tours in 1616. He was the author of several works, which
elicited the admiration of Malherbe and other distinguished writers.

[191] Guy, Comte de Laval, was the brother of the Duc de la Tremouille.

[192] Bernard, _Hist, de Louis XIII_, bo