d in his manner, even with his officers, and
De Fersen, writing to his father, complains of it, acknowledging,
however, that it was shown less with him than with others. Later on he
does Rochambeau justice, and says: "His example had its effect on the
army, and the severe orders he gave restrained everybody and enforced
that discipline which was the admiration of the Americans and of the
English who witnessed it. The wise, prudent and simple conduct of M. de
Rochambeau has done more to conciliate America to us than the gain of
four battles."

With this representative soldier of his time came so fine a showing of
the noblesse of France, fresh from the most brilliant court of Europe,
that they are worth a short description. They are interesting, if from
nothing else, from the fact that they are the men who appear on the
page of history one day steeped in the enervating luxury and intrigue
of Versailles and Marly, the next fighting and dying with the courage
of the lionhearted Henri de la Rochejaquelin in Vendee, leaving as an
epitaph on their whole generation the words of the Chouan chief,
"Allons chercher l'ennemi! Si je recule, tuez moi; si j'avance, suivez
moi; si je meurs, vengez moi!" Never even in Napoleon's campaigns,
where each man had as incentive a name and fortune to carve, was there
such a race of soldiers as these same aristocrats.

First and foremost, let us mention Armand Louis de Gontaut, duc de
Lauzun, the duc de Biron of the Vendee. He was the gayest gallant of
the time, and whether with the Polish princess Czartoriski, the
beautiful Lady Sarah Bunbury--George III.'s admiration as he saw her
making hay at Holland House--Mesdames de Stainville and de Coig and the
rollicking actresses of the Comedie Francaise, or Mrs. Robinson (the
prince of Wales's "Perdita,"), seems to have had universal success. We
except the record that gives him the love of Marie Antoinette. To him
was entrusted in this expedition the legion that bore his name, with
Count Arthur Dillon as coadjutor. The marechals-de-camp were the two
brothers Viosmenil, celebrated for their beauty, and the marquis de
Chastelleux, a member of the Institute and possessed of some literary
merit. He had written a piece called _La Felicite publique_, which drew
from the wits of the day the following epigram:

A Chastelleux la place academique:
Qu' a-t-il donc fait? Un livre bien concu.
Vous l'appelez _La Felicite publique_;
Le public fut heureu