ve his age, whether admirers or adversaries, the
idea which Malherbe expressed in a letter to one of his friends: "You
know that my humor is neither to flatter nor to lie; but I swear to you
that there is in this man a something which surpasses humanity, and that
if our bark is ever to outride the tempests, it will be whilst this
glorious hand holds the rudder. Other pilots diminish my fear, this one
makes me unconscious of it. Hitherto, when we had to build anew or
repair some ruin, plaster alone was put in requisition. Now we see
nothing but marble used; and, whilst the counsels are judicious and
faithful, the execution is diligent and magnanimous. Wits, judgment, and
courage never existed in any man to the degree that they do in him. As
for interest, he knows none but that of the public. To that he clings
with a passion so unbridled, if I may dare so to speak, that the visible
injury it does his constitution is not capable of detaching him from it.
Sees he anything useful to the king's service, he goes at it without
looking to one side or the other. Obstacles tempt him, resistance piques
him, and nothing that is put in his way diverts him; the disregard he
shows of self, and of all that touches himself, as if he knew no sort of
health or disease but the health or disease of the state, causes all good
men to fear that his life will not be long enough for him to see the
fruit of what he plants; and moreover, it is quite evident that what he
leaves undone can never be completed by any man that holds his place.
Why, man, he does a thing because it has to be done! The space between
the Rhine and the Pyrenees seems to him not field enough for the lilies
of France. He would have them occupy the two shores of the
Mediterranean, and waft their odors thence to the extremest countries of
the Orient. Measure by the extent of his designs the extent of his
courage." [Letters to Racan and to M. de Mentin. _OEuvres de Malherbe,_
t. iv.]

[Illustration: The Tomb of Richelieu----308]

The cardinal had been barely four months reposing in that chapel of the
Sorbonne which he had himself repaired for the purpose, and already King
Louis XIII. was sinking into the tomb. The minister had died at
fifty-seven, the king was not yet forty-two; but his always languishing
health seemed unable to bear the burden of affairs which had been but
lately borne by Richelieu alone. The king had permitted his brother to
appear again at court.