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Such were the contrasted fates of Father Joseph and Father Caussin! the one, the ingenious creature, the other, the simple oppositionist of this great minister.

[Footnote 218:
Clarendon details the political coquetries of Monsieur La Ferte; his “notable familiarity with those who governed most in the two houses;” ii. 93. ]

[Footnote 219:
Hume seems to have discovered in “Estrades’ Memoirs” the real occasion of Richelieu’s conduct. In 1639 the French and Dutch proposed dividing the Low Country provinces; England was to stand neuter. Charles replied to D’Estrades, that his army and fleet should instantly sail to prevent these projected conquests. From that moment the intolerant ambition of Richelieu swelled the venom of his heart, and he eagerly seized on the first opportunity of supplying the Covenanters in Scotland with arms and money. Hume observes, that Charles here expressed his mind with an imprudent candour; but it proves he had acquired a just idea of national interest, vi. 337. See on this a very curious passage in the Catholic Dodd’s “Church History,” iii. 22. He apologises for his cardinal by asserting that the same line of policy was pursued here in England “by Charles I. himself, who sent fleets and armies to assist the Huguenots, or French rebels, as he calls them; and that this was the constant practice of Queen Elizabeth’s ministry, to foment differences in several neighbouring kingdoms, and support their rebellious subjects, as the forces she employed for that purpose both in France, Flanders, and Scotland, are an undeniable proof.” The recriminations of politicians are the confessions of great sinners. ]

[Footnote 220:
“Grotii Epistolae,” 375 and 380, fo. Ams. 1687. A volume which contains 2500 letters of this great man. ]

[Footnote 221:
“La Vie du Cardinal Duc de Richelieu,” anonymous, but written by Jean le Clerc, vol. i. 507. An impartial but heavy life of a great minister, of whom, between the panegyrics of his flatterers and the satires of his enemies, it was difficult to discover a just medium. ]

[Footnote 222:
Mem. Rec. vol. vi. 131. ]

[Footnote 223:
It is quoted in the “Remarques Critiques sur le Dictionnaire de Bayle,” Paris, 1748. This anonymous folio volume was written by Le Sieur Joly, a canon of Dijon, and is full of curious researches, and many authentic discoveries. The writer is no philosopher, but he corrects and adds to the knowledge of Bayle. Here I found some original anecdotes of Hobbes, from MS. sources, during that philosopher’s residence at Paris, which I have given in “Quarrels of Authors.” ]

[Footnote 224:
Montresor, attached to the Duke of Orleans, has left us some very curious memoirs, in two small volumes; the second preserving many historical documents of that active period. This spirited writer has not hesitated to detail his projects for the assassination of the tyrannical minister. ]

[Footnote 225:
At page 154 of this work is a different view of the character of this extraordinary man: those anecdotes are of a lighter and satirical nature; they touch on “the follies of the wise.” ]