Francis Duke de la, prince of Marillac, governor of Poitou, was born in 1663. He was the son of Francis, the first duke of Rochefoucault, and was distinguished equally by his courage and his wit. These shining qualities endeared him to all the nobility at court, who were ambitious of decorating themselves at once with the laurels of Mars and of Apollo. He wrote two excellent works; the one a book of Maxims, which, Voltaire says, has contributed more than any thing else to form the taste of the French nation; and the other, Memoirs of the Regency of Queen Anne of Austria. It was partly at the instigation of the beautiful duchess de Longueville, to whom he had long been attached, that the duke de Rochefoucault engaged in the civil wars, in which he signalized himself, particularly at the battle of St Antoine. After the civil wars were ended, he thought of nothing but enjoying the calm pleasures of friendship and literature. His house became the rendezvous of every person of genius in Paris and Versailles. Racine, Boileau, and Savigné, found in his conversation charms which they sought for in vain elsewhere. He was not, however, with all his elegance and genius, a member of the French Academy. The necessity of making a public speech on the day of his reception was the only cause that he did not claim admittance. This nobleman, with all the courage he had displayed upon various critical occasions, and with his superiority of birth and understanding over the common run of men, did not think himself capable of facing an audience to utter only four lines in public, without being out of countenance. He died at Paris in 1680, aged sixty-eight, leaving behind him a character which has been variously drawn by those who during his life were proud of his friendship.