"There has always been something very mysterious in M. de La Rochefoucauld," says the coadjutor. "He never was fit for war, though an excellent soldier; neither was he ever of himself a good courtier, although he always had a great inclination to be so; he never was a good party-man, although all his life long involved in party conflicts."
Pierre Lenet, councillor of State, and procureur-général to the Parliament of Dijon, was the author of Memoirs,—"not so well known as their interest entitles them to be," says Voltaire,—in which he gave the history of the Prince de Condé from his birth in 1627 to the treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659.
The non-historical characters in the "War of Women," introduced to embellish and impart romantic flavor to a plot founded upon an incident which is in itself by no means devoid of the element of romance, include some of the most interesting and attractive of all Dumas' creations. Cauvignac, the Gascon adventurer, is, in respect to the qualities supposed to be most characteristic of the natives of Gascony, a worthy compeer of the immortal D'Artagnan. The lovely, high-spirited, and virtuous Vicomtesse de Cambes, and the equally lovely and high-spirited favorite of the Duc d'Épernon, meet upon common ground in their rivalry for the affection of Canolles. In Nanon de Lartigues, as in Olympe de Clèves, Dumas has shown that we need not always look in vain among women whose virtue is not without stain, for qualities of mind and heart deserving of respect.
LIST OF CHARACTERS.
Period, 1650.
ANNE OF AUSTRIA, Regent of France.
LOUIS XIV.
CARDINAL MAZARIN.
MARÉCHAL DE LA MEILLERAIE.
MADAME DE FRONSAC.
DUC D'ÉPERNON.
M. GUITAUT, Captain of the Queen's Guards.
Frondeurs:
PRINCE DE CONDÉ.
CLAIRE-CLÉMENCE DE MAILLÉ, PRINCESSE DE CONDÉ, his wife.
DUC D'ENGHIEN, son of the Prince de Condé.
CHARLOTTE DE MONTMORENCY, the Dowager
Princesse de Condé.
PRINCE DE CONTI.
PRINCE DE LONGUEVILLE.
DUC DE BOUILLON.
DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.
MARQUISE DE TOURVILLE.
CLAUDE RAOUL DE LESSAC, Comte de Clermont.
LOUIS-FERDINAND DE LORGES, Comte de Duras.
PIERRE LENET.
GÉRARD DE MONTALERT.
MONSIEUR RICHON, a soldier of fortune.
ESPAGNET, a Councillor of Parliament.
BARON DE RAVAILLY.
M. DE VIALAS, equerry to Princesse de Condé.
CLAIRE, Vicomtesse de Cambes.
BARON DE CANOLLES, Governor of the Île Saint-Georges.
M. DE VIBRAC, lieutenant to Canolles.
NANON DE LARTIGUES.
FRANCINETTE, her maid.
ROLAND CAUVIGNAC, Nanon's brother, captain of a troop of adventurers.
FERGUZON, his lieutenant.
BARRABAS, his sub-lieutenant.
ZÉPHÉRIN CARROTEL, sergeant in Cauvignac's troops.
BOURDELOT, physician to the Dowager Princesse de Condé.
POMPÉE, intendant to Princesse de Condé.
LA ROUSSIÈRE, captain of the hunt to Princesse de Condé.
M. LAVIE, Avocat-Général at Bordeaux.
MADAME LAVIE, his wife.
MASTER RABODIN, an attorney.
FRICOTIN } Rabodin's clerks
CHALUMEAU}
CASTORIN, servant to Canolles.
COURTAVAUX, servant to le Duc d'Épernon.
MASTER BISCARROS, landlord of the Golden Calf.
PIERROT, foster-brother to Duc d'Enghien.
THE GOVERNOR of Château-Trompette Prison.
M. D'ORGEMONT, his lieutenant.