συσασω αι συσου MORAL REFLECTIONS, SENTENCES AND MAXIMS OF FRANCIS, DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD. NEWLY TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. TO WHICH ARE ADDED MORAL SENTENCES AND MAXIMS OF STANISLAUS, "As Rochefoucauld his maxims drew From nature, I believe them true; In him; the fault is in mankind." "Among the books in ancient and modern times which record the conclusions of observing men on the moral qualities of their fellows, a high place should be reserved for the Maxims of Rochefoucauld." PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOX Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by WILLIAM GOWANS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. BEM AOBK LIFE OF FRANCIS, DUKE OF ROCHEFOUCAULD. FRANCIS, Duke of Rochefoucauld, Prince of Marsillac, a distinguished wit and nobleman of the reign of Louis XIV., was born in 1613. He distinguished himself as the most brilliant nobleman about the court, and by his share in the good graces of the celebrated Duchess of Longueville, was involved in the civil wars of the Fronde. He signalized his courage at the battle of St. Antoine, in Paris, and received a shot which for some time deprived him of his sight. At a more advanced period, his house was the resort of the best company at Paris, including Boileau, Racine, and the Mesdames Sevigné and La Fayette. By the former of these ladies, he is spoken of as holding the first rank in "courage, merit, tenderness, and good sense.' The letters of Madame de Maintenon, also, speak of him with high, but inconsistent praise. Huet describes him as possessing a nervous temperament, which would not allow him to accept a seat in the French Academy, owing to his want of courage to make a public speech. The Duke de Rochefoucauld died with philosophic tranquillity, at Paris, in 1680, in his sixty-eighth year. This nobleman wrote "Mémoires de la Règne d'Anne d'Autriche," 2 vols. 12mo., 1713, an energetic and faithful representation of that fretful period; but he is chiefly famous for a work entitled "Réflexions et Maximes." This book has made much noise in the world; it has been abused, criticised, controverted, and yet no one can deny that there is a great deal of truth in it, though it generalizes too much. It is deemed by some writers to be rather a satire upon, than an exposition of human nature, and unfavorable to virtue, by giving it a principle in common with vice. La Rochefoucauld attributed all the actions of men, good or bad, to the moving-spring of self-interest. Friendship is an exchange of good offices, generosity is the means of gaining good opinion, justice itself is derived from the fear of suffering from the oppression of others. This may be all true, but still, there are actions in which men can have no self-interest in view; in which they act from enthusiasm, or a strong sense of duty, or from benevolence, or some motive other than self-interest; such are, for instance, the self-devotedness of the patriot, the perseverance of the upright man through good and evil report, the sacrifice made by pure love, and, above all, the calm resignation of the Christian martyr. These, and other similar instances, La Rochefoucauld has not taken into account, because, probably, he had seen no specimen of them. Possibly a somewhat deeper insight into the sources of human conduct, would show not only that self-love is the mainspring of all action, but that all which is admirable in performance is best promoted and explained by it. La Rochefoucauld has accounted for most actions of a great proportion of mankind, perhaps by far the greater; and for so doing he has been abused, because, as a French lady observed, he has told every body's secret. He has placed himself, with regard to private morality, in the same |