The Memoirs of La Noue are usually spoken of separately, though in reality they form a part of his _Discours Politiques et Militaires_. Francois de la Noue, called Bras-de-Fer (a surname which he deserved not metaphorically, but literally, having had to replace one of his arms shot off during a siege), was a Breton, and of a good family. He was born in 1531, fought through the religious wars, escaped St. Bartholomew by being Alva's prisoner in Flanders, took an active part against the League, and died at the siege of Lamballe, Aug. 4, 1591. His defence of La Rochelle was one of the chief of his many feats of arms. The 'Discourses' were published during his life. They are of a more reflective character than those of Montluc, and display much greater mental cultivation. The style is not quite so vivid, the sentences are longer and more charged with thought. La Noue, in short, is a philosophical soldier and a politician. His style is perhaps less archaic than that of any of his contemporaries, and is distinguished by a remarkable strength, sobriety, and precision. He was very highly thought of by both political parties, and was not unfrequently employed in schemes of mediation. It is a pleasant story, and not irrelevant in a history of literature, that a scheme for his assassination during one of his visits to Paris was discovered by Brantome, who warned his future craftsfellow of it. [Sidenote: Agrippa d'Aubigne.] Agrippa d'Aubigne belongs to this section of the subject by his _Vie a ses Enfants_, often called his memoirs, by his _Histoire Universelle_, and by a great number of letters. The same qualities which distinguish D'Aubigne in verse are recognisable in his prose, his passionate and insubordinate temper, the keenness of his satire, the somewhat turbid grandeur of his style and images, the vigour and picturesqueness of occasional traits. The _Histoire Universelle_ and the _Vie a ses Enfants_ were both works written in old age, but there is hardly any sign of failing power in them. The _Vie_ in particular contains many passages, such as the vision of his mother and the passionate charge which his father laid upon him at the sight of the victims of the Amboise conspiracy, which rank very high among the prose of the century. The _Histoire Universelle_, like the book which Raleigh wrote almost at the same time, and under not dissimilar circumstances, is necessarily in great part a compilation, but has many passages worthy of its author at his best. [Sidenote: Marguerite de Valois.]