In early life Condé had been a member of a society of free-thinkers, to which the Princesses Marie and Anne de Gonzague had also belonged. He had studied Spinoza, and had approved of his pantheistic doctrines; then, gradually leaving Spinoza, he took up Descartes. Later the example of his sister, Madame de Longueville--who, from leading a worldly life, had become a pious Jansenist--made a deep impression upon him: as did also the death of Anne de Gonzague, who, after a life of wildest excitement, had before her end become a sincere and devout penitent. In his old age he often sought the company of a friend of his early youth and college-days at Bourges, who had distinguished himself as a brilliant orator. Shortly before his death, in company with this friend, Condé went to receive the Holy Communion at his parish church of Saint-Sulpice; and on leaving was met by the plaudits of the people of Paris. His own adherence to the Catholic Faith did not, however, change his friendly attitude towards the Huguenots, nor did it alter in any way his mode of living at Chantilly. Madame de Langeron at that time did the honours of his house, and the freedom of thought which reigned there so much appreciated by men like La Bruyère and Bossuet, was never interfered with. Saint-Évremond sang Condé's praise in the following characteristic verses: _À ta vertu, Condé, tu t'es enfin soumis_ _Tu n'étais pas encore au comble de ta gloire,_ _Senef, Lens, Fribourg et Nordlingen et Rocroi_ _N'étaient que des degrés pour monter jusqu'à toi._ _Le vainqueur s'est vaincu, c'est la grande victoire._ * * * * * _Tranquil et glorieux,_ _Il vit à Chantilly comme on vit aux cieux._ Bossuet has described the last moments of the hero: "Such as he was in his warrior days, resolute, quiet, always occupied, without anxiety for what had to be done, such was he in his last hour. Nor did death seem to him any more repulsive or terrible now than in the midst of battle and victory." Whilst his family and friends shed copious tears as his end approached, he continued to give all necessary orders; and he remembered everyone, from the highest to the lowest of his friends and attendants, showering gifts upon them all with a munificence fully in accordance with his high rank and generous heart. CHAPTER VIII THE LAST CONDÉS