Armand Emanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, well known in his early youth under the name of Comte de Chinon, was born at Paris on the 25th of September, 1766; his father was the Duc de Fronsac, son of the old Marshal Richelieu, and his mother was a daughter of the house of Hautefort. Paris was full of the endowments of his ancestor the great cardinal, whose purple robe was the glory of his family; and it was at the college of Plessis, founded by him, that the Comte de Chinon first commenced his education, and was tolerably successful in his studies, especially in acquiring the various languages of Europe; for he learned to speak Italian, German, and English with facility, and at a later period Russian became as familiar to him as French. At the age of fourteen he was married to a daughter of the noble house of Rochechouart, and the young count and his little wife, who was just thirteen years of age, went to travel for some years, according to the custom that prevailed at that time among families of rank: he visited Italy, the country of the fine arts, to admire the works of the old masters, and the ancient cities, whose renown had once overspread the world. On the first breaking out of our domestic troubles the young nobleman hastened to offer his services to his menaced sovereign, and on the 5th and 6th of October, 1789, he proceeded on foot and alone to Versailles, and making his way through the assembled mob of ragged men and women, he went to warn the court of the danger with which it was threatened. As if in anticipation of his future diplomatic career, Louis XVI. employed him a few days afterwards on a mission to Joseph II., a sovereign who patronised reform; and he discharged it with the silent discretion so necessary to be observed in the relations of the king with foreigners, at a time when he was so closely watched and surrounded by the spies of the people. The Comte de Chinon, under the title of Duc de Fronsac, was already distinguished for the uprightness of his character; political intrigues did not suit his frank and open disposition, and he therefore quitted Vienna and hastened to the siege of Ismael, celebrated by Lord Byron in his poem of "Don Juan." Many of the French nobility were serving in the armies of Catherine II., and the Duc de Fronsac fought by the side of Count Roger de Damas at the taking of the redoubt, where, according to the sarcastic rhymes of the poet, the cannon that thundered upon the besiegers were as numerous as the lovers of the licentious empress. The Duc de Fronsac was slightly wounded, and Catherine sent him a gold-hilted sword and the order of St. George. He also accepted the rank of Colonel in the Russian army, when he inherited the illustrious title of Richelieu upon the death of his father.