Bassompierre had reason to hope that his imprisonment would be but of short duration. The evening before he was seized, he had mentioned to the king the reports which were afloat, and Louis had declared them to be false, and expressed much affection for him. The day after the deed was done, the monarch sent him a message, that he considered him to be a faithful servant, that he was not arrested for any fault, but in the fear of his being led to commit one, and that he should soon be released. Year after year elapsed, however, and the promised liberation was still delayed. Hopes were often held out to him, apparently with no other intention than that of making him feel the pain of disappointment. There seems, indeed, to have been a malignant resolution formed to torment him. The grain on his Lorrain estate was seized, the estate itself was ravaged, his nephew’s mansion was destroyed, his pay was stopped, cabals were excited against him in the Bastile, and he was compelled to relinquish his commission of colonel-general for an inadequate compensation. Yet, while Richelieu was acting thus, he could ask Bassompierre to lend him his country-house! To add to the prisoner’s vexations his property was going to ruin, some of his friends proved faithless, and death was busy among his dearest relatives. It was twelve years before the decease of Richelieu gave freedom to Bassompierre. His post of colonel-general was restored to him by Mazarin; and an intention was manifested of appointing him governor to the minor king, but this intention was frustrated by a fit of apoplexy, which put an end to his existence in October 1646. Of the many individuals who were persecuted by the cardinal-king, none were more estimable than Francis de Rochechouart, who was usually denominated the chevalier de Jars. He was of an ancient and noble family, which traced back its origin to the viscounts of Limoges, early in the eleventh century. To great personal and mental graces, and prepossessing manners, he added a mind of such firmness as is not of common occurrence, especially among the courtier tribe. His eminent qualities gained him the friendship of Anne of Austria, which alone was sufficient to excite the suspicion and hatred of Richelieu—that ultra Turk, who could bear “no rival near his throne,” nor even the friend of any one who could possibly become a rival. In 1626, de Jars was, therefore, ordered to quit the court. He retired to England, where he soon won the favour of Charles I., his queen Henrietta Maria, the duke of Buckingham, and other distinguished characters. Bassompierre, an acute observer, was at that time in England as ambassador from Louis XIII., and from the manner in which he mentions him, it is evident that de Jars was in high repute at the court of Charles.