created a baron, and was afterwards advanced to a
count, on account of his great service to Francis and
his predecessors.

The second count pushed the family fortune still
further by obtaining a patent as the Prince de Mar-
sillac. His widow, Anne de Polignac, entertained
Charles V. at the family chateau at Verteuil, in so
princely a manner that on leaving Charles observed,
"He had never entered a house so redolent of high
virtue, uprightness, and lordliness as that mansion."

The third count, after serving with distinction
under the Duke of Guise against the Spaniards, was
made prisoner at St. Quintin, and only regained his
liberty to fall a victim to the "bloody infamy" of St.
Bartholomew. His son, the fourth count, saved with
difficulty from that massacre, after serving with dis-
tinction in the religious wars, was taken prisoner
in a skirmish at St. Yriex la Perche, and murdered
by the Leaguers in cold blood.

The fifth count, one of the ministers of Louis
XIII., after fighting against the English and Buck-
ingham at the Ile de Re, was created a duke. His
son Francis, the second duke, by his writings has
made the family name a household word.

The third duke fought in many of the earlier cam-
paigns of Louis XIV. at Torcy, Lille, Cambray, and