person to conduct the delicate negotiations in support of the candidature of the prince de Conti for the crown of Poland. He was accordingly sent to Warsaw as am- bassador extraordinary. This was his first diplomatic employment. On his journey he was wrecked on the Prussian coast; and, to add to the misfortunes of the sea, he was plundered and his life imperilled by ma- rauders of Dantzic. He managed, however, toreach the court to which he was accredited, and was cordially welcomed by the heroic king, John Sobieski. In his' confidential mission at Warsaw he displayed great dex- terity and capacity for intrigue, which were, however, frustrated of their expected fruit by the listlessness and delays of the French prince. But the sentiment of Po- land was expressed in an epigram cited by Leibnitz (Lett, vi a Burnet) :
" Per vivum Denm Nohnnus Condaeum." The election resulted in placing the Polish crown on the head of Augustus, elector of Saxony, the first king of the Saxon line. Louis XIV manifested his disap- pointment by replacing Polignac at the court of War- saw by the abbe de Chateaunay, and ordered the dis- credited ambassador to return to his abbey of Bon Port (or Fair Haven). The rusticated diplomatist accepted his banishment with apparent gratification, and declared it altogether conformable to his wishes and fortunes. Here he remained during four years, closely occupied with those studies and labors which enabled him to merit the high but pedantic compliment of Voltaire: "Le cardinal, orarle de la France, Rennissaiu Vinnle avec Platon, Vengeur du ciel et vainqneur de Lucrece." To these years of tranquil application must be as- signed the conception and commencement of the poem by which his renown was mainly acquired, and by which it has been preserved. On his return from Po- land, Polignac visited the celebrated sceptic Bayle, with whom he had many and earnest conferences. Bayle, in replying to the theological arguments of his clerical opponent, assumed to be a Protestant, and jus- tified the genuineness of his Protestantism on the score of protesting against, everything usually said or done — against " tout ce qui se dit et tout ce qui se fait." The French abbe could make no serious impression upon his astute and witty antagonist, but was much struck with the frequency and point of his citations from Lucretius. He determined in consequence to re-read the great Ro- man poet, and to refute his infidel and materialistic ar- guments. To this task he addressed himself at once in his retreat at Bon Port, and occasional passages of the incipient poem were communicated to his friends, were circulated from mouth to mouth, and excited general expectation among scholars.
Notwithstanding these diligent literary avocations and his professed enjoyment of the charms of contem- plative repose, Polignac was too much of a Frenchman and courtier not to sigh and scheme for a renewal of the delights of Paris and of royal favor. On the proclama- tion of the duke of Anjou as king of Spain, he wrote to Louis XIV : "If your majesty's prosperity does not put an end to my misfortunes, at least it makes me forget them." The compliment was graciously accepted. He was recalled from his rural banishment, and was wel- comed with the utmost cordiality. The. king presented him with two additional abbacies. He seems to have recited at this time long passages from his growing poem to the king, the princes, and the learned. He was sent to Rome as auditor of the Rota; and was nominated to the English cardinalate by the Pretender, with whose interests he was intrusted. In 1706 he was joined with the cardinal De la Tremouille in the con- duct of the French negotiations. He was recalled from Rome in 1710, and was commissioned, along with the mare'chal D'Uxelles, as plenipotentiary to the confer- ences of Gertruydenburg, being already cardinal in petto. The recent victories of Marlborough had rendered the
POLKiNA*
352
POLIGNAC
■ Dutch provim id Impracticable. He rebuked their < l«'in i- e by remarking, "It i- very evident, gentle- men, that you are unused to victory." Nothing was effected mi thi- time towards the restoration of peace, Imi two years km r he was senl to Utrecht, where he appeared in the habil ofa layman, and
ered a Urge and valuable cabinet of coins and medals. He brought together at greal expense a splendid ass m- blage "i archaic remains, due in great measure to his frequent and prol - al Rome. He iu-ti-
tuted explorations in its neighborh 1. between Fraa-
cati and < .r. it i.-i Ferrata, and discovered the villa of Marin-, his conjectures being confirmed by the exhu-
under the name of the Corate de Polignac. The Dutch mation ol a fragmenl of an inscription recording the
tors, suspecting the existence of secret articles fifth consulship of the conqueror of the Teutones and
between Iran.-- and England, threatened to expel the Cimbri. From these diggings he obtained six statues
French ambassadors from their territory. II < senting the detection of Achilles at the court of
Polignac retorted, " We will nol depart: we will treat Lycomedes by Ulysses. The palace of the Caesars, in
of you, among you, and without you." H< i I arnese vineyard on the Palatine, was opened and
r, to Bign the tt deluded from the examined in his presence. The duke of Parma, who