He wrote, in 1627, to M.Saintot, "I thank him for the care he has taken of the Sorbonne, begging him to continue it, assuring him that, though I have many expenses on my hands, I am as desirous of continuing to build up that house as of contributing, to the best of my little ability, to pull down the fortifications of La Rochelle." The works were not completely finished at the death of the cardinal, who provided therefor by his will.
[Illustration: The King's Press----323] At the same time that he was repairing and enriching the Sorbonne, the cardinal was helping Guy de la Brosse, the king's physician, to create the Botanic Gardens (_Le Jardin des Plantes_), he was defending the independence of the College of France against the pretensions of the University of Paris, and gave it for its Grand Almoner his brother, the Archbishop of Lyons.

He was preparing the foundation of the King's Press (_Imprimerie royale_), definitively created in 1640; and he gave the Academy or King's College (college royal) of his town of Richelieu a regulation-code of studies which bears the imprint of his lofty and strong mind.

He prescribed a deep study of the French tongue.

"It often happens, unfortunately, that the difficulties which must be surmounted and the long time which is employed in learning the dead languages, before any knowledge of the sciences can be arrived at, have the effect, at the outset, of making young gentlemen disgusted and hasten to betake themselves to the exercise of arms without having been sufficiently instructed in good literature, though it is the fairest ornament of their profession.

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