He had already foreseen the power of the press; he had laid hands on Doctor Renaudot's _Gazette de France;_ King Louis XIII.

often wrote articles in it; the manuscript exists in the National Library, with some corrections which appear to be Richelieu's.

As for the theatre, the cardinal aspired to try his own hand at the work; his literary labors were nearly all political pieces; his tragedy of _Mirame,_ to which he attached so much value, and which he had represented at such great expense for the opening of his theatre in the Palais-Cardinal, is nothing but one continual allusion, often bold even to insolence, to Buckingham's feelings towards Anne of Austria.

The comedy, in heroic style, of Europe, which appeared in the name of _Desmarets,_ after the cardinal's death, is a political allegory touching the condition of the world.

Francion and Ibere contend together for the favors of Europe, not without, at the same time, paying court to the Princess Austrasia (Lorraine).