Authour of the History I produce of him the judgement of his great Friend and Correspondent Monsieur de Balzac in the XXIX Letter of the second Book of his familiar Letters to Monsieur Chapelain Le CAR saith he alluding to the LIV. Letter of Monsieur de Voiture's de nostre Amy est une fort jolie chose il faut avâ—uer qu'il a le genie de la belle de la noble raillerie Je voudrois seulement qu'il travaillast un peu a purifier son stile Dans ses Escrits la construction est souvent embarasseÌ„e niles choses ni les paroles ne sont pas tousjours en leur juste place All the concernment I have in this is that if there cannot be a greater affectation then the slighting and scorning of Rules and that it must be ever attended with obscurity an imperfection in any Authour he who employes himselfe in the translation of such things must expect to meet with much ambiguity But of all writings there are not any lye more open to various construction then LETTERS it being supposed there is ever something particular between the two correspondents which a third person cannot possibly imagine To this therefore may the defects of the present work be justly attributed and that so much the rather that the Authour never intending any thing of these Letters to the publick and seeming to write all he did only for his Friends does it in such characters as were only intelligible by them His Poetry is excellent but free and unconstrained as having been rather his diversion then his Businesse He began a kind of Panegyrick for the Conde Duke d'Olivares to expresse his gratitude and acknowledgements of the favours he had received from him As also an History under the name of Alcidalis mentioned severall times in his letters but both are so imperfect that there is little probability the world will ever see them Of his Correspondence with Monsieur Costart for whom it seems he had an infinite esteem there is a great Book extant As to the advantages may be made of the present work of his Letters I doubt not but they will be thought considerable by those whom Conversation generous acquaintances and Affaires have any way raised above the Multitude Besides these it is not unfitly addressed to the greater number of young Students in the Vniversities who wanting the forementioned conveniences may by their serious perusall of these Letters learn to shake off their nurseries and pedanticall correspondences and be refin'd in some measure proportionably to the Eloquence and stile of Courts and Cities J. D. THE TABLE TO Monsieur de Voiture from Monsieur de Balzac LETTER 1. Monsieur de Voiture's Answer 2. To the Marquesse de Rambouillet 3. To my Lord Duke de Bellegarde with an Amadâ—s 4. 66. To Madame de Saintot with an Orlando Fuâ—oso translated by du Rosset 5. To the same 77 78 80. To my Lady Marchionesse de Rambouillet under the name of of Callot an excellent Graver with a Book of his Figures 6. To the same 7. 37. 82. 96 151. To Mademoiselle de Rambouillet under the name of the King Sweden 8 9. To the same upon the Word CAR 54. To the same 14. 23. 30. 49. 51. 55 56 57 58 59 60 62 63 64 65. 71. 86 87 88. 94 95. 98. 104. 112. 115. 129 130. 134. 152 153. 160. 161. To Mademoiselle de Bourbon 10. To my Lord Cardinall de la Valette 11. To the same 52. 67 68 69 70. 83 84. 101. To Mademoiselle Paulet 12. 20. 21 22 24 25 26. 28 29. 31 32 33. 39. 41 42 43. To Madame du Vigean with an Elegy he had made for her and which she had often begged of him 13. Toâ— my Lady Marchionesse de Sabâ—é 15 16 17 18 19. 86. 109. To Monsieur de Chaudebonne 27. 38. 40. 54. To Monsieur de Puy-Laurens 34 35. To Monsieur du Fargis 36. To Monsieur 45. To Monsieur 46. To my Lord Marquesse de Montausier finâ—e slain in la Valtelâ—ne 47. 107. To the same prisoner in Germany 143 144. To my Lord Marquesse Pisany 48. 85. 94 120. To the same having lost all his equipage at play at the siege of Thionville 146. To Monsieur Gourdon at London 50. To Monsieur Godeau since Bishop of Grasse 53. To the Marquesse of Soudeac at London 61. To Madame 73 74. To Madame â—6 To Monsieur upon the taking of Corbie from the Spaniards by the Kings forces 75. To Monsieur 103. To an unknown Mistresse 79. To Monsieur Arnaud under the name of the sage Icas 81. To Monsieur Costart 91 92 93. 97. 126 127 128. 136. 148. 166. 186 187. 192 193 194 195. To my Lord Bishop of Lisieux 99. To Monsieur de Lyone at Rome 100. To my Lord 102. To Madame la Princesse 105. To Monsieur Chapelain 106 112. 133. To Madame 107. To Madame 108. To Madame 110. To my Lord Cardinall Mazarine 116. To the Dutchesse of Savoy 117. To Mademoiselle Servant 118. To the Count de Guiche 119. 124. To the same upon his advancement to the charge of Marshall of France 125. To the Marshall de Grammont upon his Fathers death 159 170. To Monsieur de Serisantes Resident for the King with the Queen of Sweden 121. To Monsieur de Maison-Blanche at Constantinople 122. To Monsieur de Chavigny 123. 140. Butillerio Chavienio V. Victuru S. P. D 200. To my Lord President de Maisons 131 132. 141. To Monsieur Esprit 135. To the Marquesse of Roquelaure 138 To the Marquesse of St. Maigrin 139. To my Lord Duke d'Anguien upon the successe of the battell of Rocroy 1643. 143. To the same when he crossed the Rhine to joyn the Marshall de Guebriant 1643. 145. 174 175. 179. To the same upon the taking of Dunkirk 133. To the Prince 191. To my Lord d' Avaux surintendant of the Revenue and Pâ—enipotentiary for the Peace 147. 153. 167. 177 178. 184 185. 188 189. 196 197 198 199. To Monsieur de Chauchroche 149. To the Marchionesse de Vardes 150. To M. de B. M. de B. M. C. 154. To my my Lady Abess to give her thanks for a Car she had bestowed on him 155. To Monsieur Mauvoy to thank him for the sealed earth he had sent him 156. To the Count d' Alais 158. To Monsieur Chantelou 162. 171 172 173. To the Marshall de Schomâ— eâ—g 164 165. 174. So the Marshall d' Emery cotroller generall of the Revenue 168. To the Duke de la Tâ—imouille 177. 181 182. To the Queen of Poland 180. To the Dutchess of Longueville at Munster 190. TABLE Of the AMOROUS LETTERS TO Floricia 1. To Madame 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. To Diana 14 15. To Climene 16. To Mademoiselle de 17. To M. D. 18. To 19. To Madame 20. To Madame 21. THE LETTERS Of MONSIEURE de VOITURE The Letter of Monsieure de Balzac To Monsieur de VOITVRE
think also he that paies is bound and that it is my dutie some way or other to find you entertainment since I am paid for it Yet were it a great liberalitie in you who studie the vertue so much if to the obligation you have alreadie cast on me you would adde that of writing to me sometimes For I professe it is onelie you can inspire me with wit and methinks I am at a greater losse of it then ever since I have have not had the honour to see and hear you If you pretend your being a Plenipotentiary to exempt you from answering Papinianus had the charge of all the affaires of the Roman Empire and yet I can shew a hundred places in great books Papinianus respondit and respondit Papinianus They were the most politick and the most experienced that were wont to answer and thence comes responsa sapientum prudentum responsa Even the Oracles themselves and you can be no more gave answers nay even things inanimate do sometimes endeavour to make some answer Answers are forced from Waters Woods and Rocks Three words which you may say will afford me matter of writing for many leaves Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum This will cost you no time or if it do there needs only that time and Wit you spend in the evenings with your servants Your Lordship will pardon my importunitie for to deal freely with you I have an infinite desire to hear from you and if your Letters were to be had for monie your four thousand franks had been long since spent and so I should have returned all I had received from you We have had much adoe to be paid this year and yet I have made a shift to get mine By what Monsieur de Bailleul often tells me I inferre he expects some acknowledgement from you I beseech you when you write to him though sometimes you are also to seek what to say to him present him with something that he may know you are sensible of the service he hath done you Monsieur de will be shortly with you his wife an excellent and lovely creature is hghly in the Queens favour Be pleased to give him occasion to speak well of you at his return I am in no ordinary favour with the King and not in disgrace with the Queen But now I grow tediou and it is a question whether I transgresse not on your leasure I humbly kisse your hands and remain MY LORD Your c. To Monsieur d'Emery controller Generall of the Finances LETTER CLXVIII SIR THough you were unwilling I should speak of your other Leters yet must you needs give me leave to celebrate that you writ to Monsieur d'Arses upon my account and to tell you that France affords but very few that could do the like And particularly that passage where you say thar to contract my Businesse you will advance your monie methinks is one of the neatest expressions I ever read and how modest soever you may be yet you will acknowledge that to offer twentie eight thousand franks for a friend is a noble kind of expression and that there are very few can make use of that stile and can expresse themselves after that manner At least Sir give me leave to tell you that had it been debated among all the Wits of the Academy it would not have been resolved to write after that manner and that among the many excellent humours we light on there is not any like thaâ— It is to speak seriouslie a most noble and most high To my Lord Duke d' Anguien LETTER CLXIX MY LORD IF I have seemed backward in the congratulation of a successe which hath cost you the losse of the Marquess of Pisany you will not I hope think it strange and doubt not of your Highnesses pardon if upon this occasion I have been more taken up with grief then joy It is no article of my faith my Lord who would cheerfullie sacrifice my life to your service that those who have lost theirs in it have mis-spent them but could heartilie wish my self in their condition rather then be so unhappy as to be obliged to weep in one of your Victories In the mean time my Lord since I have to encounter one of the saddest afflictions could fall upon me it is no small alleviation that you have so fortunately and so gloriously trampled on so many hazards and that heaven hath been pleased to be tender of a person to whom I might address all the respect and zeal which I may have vowed to all those I shall or may ever loose My prayers to it my Lord are that it would be more carefull of your life then you are your selfe and start me out some occasion to satisfie your Highnesse how much and how passionatelie I am Your c To my Lord Marshall de Grammont LETTER CLXX MY LORD THe grief I took at the death of the Marquesse of Pisany which is the greatest I ever had to deal with took away nothing of my afflâ—ction for your imprisonment but since at a time when I thought my self uncapable of joy the news of your Libertie hath found it reception It is indeed some comfort to me amidst so much disturbance to see that all my passions are not unfortunate and that Fortune is not so cruel as to take away all the persons that are dearest â—o me I were yet to learn my Lord one of the best qualities that you owne and how much above all men you are capable of a true and perfect friendship if I were not satisfied that you were as sensible of that misfortune as my self And though you should have been long since hardened to accidents of this nature and accustomed to lose the friends you most esteem yet I am confident the losse of this hath extremelie troubled you and that you will ackowledge you never made any that you ought to put on more sorrow for For my part who was acquainted with the very secrets of his heart and know the greatest esteem he had for any thing in the world was for you I should neglect my dutie to his memorie and frustrate the intentions I have ever to observe his inclinations and the designes he had if upon his account I should not force my self into your service more then ever and adde somewhat to the affection wherewith I have ever honoured you Of this my Lord I question the possibilitie but it is my dutie to do what I can towards it and withall to professe that if the passion I have for you cannot admit any augmentation it shall never decrease and that I shall ever be MY LORD Yours c To Monsieur de Chantelou LETTER CLXXI. SIR A Mistresse and a suit at Law will certainlie find a man too much businesse at a time but if you had pleased to take the Law-suit into your care and recommend the Mistresse to me though I am infinitelie pleased with all your commands I must confesse I should
is that the world affords few comparable to you nor any whom Nature hath furnished with such a combination of a great soul and a vast wit According to that opinion be you pleased to imagine with what impatience I wish your return and if I am not as much concerned as any man in that peace which is the expectation of all Europe Amidst the greatest assemblies the highest entertainments and the most pleasant walks I make perpetuall wishes for your conversation your suppers over a single Napkin and those turnes you honoured me with in your Garden But now it comes into my mind by what engines did you raise that great house which appeared on a sudden in St Avoye's street For a thing so unexpected seemes rather to have been made pegmate aliquo quà m aedificatione Et crescunt mediâ pegmata celsa viâ The walls of Thebes weâ—e not raised with so much expedition and if as I have heard the stones of Citheron came running and leaping where they were appointed to come and disposed themselves into their proper places it was a great convenience Well we must come to what your postillion said You are a strong man you pull down a house in three dayes triduo reaedificas illam but Goodnesse with what lustre and magnificence All the Architects then whom the world affords not a more jealous or a more envious generation acknowledge nothing can be more noble but what takes me is that you do this at a distance of two hundred leagues and that by your Overseers Whereas all others who build will needs place every stone goes into their edifices with their own hands and they are ever seen confusedlie with their Workmen surveying measuring calling giving orders nasty and slovenly Atque indecoro pulvere sordidos It is onely you can do these things by proxie and clearlie discover that the designe of pacifying Christendome is that onlie whith takes up all your thoughts since the building of a Palace cannot so much as divert them and that those things which wholly possesse the soules of other men cannot find any entertainment in yours In the mean time I adde my joyes to yours in the name of the Penates of Jean Jacques de Mesmes and all the other eminent persons your Ancestors in the name of the Penates who were the tutelarie Deities of Passerat and of all the learned of that age as also of this that you have reedified and adorned their ancient seat and that Non sinis ingentem consenâ—isse domum My hearty wishes are that you may suddenlie enjoy your self in it and that you may see your self Quà m dispari domui dominaris But my Lord I am come to the nineth page having strained my wits so far that at last I have dress'd up a Letter of a fair length You cannot imagine what ease I am at now but yet you will you cannot but imagine it I am now free for three or four moneths I humbly kisse your hands am going to the Faire and remain My LORD Your c To Monsieur Costart LETTER CLXXXVI SIR YOu will be extremelie surpriz'd that I should desire your assistance in a businesse I have on the other side of the mountains and that it is to be employed against the Romanes This is not the first time you know that they have disturbed their quiet who owed them nothing but I think they were never so unreasonable with any as they are with me nor were so troublesome to Hannibal as they are like to be to me if you relieve me not Quorsum haec I shall tell you There is among them an Academie consisting of certain persons who are called the Humorists which signifies as much as if one should say Fantasticks and indeed they are such in so high a degree that they will needs have me matriculated among them and have signified so much to me by a Letter written by one of the Body I am obliged to return them another in Latine to give them thanks and this is that I am troubled about But you were no sooner in my thoughts but I was presently at ease for I thought my businesse done there being a man in Poitou who hath an excellent command of writing Letters in Latine and would not deny me such a Courtefie Their device is a sinne exhaling the vapours of the Sea which are returned in shâ—wers with this motto out of Lucretius Fluit agmine dulci. Be pleased to consider if you can find any thing to say to them as to that and the honour they have done me whereof I merit so little in a word do the best you can If it come to the worst Monsieur Pauquet will not faile who understands this businesse better then any of us which yet I absolutely referre to you both for I am not able to undertake it and therefore be you pleased to do it Me dulcis domina Musa Lycimnia Cantus me voluit dicere lucidum Fulgentes oculos benè mutuis Fidum pectus amoribus Poor Lycimnia hath been gone hence these eight dayes I must needs acknowledge I love her more then I do my self but not more then I do you I am SIR Yours c To the same LETTER CLXXXVI SIR I H have a great desire to come and live with you in Poitou for I find that you and Mousieur Pauquet are grown greater wits since your coming thither then you were before On the contrary I come out of a countrie where mine is grown rustie in the aboad of fifteen daies as being not blest with the sight either of good books or your Letters and waiting on Ladies who understand not a word of Cicero Virgill or Terence To deal truly with you I am extreamly taken with all you write and unlesse it be your absence there is no rate I would not buy your Letters at When ever I casuallie meet with any thing I conceive worth your acquaintance I am not so much pleased at what I write to you as what I know you will answer thereto and think with my self Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum Serioussâ—e if I thought not my self so much concerned in your reputation as my own I should be extremalie jealous of you but I do not conceive it of much consequence whether you or I be the more learned or the greater wit my reputation at Rome will be the same and I put so little difference between what is yours and mine that I am as much pleased at your Latine as if I had writ it my self Methinks there needs no more then this to qualifie me for the Academie of the Humorists and that a man who hath such a friend as you are deserves entertainment every where Quintilian saies nemo speret ut alieno labore sit disertus yet I hope it of you I believe I shall by your means be eloquent as often as I shall have need and if I take some pains to preserve my Latine it is not so much for any use I shall
that as soon as his Majesties affairs shall give you leave you will return hither to enjoy those Goods which none but your self can be worthy of But my Lord I am not satisfi'd whether we are not over confident of a Nation that hath made so great usurpations upon us to have trusted you in their power and accordingly fear the Spaniards will be as loath to part with you as la Valteline This fear certainly would put me into a far greater disorder were I not confident that those of the Councel of Spain have not since your coming into the Country been Masters of their own resolutions and that you have already made too many servants there to stand in fear of any violence We may then hope that as soon as the Sun which scorches men and dries up Rivers shall begin to re-assume his heat you will return hither and overtake the Spring which you had already pass'd over there and gather Violets after you have seen the fall of Roses For my part I expect this season with much impatience not so much because it furnishes us with Flowers and fair weather as that it brings your return and I promise you I shal not think it pleasant if it come without you I am of opinion you will easily believe what I say for I am confident you allow me to be so good as that I should passionately wish a felicity wherein so many are concern'd besides that you know how particularly I am My Lord Yours c. Paris March 8. To my Lord Duke de Bellegarde with an Amadis LETTER IIII. My LORD IN a time when there is such a confusion in History I thought I might presume to send you Fables and that being in a place where you only study a remission of your spirits you might afford some of those hours you spend among the Gentlemen of your Province to entertain Amadis I hope considering the solitude you are in he will find you some pleasant diversions by the relation of his Adventures which certainly must be the noblest in the World till you shall think fit to acquaint it with your own But what ever we may read of him we must acknowledg your Fortunes are as extraordinary as his and that of all those Enchantments which he hath dissolv'd there is not any one which you could not have master'd unless it be haply that of the Ark of the faithful Lovers In a word my Lord you have rais'd in France a more amiable and a more accomplish't Roger then he Greece or that of Ariosto and this without any enchanteâ— Arms without the assistance of Alquif or Urganda and without any other charms then those of your own person you have had both in War and Love the greatest successes imaginable Besides if we consider that exactness of courtesie which could never degenerate those powerful graces whereby you gain the affections of all that see you and that height and constancy of mind which would never permit you to decline into any breach of duty or civility it will be hard not to conclude you descended from the Race of the Amad's And I am of opinion if you 'l beleeve me that the History of your Life will be one day added to those many Volumes we have of theirs You have been the Ornament and Esteem of three several Courts you have so behav'd your self that you have had Kings to your Rivals yet not to your enemies and at the same time possess'd their favour and that of their Mistresses and in an Age wherein Discretion Civility and true Gallantry were banished this Court you have given them a Retreat in your self as in a Sanctuary where they have been admir'd by all the world though not imitated by any And truly one of the chiefest reasons whereby I was perswaded to send you this Book was to let you know what advantage you have even over those who have been dressed up by imagination to be the patterns of others and how far the inventions of Italians and Spaniards come short of your Vertue In the mean time my humble suit to you is that you would be assured among all the affections it hath gain'd you it hath not rais'd in any so much admiration and true passion as it hath in me and consequently that I am much beyond what I am able to express and with all manner of respect My Lord Yours c. To Madam de Saintot with an Orlando Furioso in French Translated by du Rosset LETTER V. MADAM THis certainly is the noblest Adventure that ever Orlando was engag'd in nay when he alone defended the Crown of Charlemaigne and snatch'd Scepters out of the hands or Kings he could not pretend to any thing so glorious as now that he hath the honour to kiss yours The Title of Furioso under which he hath wandred all over the earth must not divert you from granting him that favour nor frighten you from affording him your presence for I am confident he will be civiliz'd by being near you and that he will forget Angelica assoon as he shall have seen you This at least I know by experience that you have already done greater Miracles then this and that you have sometime with one word cur'd a greater madness then his And certainly it were far beyond all that Ariosto hath said of it it he should not acknowledge the advantage you have over the Lady and confess if she were plac'd near you that she would address her self with much more necessity then ever to the Vertue of her Ring This Beauty who of all the Knights in the world met not with any compleatly arm'd who never smite the eyes of any one whose heart she wounded not and who by her love burnt up as many parts of the world as the Sun enlightens was but a faint draught of those Miracles which we are to admire in you All the Colours all the Adulterations of Poetry have not been able to represent her so fair as we finde you it being a thing even beyond the reach even of Poetical extravagance for to say truth it is much more easie to imagine Chambers of Chrystal and Palaces of Diamonds And all the enchantments of Amadis which you look on as so incredible cease to be such when once compar'd to yours At the first sight to fix the most obstinate minds and settle such as are at the greatest distance from slavery to kindle in them a certain love that submits to reason yet knows not what hope or desire means to Crown with Glory and Delight those souls whom you have depriv'd of all rest and Liberty and to dismiss those infinitely satisfied whom you do not any ways oblige these are effects more strange and more remote from probability then Hippogryphs and flying Chariots or whatever our Romans furnish us with that is yet more wonderful I should make a greater Book then that which I send you if I continue this Discourse but this Knight who could never be brought
Bellegarde LETTER LXV My Lord MR de Chaudebonne is guilty of the boldnesse I take to write to you as being the only comfort he could give me in the affliction he sees me almost orewhelmed with T' is true my my Lord the trouble I take not to have found you here I number among the greatest I have met with in this Country I prepared my self for this banishment the more out of some hopes I might spend it in your Company and doubted not to find France where-ever you were But this would have been too great a comfort for a man destined to unhappiness nor is Fortune ever so favourable to those shee persecutes In the interim my Lord I look on it as a good presage that shee is pleased we should be at some reasonable distance from you and have some faith shee will be reconciled with us if shee once afford us the happiness of your presence For to be ingenuous My Lord I cannot imagine shee hath absolutely forsaken you and there needs no more then her sex to argue shee cannot have you and that shee will shortly see you again But though you want her you are not without that extraordinary prudence and height of courage which attends you every where and which you have not long since so nobly expressed that I question whether those unfortunate years have not been more advantagious to you then others I could easily My Lord spin out this discourse to a great length but I would not be thought indiscreet in the management of the freedome is allow'd me To my Lord Cardinal de la Valette LETTER LXVI My Lord I would gladly know how long it is since you questioned whether the four last Books of the Aeneids were written by Virgil or not and whether Terence be the true Author of Phormio I should not ask so confidently but you know that in Triumphs Soldiers are wont to jest with their Commanders and that the joy of a Victory permits that freedome which without it might not be assum'd Confesse therefore freely how long it is since you have thought on little Erminia in the Verses of Catullus or those of Monsieur Godeau But My Lord though you had forgotten all the rest you should ever be mindful of his Benedicite for no man had ever so much cause to say it as you or was so highly oblig'd to render thanks to the Lord of Hoasts To do you right the Conduct and Fortune whereby you have secur'd us is one of the greatest Miracles ever were seen in War and all the circumstances so extravagant that I should put them into the Chapter of Apparent falsities were there not so many witnesses and that I am satisfied nothing of Miracle can happen to you which ought not to be believ'd The joy wherewith all you love here are fill'd at this news is a thing beyond all representation But can you imagine My Lord that those Persons who were heretofore ravish'd at your singing and Poetry must needs be now infinitely satisfied when they hear it said that you raise sieges take Cities and defeat Armies and that the greatest hope of good successe in our Affairs lyes in you I assure you this is entertain'd here with the greatest resentment you could wish and which is more then you think your Armes gain Victories more desireable then all those you can have beyond the Rhine How amibitious soever you may be that consideration should engage you to return for assure your self My Lord a Battle is not now the noblest thing that may be gain'd and you will acknowledge your self that there may be a Rose or a Shoe-String fit to be preferr'd before nine Imperial Ensigns I am My Lord Your c. Paris Oct. 23. 1635. To the same LETTER LXVII My Lord I Have shewn Monsr de St. H Monsr de St. R and Monsr de St. Q that passage of your Letter where you speak of my Lord 's menial Servants I am to acquaint you that they have taken it very ill and am consident that Mr des Ousches to whom I have not yet communicated it will be of the same opinion So that were I to arme my self against your menaces you may easily judge I shall not want Friends and that my writing to you now proceeds not so much from fear as from a sincere Affection and a natural inclination I have to obey you Besides those I have named this place affords a many other gallant Persons such as it were a little more dangerous to quarrel with who take it not well I should take paines for your diversion and think it unreasonable you should take any wanting their presence And truly my Lord since your absence smothers all their enjoyments it were but just you should with no other then that of seeing them again and that in the mean time you would not admit any divertisement I can assure you that whatever is taken here at this time hinders them not from thinking on you and making continual wishes for your return The cold and snows of the Mountains of Alsatia benumb them and make them tremble even in the greatest Assemblies and the fear of the ambushes of the Cravates perpetually Alarms them in the midst of Paris But what is most remarkable and which will haply seem incredible to you is that I have observ'd M. de B M. de R melancholy in the midst of the Bal and that upon your account and sighing in the height of the Musick What judgment My Lord or what advantage you will make of it I know not but for my part let them do what they can hereafter I am confident they shall never be able to give you a higher expression of their affection Taking out the other day the last Letter you honour'd me with and reading that passage where you tell me that you were upon your departure instead of saying into Alsatia I read Thracia Iron-armes who you know is not wont to be easily mov'd at any thing grew as pale as a clout and said full of amazement into Thracia Sr. and another who stood by and is a little better acquainted with the Globe then the other could not but be a little disturb'd I would gladly entertain your Lordship with somthing concerning your Spouse but I know not what to say of her for whatever shall be said of her will be incredible and there is not any thing in her exceeds not the limits of description Whatever you have observ'd in her that might raise love or admiration is augmented hourly and there are daily discover'd in her new Treasures of beauty wit and generosity But with all I dare assure you shee hath in your absence behav'd herself with all the circumspection you could wish I know there is a certain report which questionless hath raised in you some jealousy for I am not ignorant of the humours of your Africans and it is true there is a young gallant of a good family and who may one day come to
allocutio There you have all my Latine at a breath and the truth on 't is I have not French enough to make you fully understand as I could wish the true resentments I have of your care towards me and the affection I perceive you have for me I have not observed any thing by your Letter which I am not infinitely satisfied with and quarrell at nothing but the praises you give me for to be free from you you set too high a rate upon Et crassum unguentum sardo cum melle papaver Nay though you were taken with my Nardus yet the rest of the Letter if my memory failes me not was not much to be admired as having been written in haste Quid quod olet gravius mistum diapasmate virus For the passage of Terence which you taxe me with passing by without saying any thing of it I think it was done because I would not perceive any difficulties therein Cato would make Thraso understand that having often heard that wittie replie and never learning who the Authour was he had presently concluded it to be one of those pithie expressions which above a many others gaine reputation in processe of time and which are remembred as Apothegmes and does not mean that he did not believe it because he was the first that said it but that before that he had looked on it as an ancient saying audieras Gn. saepe fertur in primis I see not what youl l stick at there For my part I fear me you understood it not since you are scrupulous about it and that you are one of those Qui faciunt ne intelligendo ut nihil intelligant But certainlie it is in me a great presumption nay ingratitude to speak thus to a man who writes such excellent things to me I must confesse I learn more out of your Letters then I have out of all the books I ever read and that if I am Magister coenae you are Magister scholae or to speak better Latine Ludi Magister which is as much as Cicero said of Hirtius Pansa Hirtium Pansam habeo dicendi discipulos coenandi magistros But I beseech you give me good large Lessons that is write large Letters Parcentes ego dexteras Odi But I have not done yet for sparge rosas is very good again and do not think to excuse your self upon the dust and barrennesse of Philosophie and Theologie These sciences must needs flourish in your hands pro carduo pro paliuro foliis acutis surget mollis viola purpureus Hyacinthus Quicquid calcaveris hîc rosa fiet You strew your flowers every where but do not imagine I am satisfied with a present of those of Seneca it is as much as if you sent me Cheap-side I would have them up and down at random per devia rura and such as are more naturall Et flores terrae quos ferunt solutâ— To be free with you I am not much taken with that Authour I like your Latine better then his and have been more pleased with the things you have said of your self then what you have quoted out of him But amidst the satisfaction it is to receive of your Letters it often happens that the pleasure I find in reading of them augments the regret I have that I cannot see you and makes me the more sensible of the losse it is to me not to be near a person that writes such things and who were he but here would enteâ—aine me with the like every morning medio de fonte lepôrum Surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat For Pliny I much wonder he should make such account of the saying of his Senator and am no lesse surprised that you should so much commend that of Montagne's Nimium patienter utrumque I shall for your sake forbear the rest the sayings of Monsieur Pauquet are much beyond any of those Gentlemen That you have communicated to me of his hath made me laugh heartilie I have seen all the Letters you have written hither and to Angoulesme and I admire them all I cannot but tell you that the halfe page where you speake to me of Monsieur de P seems to me to have been written by Petronius Farewell I had written this letter to you before but understanding by what you write to my Ladie Marchionesse de Sablé that you had not received it I have gotten it together again as well as I could if you now receive it twice I am confident you will read it but once I am Your c. To the same LETTER CXCIV SIR QVo me Bacchi rapis tui Plenum quae in nemora aut quos agor in specus Velox mente nova What vast Countries do you shew me and what unknowne worlds do you represent to me such as I should never have discovered Vt mihi devio Ripas vacuum nemus mirari libet Your great Factor awaked me to deliver me your Letter I cannot expresse the astonishment I was in to finde my self Master of such treasures and to see so many things that were new to me Non secùs in jugis Ex somnis stupet Evias Hebrum prospiciens nive candidam Thracem This certainly must needs be highly noble after a night spent one halfe in gaming the other in sleep to awake more knowing Me fabulosae Vulture in Appulo Ludo fatigatumque somno Fronde novâ puerum palumbes Texere Be pleased by the way to observe that fatigatum somno and give me your judgement of it Let me not faile of the continuance of your good offices and care of me whereof I would have you more liberall then you were the last time Nec parce cadis mihi destinatis Treat me alwayes alike Et chia vina aut Lesbia Vel quod fluentem nauseam coerceat Metire nobis Coecubum But with these Greek wines mixe some of your own I shall esteem your fancies as highly as those of Aeschylus or Sophocles and think not your self out of my debt that you have caused Monsieur Pauquet to transcribe three or four sheets of your Collections Methinks you have done as that Caupo of Ravennâ— you have sent it me merum when I desired it mixtum But you have been extremely fortunate in finding out the devia rura I desired and have pleased me infinitely Spanish wines are too stâ—ong for me Generosum molle requiro Quod curas abigat quod cum spe divite manet Invenias animùmque meum quod verba ministret Quod me Lucanae juvenem commendet amicae I am ashamed after all this to return you Villum pro vino But what would you have Nos alicam mulsum poterit tibi mittere dives But amongst all the good entertainment you make me I am surprised at the difficulties you propose and I can compare it to nothing but Inter pateras lenia pocula serpens After you had treated me so well you put me upon the rack
not my resentment just but I could be no longer angrie with you and am convinced that you cannot do me so great a displeasure for which three words from you shall not procure an act of Oblivion For in fine my affection is at the present arrived to that point whereto you said once at St. Clou that it ought to be in so much that though I should finde you guilâ—ie not of a negligence but an infidelitie I could not forbeare loving you Since it was decreed I should be in the power of some one it is certainlie my great happinesse that I am fallen into the hands of a person of so much goodnesse reason and integritie and who disposes of me with more care caution and lenitie then I could do my self But all this granted I have at the present to object to you that you have not that tenderness of my quiet you ought for to deal freelie what was your intention to write to me that Fortune hath carried her self verie stranglie towards you without acquainting me how and leaving the rest to my conjecture It is indeed an invention the neatest that may be to make me imagine and feel all the misfortunes that may have happned to you whereas I should have had but some to wrastle with if you had acquainted me how it is Deliver me as soon as you please out of this paine which I professe is one of the greatest I ever had in my life I write to you in much haste and disturbance for I am now called away by some that knock at my Chamber door But I cannot endure to write you a short Letter and you hâ—plâ—e would think it as mischievous as the other if it be not long enough I have kissed yours a thousand tâ—mes and read it almost as manie it is the hanâ—somest and mâ—st obliging in the World But I beseech you write to me negligentlie that you may do it the more pleasantlie and entertain me in your Letters with the same freedom as you spoke to me in your Chamber I am but too well acquainted with your abilities fear it not and I would have a knowledge of your affection proportionable to my wishes I am extreamlie glad you are with the person you tell me of for knowing how much you love her and how amiable she is I doubt not but she contributes much to your enjoyments You tell me that she is now as well acquainted with me as you are How have you acquainted her with all my ill conditions have you told her how full of mischief I am and what trouble I have put you to If it be so it is certainlie verie maliciouslie done and assure your self I shall to be revenged know what I have to tell her of you when I see her It was not necessarie to make such a particular description of me and it had been better to have done it lesse like that so I might have been more handsome for she who is so tender of your quiet and who hath no jealousie for you and so much affects what you love I am afraid may wish me ill for having tormented you so much and believe me a person of little honour when she shall understand I have been jealous But I beseech you make it your businesse to raise in her a good opinion of me for I desire above all things to be in her favour and now that I conceive my self in your affectionâ— there is not any thing I desire so much as her friendship Foâ—r daies since I lost Monsieur C. and certainlie with much regâ—et for J love and esteem him infinitelie I told him that J was to write to you by the way of you have satisfied me verie much where you tell me that you take great delight in reading the books I presented you with but let me know which of them you are most taken with and in that what pleases you best I was resolved to beg some account of them from you but now I desire not onelie that but of whatever you do for I shall be extreamlie glad to know the most inconsiderable of your thoughts and actions I am upon my return to Paris where I shall finde a Letter of yours which makes me verie impatient to be there two daies I hope will bring me thither But in regard the Messenger goes not away till to morrow noone I send this Letter before by a Lacqueie Adieu I begge the continuance of your affection for my part how much I love you I am not not able to tell you time shall discover To Madam LETTER XX. MADAM I Am at last come hither alive and am ashamed to tell it you for methinks a person of honour ought not to live after he had been ten daies without seeing you I should be the more astonished that I have been able to do it were I not satisfied that for some time there have happned things to me altogether extraordinarie and such as whereof I had not the least expectation and that since I have seen you all things are done in me by miracle It is certainlie a strange effect that I have all this while withstood so manie afflictions and that a man so much wounded could hold out so long No sadnesse so weightie no sorrow comparable to that I struggle with Love and feare grief and impatience are my perpetual torments and the heart I had bestowed on you whole is now torne into a thousand pieces but you are in everie one of them nor could I part with the least to any I finde here In the mean time amidst so manie and such mortal afflictions I assure you I am not to be pittied for it is onelie in the lower region of my minde that the tempests are raised and while the clouds are in perpetual agitation the higher part of my soul is quiet and clear when you shine with the same beautie lustre and influences as you had on the fairest daies wherein I have seen you and with those beames and circulations of light and graces as are sometimes seen about you I must needs confesse as often as my imagination is directed that way I am insensible of all affliction So that it sometimes happens that while my heart suffers extraordinarie torments my soul tastes infinite felicities and at the same time that I am afflicted weep and consider my self at a great distance from your presence nay haplie your thoughts I would not change fortunes with those who see are lov'd and enjoy I know not whether you Madam whose soul knows not the least disturbance can conceive these contrarieties it is as much as I can do to comprehend them who feel them and am often astonished to finde my self so happie and so unhappie at the same time But let not I beseech you what I tell you of my happinesse divert your care from a consideration of my miseries for they are such as cease not to frighten me even when I feel them not the only agitation of two