to assure him of my acknowledgments for this favour and preserve me in his good opinion You see Sir it is by you that I entertain commerce with honest men and I am priz'd by them onely according to the esteem you make of me But there can nothing be added to my gratitude for your goodnesse and I am more perfectly then any person in the world SIR Your c. Balzac 25 July 1641. LETTER XX. SIR YOu may write to me in haste as long as you please and bestow what appellation you will upon the things you do me the honour to send me Divina responsa propositiones aeternae veritatis and if there were any terms more noble I should employ them upon this occasion It is certain that a genius and judgment are the two essentiall parts of a Poet and I rest satisfied with all that you have told me thereupon But having submitted my self intirely to your authority you would have me a little content my reason Permit me therefore to read Ronsard again over for upon the last reading I thought him rather the matter and beginning of a Poet then one accomplish'd and in the fire wherewith his imagination was heated there was much lesse of flame then smoak and foot You know the fancy of the late Monsieur de Malherbe that blotted out a whole Volume with his own hand and did not pardon one syllable I do not approve his rigour so universall But if all the Sonnets all the Franciade and all the Odes were lost I think I should not need much comfort against my sorrow I have written in Latine to Monsieur Silhon what I conceived both of the one and the other I mean of the Martyr and the Tyrant Ronsard and Malherbe Be pleased for my sake to read that part over again and send me your opinion of it to the end I may know if mine be right and I may hold me to it I am ravish'd with the second article of your Letter and cannot sufficiently commend the judgment prudence and magnanimity which you manifest in the Treaty whereof I made the overture I hope the successe will be happy and that you will have no cause either to reproach my credulity or repent the confidence you have put in me God forbid I should have a designe to deceive you I have all the morall assurances that can be had of the faith of another And if I were not certain that I bestow a try'd friend upon you I should not be so forward to be the instrument of the new friendship which I propose you if any evill ever come of it Dii in me convertant I am passionately SIR Your c. Balzac 20 August 1641. LET. XXI SIR I Am not very healthfull and yet you must know that amidst my grief I have been guilty of an infidelity agnosce verba tua amicissime elegantissime Capellane for I have burnt with another fire then yours you will discover it in the Letter I writ to Monsieur Menage which is full of passion Be pleased to tell him that I have answer'd him in the vulgar language for the same reason that Statius being to speak of Lucan durst not venture to do it in heroick Verse Ego saith he non potui majorem tanti authoris habere reverentiam quà m quod laudes ejus dicturus Hexametros meos timui I fear'd as much for my Latine and did not think it worthy to be oppos'd to that of his excellent Letter although in the Apostill I forgot my self more then once and deliver'd both Prose and Verse in that Mistresse of Tongues but according to my custome more out of caprichio then designe Since he is as earnestly desirous to see his name in my Letters as Cicero was to see his in the Histories of Luceius and borrowes his words Ardeo cupiditate incredibili nomen meum c. to signifie his intention I beseech you to tell him that I love him so well that though I abhor every thing that is called a Letter I will for his sake print a Volume Et quidem brevi ut primo quo que tempore compos fiat voti non ambitiosissimi You have no cause to wonder that I am a sworn confederate of the excellent persons you speak of Were it your pleasure I would side with my enemies if I have any yet remaining And how can it be that I should not esteem goddesses upon your recommendation who am ready at your instance to compose Hymns upon the Harpuies I am SIR Your c. Balzac 22 Aug. 1641. LETTER XXII SIR YOu ever make the two hardest parts of the argument and leave me onely the pains to draw out the consequence Let this glorious liberty flourish and let us dethrone all Tyranny in the affairs of Philosophy You speak admirably that our reason ought to yield obedience to nothing but reason and that Authority is a yoak which Religion onely has right to impose upon the judgments of men Upon these considerations I shall take the freedome to dissent sometimes from the Paradoxes of Zeno to debate the opinions of Aristotle and to question the maxims of Aristippus especially when he speaks Latin to a man that understands it not For the Letter of Monsieur which I send you I had much ado to arive at the end of it it seemed longer to me then the Ecclesiastes the Proverbs and the book of Wisdom yea then that stupendious volume wherein he treated of the Universe and the properties of all Plants Is it possible that a man should write Letters of supererogation to another man that he knowes not and that the same man should have an imagination strong enough to perswade himself that he knowes that man and that he received Letters from him and the History of the Cardinal Bentivoglio and communicated his own with him Without question this is one of my Antipodes and of a contrary nature to the negligent person that never writes Letters when civility requires it or his affairs urge it or even necessity seems to enforce it I had almost slipt a great word nor when Monsieur Chapelain appoints it which is more powerfull with me then necessity it self But you say nothing of Monsieur l'Huilier who is an antient Roman disguis'd and makes Elogies of neer resemblance with those of Ovid I would gladly see them at the end of the life of his friend Monsieur du Peiresk with all the pomp and gallantry of the Impression I had delivered your three Italian Books to Monsieur Girard if he had taken my house in his passage according to his promise But I hear he was necessitated by his occasions to go another way He will not be backward to enjoy the honour of your company and verifie all that I have said or written of him at several times I have added five or six Verses to the last Latin Letter which I writ to Monsieur Maynard wherein you will perceive that I spend all my gall against the old Court
an affront to Philosophy and a doubting the profession you make of it to treat you like vulgar men I remember Seneca sometimes comforted women and a servant but I do not observe that any body undertook ever to comfort Seneca I assent to you concerning whatsoever they speak most highly and magnificently of your friend and if you will allow me to make use in French of a sentence borrowed from Greece I adde that we have lost in that rare person a piece of the wracks of Antiquity and a relique of the Golden Age. All the vertues of Heroick times were retired into this lovely soul The universall corruption had no power over the goodnesse of his Temper and the evill that touch'd him could not defile him His generosity was not bounded by the sea nor confin'd to this side the Alpes He sowed his favours and civilities on all sides and had remerciments sent him from the remotest corners of Syria and the top of Mount Libanus In an indifferent fortune he had the thoughts of a great Lord and never ceas'd to be a Mecaenas although not supported by the amity of Augustus So that in this regard I shall not scruple to averre that he maintain'd the primitive splendour of gallantry in France and the good esteem that forreine nations do yet retaine of her I am of as certaine beliefe as you Sir that he will be lamented of what ever is great and illustrious reasonable and intelligent both within and without the Kingdome I am confident Italy will celebrate his memory in all her learned assemblies and that in the Ages of the Princes Barberini Rome cannot be indifferent to the memory of one so deare to the Muses and I make no question but the Holy Faâ—â—er who vaâ—ewed him so highly cannot forbeare to bewaile him for in the midst of that serenity which above us environnes him this cloud of sadnesse reaches his height But concerning all these things which you write to me far more eloquently then I am able to repeat your discretion without doubt can afford your self greater Consolation then what you seeme to desire from your friends If your losse were not common to you with the noble Multitude if both soveraignes and people were not interested in your griefe it might be thought almost insupportable but since there 's no body but beares his part with you certainly there is a great deal of sweetnesse in an affliction that makes all the world on your side nay should you esteem your selfe unhappy in this respect it could not but be with some kind of Contentation There is in earnest I know not what that pleases in the very wounds of this nature when Princes are equally concern'd with private persons and Paris joynes with the Country in the same fellowship of sadnesse why should we nitty or lament It is a funerall little lesse splendid then a Triumph the praises and acclamations abroad take away all the bitternesse of domestique Complaints and me-thinks the possession of that Glory which cannot be ascertain'd but by death is very well worth three or four scurvy yeares that might have been annexed to old age To this glory if I could contribute any thing I should esteem my selfe happy and towards this I offer you my hands and labour though I cannot erect either Colossus'es or Pyramides yet Sir without offence to those who have a larger and more sublime fancy who would set whole Forests and Mountaines on work I have heard that some Artists have wrought in little with much commendation It is possible to be famous for ones Art and not be prodigall of the Materialls a great deale of matter may be comprehended in a few words which by a long discourse is enervated There are bad Preachers and scurvy funerall Orations enough in the world already I beseech you let not me increase the number and be one of those officious enemies who thus with a good intention injure the patience of the Living and memory of the dead I have too great an Ambition of pleasing you to give my selfe the trouble or runne the hazzard of disturbing your quiet And if you were indispos'd I do not set so high a rate on my medicines to make experiments on such a soul as yours Take it not ill then I beseech you that I obey you after another fashion then you commanded me and that I go whither you desire me but by a way that to my selfe seemes most convenient Procure Messieurs de Pâ—i to approve of it too for in my judgment they are no lesse inveterate enemies then my selfe to these ridiculous Alasses and tiresome lamentations for if I be not deceived they preferre the shorâ—est Eulogy in Livy before the great volume of discourses printed after the death of the late King though Legitimate Apothâ—osies are not made any where but in their studies and that from thence credit and esteem are dispenced and men are declared Illustrious I will not omit since they will have it so to do my devotions apart nor will I scrupulously refuse room in my Workes to a vertue which they have already listed up to Heaven The Contentment of my friends shall ever be dearer to me then my own reputation The least beck from you shall have a greater power over me then that Lethargy of Spirit you so handsomely reproach me with And therefore though I should spoile the businesse that you Imagine I shall give lustre to doubt not but I am very glad to evince to you on this opportunity that I am SIR Your c. Aug. 15. 1640. MEntion is made of this Letter in the life of Monsieur de Peiresk at the end of the sixth Book and not to speak any thing concerning the excellency of it let it suffice to know it was desired in Rome before it was written in France as appeares by a Latine Epistle of the Abbot Bouchard printed at Venice after the funerall Oration spoken in the Academy of Humorists Here are subjoyn'd the two places of the History and the Epistle Alias etiam praetereo quibus amici eruditique in quorum pectoribus Candor et Gratitudo inhabitat ut dolorem testati sunt sic consolationem mutuam adhibuerunt Pervenêre ad me complures sed principem locum eae tenent quibus Jo. Ludovicus Guezius Balzacius celebris ille scilicet cui nemo non Gallice modò sed Latine etiam scribentium elegantiae palmam non facile cedat singulariter parentavit Lib. 6. de vita Peireskii per Petrum Gassendum Tu vero interea Nicolaï Claudii Fabricii Peirescii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 memoriam qua soles pietate colere perge et Petrum Gassendum etiam atque etiam urge ut suos de ejus vitâ Commentarios quà m maximé copiosos ocyùs dimittat sed in primis a Rigaltio et Balzacio hominibus in literis quibus dediti sunt summis atque perfectis omni studio contende ut aeternis elegantissimorum scriptorum suorum monumentis Heroem nostrum velint
share in that honour you have done to our Age and that I should have been unwilling to dye without seeing your labours in their utmost perfection This work Sir will be no vaine shew of Science nor meer Ornament of Libraries this will be a piece necessary to the order of things for want of which the Glory of France was defective it will at once both beautifie the publique and strengthen the State Our Kings shall reckon it among their Demeanes or put it into the number of their Treasures and if with your profound Learning you had not a large portion of humility you would give me leave to preferre it before Bucklers faln from Heaven Images esteemed fatall and other sacred Gages of the Grandure and Duration of Empires but you would not have men flye so high for your sake and you do not affect to shew your self in so much pompe The Title you have given to your excellent Book is lesse proud and figurative it doth not menace the world with an insolent Metaphor though its modesty notwithstanding promise that which none but a perfect understanding can performe You undertake Sir the difficultest accommodation that ever was heard spoken of since there were any quarrels on Earth and though Priesthood and Royalty are two powers naturally friends nay two daughters of the same Father yet they are oft-times so embroyled against one another by the interest of their relatives that it will be hard for Equity her self to succeed in the reconciliation of them To this is required a moderation the hot-headed French are not very inclinable to and the haughty Roman lesse here must be neither the spirit of a Slave nor an Enemy here must be a soul full of light and emty of passion the King's power must be acknowledged and the Pope's authority bowed to but truth who is Superiour both to Pope and King and is the strongest thing in the world must be absolutely depended on What a Renoune will it be to you when it is believed that your designe was meerly to oblige her and it shall be said you defended her rights as if you had received pay from her or were by her commanded to write books What a brave thing it will one day be to be styled the Champion of truth I do not see any thing in your writings that may prejudice your hopes or so noble a pretention If you had any such when you writ it there is nothing of the degenerate or rebell in it and though as yet I have only considered the outside of the building and three or four pieces of the Portal I omit not to comprehend the merit of the whole pile together I saw at the first glance that your knowledge is wise your Libertie discreet and your zeal not blind the most part of books are notorious by such imperfections and the greatest part of Readers will easily be cured of them if they meet with no more books to foment them for my part I seek after nothing else since my gray Haires admonished me to look after what is solid and serious but especially Sir I highly esteem that learned wisdome without which I should not value all Baronius Latin though he had mountaines of it nor all Casaubon's Greek though he were more Atticke then Athens it self nor all Scaliger's Hebrew and Arabick though he understood it better then the Rabbins and the Mufty With this bait of sound sense and reason you take my mind after you had conquered my heart by another charme and I am not in this particular lesse your abettor than elsewhere I am obliged to be SIR Your c. Aug. 6. 1641. LETTER XVII To Monsieur de Rampalle SIR I Prized you before I knew you loved me and though such good tidings should have been concealed from me for ever yet should I have spoke of your verses with passion because indeed they put me into one there is fire in them that creepes into my veines for I confesse to my shame my age was a little warmed again with them I cannot dissemble it they tickled my heart and I appeared lesse severe that day I received them then I was the day before you touch the soul so to the quick that he must have none who feeles not those smart-stroakes your Art is a second Nature and your picture 's rather the perfection of things then the representation It is true the Stories you set down are such as lead to errour and forfeited Bishopprickes in the rigour of the Primitive Church for who can tell but your Metamorphosis may beget others nay may make more then one in Diana's retinue may change chast Ladies into amorous ones and the pleasure of reading into a temptation of sinning but I have neither vertue nor authority suffificient to prescribe you spirituall counsel it is enough for me to commit destiny holy matters to you and to tell you concerning the subject of those that are not so and that are such dangerous weapons in your hands what an old woman in Rome said when she was reading the tales of Bocace Would to God this were saying ones prayers You see by the carelesness of this Letter that I have put off my trade of Declaimer I have absolutely renounced the Genus demonstrarivum and deal no more in Eloquence but I have great doings with truth and you may believe me when I protest I am SIR Your c. May. 21. 1640. LETTER XVIII To Monsieur de la Chambre Councellour and Physitian to the King and in ordinary to my Lord Chancellour c. SIR YOur humility does you injustice and me a favour It exalts me by undervalewing you but yet I cannot therefore esteem my selfe taller or reckon you lesser I understand the style of the place where you are such submissions are part of your mirth and at Court you play with those words which we use in earnest in the Country It must necessarily be so else is it possible that you who are ignorant of nothing should not know what your selfe were worth Would you have excepted your selfe out of the universall knowledge you have acquired and at once both obeyed and disobeyed the Oracle of Apollo In earnest after I had considered examined and studied your book a whole fortnight I concluded that never any knew the worth of a man so perfectly as your self Never was the God of Delphos more nobly more punctually obeyed No not by him of whose absolute wisedome he gave testimony nor him that was heretofore called The understanding nor that other who to this day is called The Genius of nature This Genius it is true hath peeped into the soul but he stopped at the doore He hath only made the way open to you and if I were bold enough I would say he is but of the outer Court you of the Cabinet-councell There is no recesse nor cranny of the humane soul but you have penetrated there is nothing how nimble swift or secret soever that passes through it can
BALZAC'S REMAINES Or his last LETTERS WRITTEN To severall Grand and Eminent Persons in FRANCE Whereunto are annexed the Familiar Letters of Monsieur de Balzac to his Friend Monsieur CHAPELAIN Never before in English LONDON Printed for Thomas Dring at the George in Fleet-street neer St. Dunstans Church 1658. Mounseur de BALZAC R. Gaywoâ—d fecit THE STATIONER TO THE READERS GENTLEMEN I Am not ignorant that the Book which now fills your hands is uncapable to receive either Supplement or Ornament from any Preface And it may be in these wild times there are few can be accused of such a degree of Conceitednesse as 〈◊〉 imagine that Balzac may be Complemented Let this letter then be reckoned as a Tax payd to Custome being sadly sensible that the labours of greatest merit are like to suffer as abrupt rude except the Reader be courted and invited in the Dedication There is one grievance more which I earnestly deprecate You commonly date the worth of the book from the Abilities you taste in the Epistle and if this Humor prevaile here I am Undone Besides you destroy my harmless designe which was to try whether the Noble conceptions of the Monsieur would admitt of any Advantage and appear more orient as they are foil'd by this trifle If any shall dispute the Decency of the Title and aske How these letters came to be call'd choise since none fell from the same incomparable pen which did not challenge the same Denomination J shall easily yeeld but must crave leave to affirme that by persons of high discernment these have bin gather'd as prime Stars from the other Sporades and are here presented in one entire Constellation There was nothing but Gold in the whole Mine but here you will find such as has bin tried and stamp'd and pass'd in all places not only Currant but Admir'd He is much a stranger to the world that does not know that the style of Monsieur Balzac was consider'd in France as the Treasure and Test of Elegance And he was esteem'd the best proficient in that which they call flos linguae the Delicacy fineness and Idiom of language who had attayn'd the nearest Resemblance of this Author Observe the vigour and flame of his fancy the Cleannesse and Roundnesse of his expression the spirit and brisknesse of his Notions the prudence and Insinuation of all his Addresses and you will judge him a fit Parallel for any of his Predecessors that Rome or Athens has most celebrated The Comedian was handsomely caress'd by him that said If Jupiter would speake Latine He might find Apparrell for his thoughts in Plautus his wardrobe Possibly if the same Jove had occasion to transmit his pleasure those Gods wanting the mysticall waies of Communication which we now ascribe to spirits he had chosen no other Mercury but this Frenchman I am unwilling to be guilty of so much folly as to define or distinguish Letters and then list them under their severall Colours descanting upon those perfections which render them peculiarly gratefull to knowing men lest any should suspect that this one Letter was not written by my selfe Gentlemen I shall not blush to acknowledge that 't is much my Interest this volume should be generally read For I believe there is Charme enough in it to dissolve the most covetous Resolutions And that such revenues of pleasure and improvement will arise from the perusall of this book as may prevailingly tempt the greatest husbands to buy more Your humble servant THOMAS DRING Books Printed for Thomas Dring and are to be sold at the George in Fleet-street near St. Dunstans Church Law-Books THe Pleader containing perfect Precedents and Forms of Declararions Pleadings Issues Judgements and Proceedings in all kinds of actions both reall and personall by Mr. Brownlow Mr. Moyle Mr. Gulston and Mr. Cony published by J. Hern Gent. in Folio The Law of Conveyances of all manner of assurances with directions to sue out and prosecute all manner of Writs by John Hern Gent. in Octavo The Reports of that reverend and learned Judge Sir Richard Hutton in Folio The twelfth Part of the Reports of Sir Edward Cook in Folio The Reports of that Learned Judge Owen in Folio The Reading upon the Statute touching Bankrupts by John Stone in Octavo An abridgement of the Common Law with the Cases thereof drawn out of the old and new Books of Law for the benefit of all Practisers and Students by W. H. of Graies-Inne Esq in Quarto An abridgement of the Acts and Ordinances of Parliament from 1640. to the year 1656. by W. H. Esq in Quarto The Reports of Serjeant Bridgman in Fol. The grounds of the Lawes of England extracted out of the fountains of all Learning and fitted for all Students and Practitioners in large Octavo A profitable Book of Mr. John Perkins treating of the Lawes of England in Octavo An exact Abridgement of that excellent Book called Doctor and Student in Octavo The Interpreter or Book containing the signification of all the words of the Law by Iohn Cowell in Fol. The Maxims of Reason or the Rule of the Common Law by Edmond Wingate Esq in Fol. An exact Abridgement of all the Statutes in force and use upon the fourth of Jan. in the yeare 1641. 1643. faithfully extracted out of the said Statutes from Magna Charta to the said time by Edmond Wingate Esq Romances ARtamenes or the Grand Cyrus a Romance Compleat in five volumnes in Folio by Monsieur de Scudery Clelia an excellent Romance in three volumes in Folio by Monsieur de Scudery The Illustrious Bassa a Compleat Romance in Folio by Monsieur de Scudery Astrea a new excellent and compleat Romance in three volumes in Folio Translated by a person of honour The History of Polindor and Flaetella a Romance in verse by J. Harrington Esq Histories THe History and lives of the philosophers with their figures in two volumes in Folio by Thomas Stanly Esq The History of the warrs betwixt Swedeland and Poland with all their policyes in Folio by John Fowler An Historicall discourse of the City of London with the History of Westminster with the Courts of Justice Antiquities and new buildings thereunto belonging by James Howell Esq in Folio The History of the Goths Swedes and Vandalls by the Bishop of Vpsall in Folio The History of Masiniello the second part with a Continuation of that tumult and the end of it by J. H. Esq The naturall and experimentall History of winds written by the Lord Bacon and translated into English by R. G. The life and death of Freeman Sands Esq by R. Bereman in quarto Divinity THings new and old or a Store-house of above two thousand Similies Sentences Allegoryes Apophthegms Adagies Apologues divine and morall Politicall and Historicall with their proper applications A book that will furnish the Reader with Rarities for the adornment of his discourse upon any subject whatsoever Anti-Socinianism or a Confutation of Socinian heresy with the description of the lives
and deaths of the chiefe Authors of that sect and wâ—â—n it was brought into England by N. Chewny M. A. Mr. Crag against Toâ—bes with a conviction of the Anabaptists newly printed with Additions A Sermon preached at the assizes at Huntingdon by J. Gaul Mr. Sands paraphrase upon the Psalms in large Octavo Good thoughts for every day in the month by H. S. God's house with the nature and use thereof as it ought to be understood and respected by Christians under the Gospell by Simon Gunton M. A. Eight sermons of Mr. Cragge with a treatise of the Lawfullnesse of tithes and the lawfullness of Marriage by the Minister An exhortation for desperate sinners written by the Right Honourable the Lord Grandison prisoner in the Isle of Wight Sapientia justificata or an answer to D. Taylor 's Deus justificatus by J. Gaule The Soloquies of St. Bonaventure Containing his four mentall exercises and also his treatise called the Bundle of Myrrh concerning the passion of our Saviour with 13 spirituall exercises of the said Bonaventure Books of the affaires of State of Choise Letters and of Poetry A Catalogue of the Lords Knights and Gentlemen that have compounded for their estates with the summes that paid their Compositions in Octavo A Panegyrick of the Queen of Swedeland in Octavo Letters of Affaires Love and Courtship written to severall persons of honour and quality by the exquisite pen of Monsieur de Voiture a member of the famous French Academy established at Paris by Cardinall Richlieu A Trance or Mercurius Acheronticus by J. Howell Esq Moderne policy taken from Machiavell and Borgia by an eye witnesse a most incomparable piece The Minister of State wherein is shewen the true use of Moderne policy by Monsieur de Silhon rendered into English by Sir Henry Herbert Knight in Folio The Accomplish't Courtier consisting of institutions and examples by which Courtiers and officers of estate may square their Transactions prudently and in good order and Method by H.W. Gent. An Apology for Paris for rejecting of Juno and giving of Her Golden Ball to Venus by R. B. Pocula Castalia or Castalian Cupps by R. Baron Gent. Mirza a Tragedy really acted in Persia by R. B. Gent. Choise Poems being Amorous Morall Lucory c. by Edward Sherburne Esq Five new Playes by Richard Brome in large Octavo Select Poems by william Hammond in large Octavo Choise Letters of Monsieur de Balzac to severall Grand and Noble Personages of France with his Familiar Letters to Monsieur Chapelain Wit Restor'd being select Poems never before printed THE TABLE Of the CHOISE LETTERS TO Monsieur de St. Chartres Counsellor to the King in the grand Councill 1 To Monsieur de Bois Robert Metel Abbot of Chastillon 3 To Monsieur du Pui Counsellour and Library-Keeper to his Majesty 4 To Monsieur d'Argenson Controller of the Revenue in Poictou c. 5 To Monsieur the Abbot de Talan 6 To Monsieur de la Nauve Ensigne to the Queens Guard 7 To Monsieur de Gombervile 8 To Monsieur de Bellejoy 9 To Monsieur de Clairville 10 To Monsieur de Bois Robert Metell Abbot of Chastillon 11 12 To Monsieur de Bonair 13 14 To Monsieur Charlot Farmer-Generall of the Taxes Ib. To my Lord Bouthilier Lord Treasurer 15 16 To Madam de Villesavin 17 18 To Madam de Bourdet 19 To Monsieur de Preizac of the Kings Privy Council 20 To Monsieur de 21 To my Lord Bishop of Angoulesm Almoner to the Queen of great Brittan 22 To Monsieur de Lormu Counsellor and Physitian to the King 23 To Monsieur de Zuylichem Counsellor and Secretary of State to his Highnesse the Prince of Orange 24 To Monsieur the President de Pontac 25 26 To Monsieur the Mayor of Angoulesm 27 To Monsieur de Villemontée of the Kings Councell and Controller of the Revenue in Poictou Saintonge Annix c. 28 To Monsieur de la Thibaudiere 29 To Monsieur de 30 To Monsieur L'Hillier of the Kings Councell c. 32 To Monsieur de Bayers 35 To Monsieur de Villemontée of the Kings Councell Controller of the Revenue in Poictou Saintonge Aunix c. 36 To Monsieur de Lymerac de Mayat Captain in the Regiment of Conty 37 To Monsieur de Priezac of the Kings Privy Councell 38 To Monsieur de Couvrelles Ib. To Monsieur l'Huillier of the Kings Councell c. 39 To Madam des Leges 40 41 To Monsieur de Borstel 42 To Monsieur Menage 43 To Monsieur Fermin Counsellor to the King Controller of the Kings Revenue in the Generality of Limoges c. 45 To Monsieur the Marquess of Montausier Governour and Lieutenant Generall for the King in Alsatia c. 46 To my Lord the Arch-Bishop of Corinth Co-adjutour of the Arch-Bishoprick of Paris 47 To Monsieur the President Maynard Counsellor to the King 48 To Monsieur Menage 49 To my Lord the Bishop of Lisieux 50 To Monsieur the Earl of la Motte Fenelon 51 To Monsieur de Plassac Maire 52 To Monsieur Conrart Counsellor and Secretary to the King 53 To the reverend Father Hercules Provincial of the Fathers of the Christian Doctrine 54 To Monsieur the Chevalier de Mere. 55 To Monsieur de St. Chartres of the Kings high Councel 56 To the reverend Father de Marin a Divine of the Society of Jesus 57 To the reverend Father d'Estrades a Divine of the Society of Jesus Superiour of the Cloister in Bourdeaux 58 To Madam the Marchionesse of Ramboüillet Ib. To Monsieur Cossar 61 62 To Monsieur Menage 63 To Monsieur de 64 To Monsieur Gombauld a Chanter in the Church of Sainctes 65 To the reverend Father Dalmé a Divine of the Society of Jesus professor of Rhetorick 66 To the reverend Father Du Creux a Divine of the Society of Jesus Rhetorick-professor 67 To the reverend Father Stephen of Bourges a Preaching Capuchin 68 To Monsieur de Meré Knight 69 To Monsieur Colardeau the Kings Atturney in Fontenay 70 To the reverend Father Tesseron of the Society of Jesus professor of Rhetorick Ib. To Monsieur Perrot of Ablancourt 71 To the reverend Father Adam a Preacher of the Society of Jesus 72 To my Lord the Bishop of Grasse 73 To Monsieur the Abbot Talon 74 To Monsieur the Abbot Bouchard Ib. To the reverend Father Josset a Divine of the Society of Jesus professor of Rhetorick 75 To Monsieur de Marca Counsellour to the King 76 To Monsieur de Rampalle 78 To Monsieur de la Cambre Counsellor and Physitian to the King and in ordinary to my Lord Chancellor c Ib. To Monsieur Salmasius 81 To Monsieur de Sâ—udery Ib. To Monsieur Perrot of Ablancourt 85 To the reverend Father d'Estrades a Divine of the society of Jesus Superiour of the Confessors Cloister in Bourdeaux 86 To Monsieur de Borstel 87 To Madam de Nesmond Superiour of the Vrsulines in Angoulesm Ib. To my Lord the Bishop of Grasse 89 Ib. To Monsieur
severe sages who will think it strange that a man making profession of frugality should bring into his desart the delights and luxury of the Court that a solitary person should have his boxes full of Frangipane gloâ—es he I say who in reason should be content with a paire of mittens every winter I shall not here endeavour to make his apology or to justifie that by reason which may be defended by authority and by the example of one who had credit enough to found a Sect. It will not become me Madam to be better or more wise then Aristippus who knew so well the art of mixing pleasure and temperance together he did not at all condemne the use of innocent pleasures he could make a difference betwixt stinks and perfumes and was nothing inclined to believe that aromaticall odours were infectious One day above the rest he declaâ—'d himselfe more openly upon this subject an impertinent asker of questions fell upon him in a great assembly and having held some discourse with him concerning the austerity to be observed in the lives of Philosophers upon the suddaine thinking to put him to the blush captiously inquired who it was in the company that smelt so strong of perfumes 't is I answered Aristippus and another wretch more unhappy then my selfe known by the name of the King of Persia Shall I take the boldnesse Madam to rank my selfe as the third sinner of that order and dare to intrude into so noble a society Yes Madam for once I shall renture to march by the side of this King and Philosopher who perfum'd themselves and have some reason to believe I possesse advantages above them both because in their time they had neither a Madam nor a Madamoyselle de Ramboüillet to select and present them with those perfumes The Latine Poesy makes its vaunt of certaine Essences which Venus and the loves her children made present of to a Romane Lady but those Essences Madam which I expect are sent me by a nobler hand then of that Common Venus and her Cupids 't is the true Venus Urania and her adorable daughter 't is vertue it selfe embodied and become visible to the eyes of mortalls 't is perfection descended from its heavenly habitation which does me this day the honour to regale me I make my publique boast of it I look upon all the riches and possessions of the earth as things below me but as there is no glory in the world which equalls mine I must also beg your beliefe there are no acknowledgments can vye with mine though yet the greatest part of them remaine within my heart and cannot make any outward appearance but imperfectly in the protestation which I make to be allwayes with respect and veneration MADAM Your c. LETTER XXIX To Monsieur Costar SIR I Have received your Pastills your Powder and your Cushionets of Odours But what do you expect I should say of them They are no mortall things nor are they to be commended in humane termes Flora the spring the sunne and Marshall never produced so faire a fruit of their united labours or made any thing so excellent as these perfumes Our Doctor sweares they are better then those of Venus when she appear'd to her son Aeneas upon the bank of a River in Lybia Yet Virgil who is not so prodigall of Divinity as the Poets his successours gives them the appellation of divine Ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem Spiravêre For your Table books I look on them and consider but dare not adventure to use them I make a conscience of touching so faire things with such coorse hands as mine The plates guilding and lively colours have been bestowed on them without parsimony They would have been fit Registers for the private Cabinet of Caesar and Cleopatra I do not think when the Conquering God read a lecture to the Muses his scholars they had such handsome note-Note-books as these wherein they diligently writ after him Bacchum in remotis carmina rupibus Vidi docentem Nymphasque discentes c. You know the rest in Latin but not in Italian for I just now receiv'd these verses from Florence where they were made the last month Jo vidi il giuro et se mia lingua mente Con furia procellosa Schiantin le viti mie grandini acâ—rbe Vidi il Padre Lieo steso fraÌ„ l'erbe su cetra armonioso Trattar d'avorio d'or plettro lucente Vidi le Ninfe intente Sâ—arfene al canto à le voci argute I satiri chinar l'orecchie argute You see here I put the change upon you and deviate as much from my subject as I can The reason is because I do not intend to slubber over a thanks to you for exquisite presents I must prepare my selfe a whole moneth for it I think of consulting all my Muses and to look over all my common places nay I have a mind to take a potion for that purpose and be let blood that my spirits may be clearer and all my faculties more free and active I most humbly kisse your hands and am with passion SIR Your c. Sept. and 1644. LETTER XXX To the same SIR I Know not how I dare undertake to write to you for in the condition I am I can with truth assure you that I do not see my Letter In me tota ruens Hyems Arcton deseruit If ruens Hyems grate your eare it does more mischiefe to my Eyes But then I have an other way to expresse my self Me nebulâ turpi multo me Jupiter imbre Atque omni premit Aeolio Da mitior almâ Luce frui Pater et formosum redde serenum I do not beg Jupiter for the drying up my Rheume and use of my Nose but meerly that I may be in a condition to injoy your kindnesse or if you will have any more in the language of the immortall Gods Vt saltem Ambrosio Florae immortalis odore Muneribusque tuis fruar ô vel Regibus aequis Par Arabum Costarde animo In earnest Sir your perfumes are admirable they are even better then those of the last yeare and if my Rhetorick about this subject were not quite exhausted they should be attended with as ample thanks as the divine Artenice I am without reserve SIR Your c. THE THIRD BOOK LETTER I. To Monsieur Menage SIR TO obey you I have read the Spanish Philosopher's Book a second time The title alwayes pleased me exceedingly but I cannot say any more of the rest then what I told a Gentleman of my familiaritie who first mention'd it to me I could not find what I sought in it and in my opinion the Art of the Will required all the sufficiencies of our Gassendus to be display'd answerably to its merit The Spaniard is in many places enervate and feeble in others too subtile and abstractive and repeates the same matter so often that his sixe Books might be reduc'd to lesse then the halfe of that number without any injury to
assault you in his own Language as soon as ever you come into the Country But what honour do I foresee for you how bright a day will this be and what new rayes it will adde to your splendour I am now making ready to clappe my hands and cry out Vivat and Sophos to the great Monsieur de la Thibaudier If your steward is to be believed you are already so great that you can beget nothing that is little He hath told us miracles of that little Gallant of your own mould that is not yet five yeares and a halfe old Is it true that he had rather go out at the windowes then at the doores that he runnes upon the brink of precipices that he goes to go to snatch the thing he loves out of the middle of the fire These are the rudiments of a Heroe whose History shall one day be written by some Gomberville I speak in earnest Aeneas did not do more for his father then your sonne ha's already done for roasted apples I am SIR Your c. Oct. 16. 1643. LETTER XXXII To the same SIR I Know you do not care much to be put to charges but I know besides you will not let good customes be antiquated I therefore thought fit out of my naturall liberality to send you you Lenten provision for this yeare Among other things you will receive a Sattin â—hesis dedicated to me by the Philosophers of Angoulesme of which you may make that learned Mask you once shewed me the plot of It is true Crasset is no longer of this world and Monmor is a little too far from Chisay but what do you take Monsieur for who is within a spit and a stride of you and who of late is become all Forme all Matter all Genus all Species all Categorie and Predicament Your mummery could not be carried to a better house then his He hath at least two thousand ready Syllogisms in stock lying by him and not one but is over-weight as I am told by a Gentleman of his acquaintance that cannot read I would very faine make one at so merry a meeting but I must waite from Paris for my convoy to la Thibaudier Tantae molis erat lecticam condere nostram I am Sir but in earnest and out of the termes of our figure SIR Your c. Nov. 3. 1642. LETTER XXXIII To the same SIR FOr an answer to all your eloquent Letters I give you notice that I am resolved to make a collection of them and present them to the Publick with a Preface of my own I ought to be doubtfull that the successe of this designe might prove disadvantagious to me but my affection is uncapable of jealousie It surpasses all considerations of self-love and private interest With a ready heart I resigne to you the Crown Monsieur de Bois-Robert bestowed on me when he inaugurated me king of the Wits and am content to lose the esteem I held of a Doctour at the Letter-style provided you succeed me in the chaire Questionlesse you would be voted to it if you had never writ any thing besides the last Letter I received from you for I protest the lustre of your writings is so bright and strong that I am yet dazzeled with them Isocrates his Helena shewes deformed to me incomparison of that Lady whose pourtrait you drew to me All that is left us of the wracks of Antiquity and the hands of the most eminent Masters comes not neer this exquisite picture Even he that infused a soul and life intocolours should be but one of your apprentices we should find he hath but slubbered over the Goddesse of beauty if his work-manship were set against your I am withall my soul SIR Your c. Dec. 28. 1643. LETTER XXXIIII To Monsieur Conrart Councellour and Secretary to the King SIR IT is necessary that I be very firmely perswaded that your goodnesse is infinite for if I could suppose it had any limits with what forehead durst I appeare before you Yet I do it and that with a strange confidence not only to aske you pardon for doing amisse but also to beg leave to continue in my fault Never was such a boldnesse heard of never did offender lesse dissemble his inclination to evill nor treated more familiarly with his judge All that can be said in my justification is that I sinne out of infirmity and that my offences are neither malicious nor voluntary I languish here at the end of the world without action or motion I am a burden to my selfe and of no use to any body else I am if you would have me speak in a higher straine a paralytick limbe of Common society I have only left Sir some principle of life which I reserve for you and my heaâ—t is still sound enough to honour you as I ought That As I ought is as unlimited as your goodnesse and though you were not an extraordinary person and one of the things of the world which I admire who am no very great Admirer yet you have obliged me to be more then any man in the world SIR Your c. Oct. 24. 1639. LETTER XXXV To the same SIR YOur Doctour is not Orthodox at least he hath been ill informed for I have not so much as dreamt as he told you of putting any thing to the presse I am so nauseated with all things that are called books that in the mind I now am I would more willingly blot out all that ever I writ then resolve to write them faire Be pleas'd then to assure the intelligencer that he received a false alarme I do with all my heart forgive the memory of Don Roderigo and bury all my injuries and my resentments of them in his grave I am not addicted to disturbe the quiet of Church-yards to fence with my pen against Ghosts to violate the Franchises and sanctuary of death It is true Sir my deare Menander hath in his hands two Apologies of mine which I made long since and he may dispose of as he pleases But it is as true withall that I defend my selfe there without encountring with any person in it and my equity my modesty and my civilities are such that my friends of Quercy and Perigor'd have styled them Abjectnesse and Cowardize I left a copy of these two Apologies at Paris which N. N. hath a command to present to you from me with some other compositions Morall and Politicall You may please to send me your opinion of them at your leisure and do me alwayes the favour to believe that none can be more passionately then I am SIR Your c. Apr. 7. 1639. THE FOURTH BOOK LETTER I. To Monsieur the President Mainard SIR VVEe are now in the beginning of October and your last Letter promised me your Company here in August if you were alive I pray Heaven you be rather false then dead and that you break your word yet for many yeares to come I know that in Poetry Jupiter
this testimony of the latter Juvenis genere nobilis manu fortis sensu celeâ— ultra barbarum promptus ingenio nomine Arminius Segemiri Principis gentis ejus filius ardorem animi vultu oculisque praeferens assiduus militiae nostrae prioris comes et jam Civitatis Romanae jus equestremque consequutus gradum segnitia Ducis in occasionem sceleris usus est haud imprudenter speculatus neminem celerius opprimi quà m qui nihil timeret et frequentissimum initium esse calamitatis securitatem In this passage Arminius is the sonne of Segemirus and if it be so might not some scrupulous Grammarian demand how you come to make the father of Arminius to be his sister in law but besides the community of names to either sexe as Hippolite Anne c. You have without question some historicall ground to oppose against this slight objection It was made to me by one who nevertheless valewes you perfectly and I send it you without any examination I will ever be of your opinion and withall my soul SIR Your c. Apr. 16. 1643. LETTER XXXVII To Monsieur de Lorme Councellour and Physitian in ordinary to his Majesty SIR I Am extreamly taken with the silver Medall in which you revive Hippolytus with these three words Diis geniti potuere but I maintaine besides that the name of Demy-god cannot be disputed against you but only by such as are ignorant of your fathers merit and the noblenesse of your profession The good Lord you speak of does not know that besides Apollo and Aesculapius his sonne there was in Greece one Hercules a Physitian Peter Mommor calls him in French of Alexica and he is yet to be seen in the Tapistry of Clement Alexandrinus but that honest Lord uses no Hangings but of Flanders or those of the Fairies and knowes no other Hercules but he that carries a Club and a Lions skinne This Demy-god Physitian we treat of had an infallible receit to cure pale complexions and yellownesse in lesse then four and twenty houres He was not contented only to bestow health and good plight upon the Ladies but he inspired youth and beauty into them It was he that cured the Queen Alceste of a disease which the faculty of Montpellier had judged incurable and I mention to you particularly what he did for women because I know you are readiest to give succour to that sexe which is most delicate and infirme as well as he But Hercules hath made me forget Hippolytus and I have filled that fragment of paper in which I intended to have thanked you with a comment upon your Medall I have no more roome left Sir but as much as to assure you that I am ever perfectly SIR Your c. Aug. 12. 1639. LETTER XXXVIII To Monsieur Girard Officiall and Prebend of Angoulesme SIR IT must be acknowledged that Madamoiselle de Schurman is an admirable Virgin and her verses are not the least of her wonders I do not thinke that the Sulpitia whom Martiall hath so highly extolled ever made better or more elegant in her native Latine But what modesty and vertue there is among the Graces and beauties of her Verses how the goodnesse of her soul is agreeably interwoven with the productions of her wit I am very much obliged to you for the knowledge of this admirable Lady and for sending me with her Epigrams the eloquent Letter of Monsieur Naudé I returne you them all againe by my Servant who should have set forth yesterday had it not been for an accident that befell me to restore more then I had received In the midst of this Epistle a new book was brought me and casting my Eye upon the preface I found these lines Habemus in urbe unius diei itinere hinc dissitâ virginem nobilem haud minus quâm Hippian numerosa arte multisciam tanto magis eo nomine mirandam quòd in hunc sexum rarò cadit tanta ingenii foecunditas tanta artium copia cum omnes calleat tot virtutum conjunctio cum nullâ careat Quaecunque manu confici â—t mente concipi possunt tenet una sic pingit ut nemo melius sculpit fingit ex aere ex cera ex ligno fimiliter in Phrygionica arte in omnibus quae muliebrium sunt curarum et operum omnes antiquas et hodiernas provocat ac vincit mulieres tot vero doctrinarum dotibus instructa est ut nescias in qua magis antestet tot linguarum donis ornata est ut non contenta Europaeis in orientem usque studio industria pervolârit comparatura ibi HebraÃcas Arbaicas Syriacasque quas adjungeret jam quaesitis Latinè ita scribit ut virorum qui totâ vitâ hanc elegantiam affectaverunt nemo politiús Gallicas Epistolas tales concinnat ut vix meliores Balzacius Cateris in Europa usitatis linguis aequè bene utitur ac illi quibus sunt vernacula Cum Iudaeis Hebraice cum Saracenis Arabice potest commercium habere literarum etiam viris arduas spinosas sententias ita tractat Philosophiam nempe Scholasticam et Theologâ—am ut omnes flupeant quia prodigio similis res est nemo aemuletur quia nemo potest imitari nullus etiam invideat quia supra invidiam ipsa est If Monsieur Salmasius be author of this book and the preface as I am written word when he puts out a second Edition I shal entreat him instead of Gallicas Epistolas tales concinnat ut vix meliores Balzacius thus he will please to change it multo minus bonâ—s minus Gallicas Balzacius I shall think my self yet too much honoured by this allay and moderation to my honour There is no glory in being neer so excellent a person in what manner soever it be and in such a similitude disadvantage it self is obliging I attend by my servant the inscriptions of Gruterus and the Chrysostome of the Father Fronton I am SIR Your c. May. 15. 1646. THE SECOND PART THE FIRST BOOK LETTER I. To Madam the Princess Madam IT is not for glory to approach the obscurity of a defart nor was its splendour ordained for Recesses and Solitude Your Highness has bestowed that on me which I am not capable of receiving and I acknowledge in the midst of a great amazement that I cannot in conscience esteem my self deserving the least word of that favourable Message which my Nephew delivered me Neverthelesse I can safely protest an infinite zeal to the Service of your Highness and this most assured truth gives me incouragement to believe that I do not merit to be wholly unregarded I know not whether it was not first fitting to learn that my devotion is not displeasing to you to the end I might with greater confidence performe my duty at certain altars I have raised to this effect and whose designe was not unpleasing to me in the conception Without this evidence of your goodnesse Madam I had never dared any
observed you I did not think it any miracle that you should become fortunate or that the choice of a goddess hath crowned the Graces of Heaven All that has been attempted to trouble the successe of this envied election hath done nothing but bred occasion for you to triumph over envy and you draw this advantage from your paines and contests that in a possession which was too peaceable for so desired a good there is now neer as much splendor as sweetness and something that resembles conquest after your victory in Parliament It was such a one my Lord that it will seem to some that the envy which assailed you held correspondence with you since she only made the onset that she might yield and set up an Incognito in competition with you to give you occasion to interess in your cause and discover in your Race and Alliances more Heroes and great Lords than came out of the Trojan Horse When I consider that brave throng of Illustrious names that Triumph rather then that Audience that day of your glory after those of your good fortune so much Grandeur and lustre at an hundred leagues distance from me I confess I am somewhat ashamed of my solitude and obscurity But I must tell you further and Monsieur Gautier shall pardon me if he please that I have a little season of jealousie against him and his Eloquence and I wish if it had been possible for me to have been your advocate that day being to that degree as I am My Lord Your c. Apr. 17. 1646. LETTER XXIX To Monsieur de Couppeau ville Abbot of La Victoire SIR THat you may know your reputation hath no limits and that you are esteemed both within and without the World I advertise you that Monsieur de la is to come to preach you in our desart and that in a weeks conversation we have had together he hath told me more things of you then a dozen mistresses that he left at Paris The charmes of your tongue are sufficiently known and you have made great experiments of them but be assured they never wrought more powerfully â—hen on the spirit of this Gentleman you never spoke with more success then when he heard you and never dismiss'd an auditour better edified Salust was his first beloved Quintilian â—ath since taken Salusts place and you have succeeded Quintilian I saw the beginning of a book he is writing of your â—pophthegms he hath learnt you by heart and understands you throughly so that if by any mischance you should be lost you might be retriv'd in his â—emory I leave you Sir to imagine the pleasure he did me to concurre so exactly with my resentments and chuse my inclinations for the subject of his discourse It lyes upon him to give you a further account when he sees you and informe you of the first motions your name excited in a languishing soul and the continuance of my joy in the sequell of his relations He told me nothing concerning you but I desired him to repeate it and mentioned nothing of vows but what deserved this complement of the Academy Italian Di gratia Signor un altra Volta But particularly the description of the feast you made Monsieur Chavigny was acted over more then once at my most humble supplication I found in it I know not what of learned Antiquity But on your conscience Sir was that Terence which was served in for one of your sweet-meats so stuck with perfumes and covered with flowers absolutely of your owne invention Is it not an Originall of Maecenos or at least that gallant man of the following Century qui deliciarum arbiter cujus eruditus luxus à nostro Cornelio celebratur How ever it be we never heard of such cates before and you wanted nothing that day but Dionysius Lambinus for cook and Adrian Turnebus for Steward The piece is throughly ingenious and much more humane and rationall then the desire of that Barbarous Graecian who at Alexanders table wished for a Satrapa's head in a dish This was a resemblance of the haughtiness of Turky before there were any Turks in the world and it is an example only fit for Machiavell's imitation if he had invited Caesar Borgia to dinner But you are to deal with a man who hath the palat of Roman Consuls and not Asian Princes and you have accordingly treated him after the Roman fashion for it must be confessed that the appetite of his mind could not be better represented by an embleme more spirituall nor more gallant then that you had devised When if you make him a second Entertainment I have entreated our friends to give you a present from me and deliver you some Latine verses of the last inspiration of my Muses they are neither the Ragousts of Scipio nor the delicacies of Mecaenas yet they are fruits transplanted from the nursery of those happy Ages and I have inserted my grafts upon their Stocks You may please to judge of them when you have tasted them and continue ever to love me a little since I will never cease to be infinitely SIR Your c. Sep. 3. 1642. LETTER XXX To Monsieur de Bourzeys Abbot of Cores SIR IF I did not know that Generosity takes delight in speaking improperly and thinks it owes that which it gives I should not understand the intentions of Monsieur your brother His conversation hath dispelled the clouds of my melancholly his quittance hath melted the stubbornnesse of my soul he hath been my intercessour to the Commissary he hath shewed me one of your Sermons and after all this he thanks me for all the good turnes he has done me and will not make me happy without being obliged to me for it And yet more Sir he would have this conceit of obligation extend even to you and disturbe you in the middle of your conflicts that I might receive a complement from that hand which strikes dead Heresie Here is enough to satisfie the most ambitious spirit in the world One graine of your incense is worth a masse of anothers and nothing is so sweet even in the sense of wise Antiquity as the praises that come from a person that is universally commended They that contemne the acclamations of the people should yet be sensible of these which cannot be indifferent to any but such as honour their sullen humour with the Title of Stoick Philosophy For my part Sir I declare my selfe to be none of that sect every kind of allurement would not be apt to tempt me but how is it possible to abstaine from a meat which you have dressed or resist a passion that workes its effect by your Language So that I must needs tell you freely I never received more joy then when I received your Letter Monsieur de la Thibaudiere was a witnesse of my traunce Monsieur Chaplain had notice of my good newes if it were possible I would have divulged it to all the Earth and have printed it
in all Languages that all such as can read might know I am most passionately SIR Your c. Mar. 3. 1639. LETTER XXXI To Monsieur the Abbot of Lavardin SIR SHall I dare to tell you that I write these lines to you over-tired with watchings and melancholly that I draw them from a braine yet unsetled from yesterdayes tempest that I now expect a fift Fit It would be injurious to the worth of the excellentest Letter in the world and to intimate to you that it hath not absolutely cured me or that it leaves any work behind for Physick or time it would be too ungratefull a treating me of your favours so rare and exquisite and which have so sensibly obliged me yet I must alleadge the disturbance of my head to justifie the little premeditation I am capable of and the negligence of this scrowle It will assure you Sir that there is no body so possessed with the Divell of a Tertian ague but the sound of your words bring him some ease there are no eyes so greedy of sleep but love your Letters better then their rest I never saw so much beauty so many ornaments and so much riches in one place and yet in the middle of this faire aboundance you complaine of being poore Ask God pardon for that sinfull word It cannot proceed from any thing but either an extream ambition or an insatiable avarice and you put me in mind of him who reckoned the treasuries of Darius nothing who slighted the tributes of the Indies and Asia who did not think he had enough when he had all You ought not Sir to bewaile your poverty you should reforme your excesse and profuseness For my particular you give me so much that I have not roome enough to receive your benefits and they are so unfit for me that I dare not touch them with profane hands I make a conscience of appropriating things so high and disproportionable to my meanenesse I have no right to receive them unlesse you have power to force me to it unlesse you compell my humility as the Pope did that of father Lugo who would not have accepted the Purple but only to avoid excommunication What ever it be Sir and whatsoever accident menaces good fortunes I hope to preserve the Principle of mine I meane your favour And for this I shall be deficient neither in passion nor respect and if Time undeceive you in that counterfeit Grandee whom you esteem so highly in my person you shall find at least an honest man in the place of him whom time can never change and whom doubtlesse you will ever love since he will eternally be with all his soul SIR Your c. Oct. 8. 1644. LETTER XXXII To Monsieur Salomon Attourney Generall to the Grand Councell SIR YOu will not be offended that I valew the accessory higher then the principall and your Letter then your present You have sent me a book I do not much admite but you have written I know not what that charmes me Pardon the curiosity of a man on whom you have made triall of your enchantments I desire of you seriously Where is this innocent and handsom Magick taught or if you please that subtle and new kind of Rhetorick In that Country from whence the Genus Demonstrativum comes to us and in the shapes of Cardinal Bentivoglic and the father Strada there is not any mystery taught to attract the soul more gently and by more delicate engines Your civilities are perfumed with an incense so exquisite and precious that that which is retailed at Court is but a sophisticate Gum in respect of it In a word Sir to expresse my selfe literally without making use of the figures and Rhetorick I have learned from you you imploy so much of your own Eloquence in praising mine that you seeme rather to defie that then make a complement to me I have no mind either to contest in this or any thing else with you I bear too much reverence both to the Kings servant and his Tongue and am too sensible of the advantage he hath over me who the last yeare perswaded what he would and whom I hearkened to with delight when he gave his answers upon two hundred questions that were propos'd him I am resolved to hear and applaud as long as I live to give place and yield to you as much as you please for it were better I should passe for one of your Paradoxes than with words so unequall to yours attempt to confute you to my own confusion Why should I perplexe my self to resist a strength which is nothing but gentleness and can do nothing but good I must patiently endure my happinesse In Egypt they do not cast up bankes against that beneficiall violence which breakes in to enrich the Country that receives it Be pleas d therefore to continue your pleasing excesses and over-presse me with an infinity of favours I shall be glorious in those precious ruines write excellent things to me still whilest I only returne an answer to them in the bare protestation which I shall make you to be ever passionately SIR Your c. Apr. 18. 1645. LETTER XXXIII To Monsieur Ferret Secretary to the late Duke of Weymar SIR I Have been slow in answering your eloquent Letter but the reason is because I have ruminated and meditated upon its Eloquence a long time There are enchanted papers as well as Castles and if I have forgot my self amongst your excellent things do not esteem it sloath but rather an extasie and ravishment That which you have written to me does honour to the memory of your Prince and extolls his judgment after his death I perceive by that he understood how to choose heads and distinguish of men that he was as knowing in pens as swords that his Secretaries did not second him lesse gallantly in his Closet then his Colonells in the field But do not think you shall be ridde of me so in shewing me you were worthy to be the Duke of Weymar's Secretary you promised me more that you would be his Historiographer for my sake and I expect the Memoires I requested of you In the meane time Sir I thank you for the Sermons you have taken the paines to send me and beseech you to assure the honest Heretick that preached them that I alwaies extreamly honour and esteem him There is more then one Right Reverend and one Regent Master amongst us that I should be very glad our Church could truck for so deserving an enemy Not that we want famous persons but I could wish there were none famous in the world but who were ours and it troubles me I am forced to commend a valour that makes warre upon us It is most certaine I cannot withhold from praising that Monsieur Daillé yea in the presence of the Jesuites my spirituall fathers and the Capuchins my deare friends I every day envy him your Party and sometimes I tell him though he can hardly heare me where he is
our publique society that implores either your justice or favour To this most powerfull recommendation and request made immediately from Heaven shall I dare to annexe my poor and frivolous labours they are two discourses not disapproved at Court and which you will read perhaps with some delight though such as I entreat you to look upon only as written at the instance of a friend He will present them to you from me with a comment of his own and beside relate you the occurrences of the desart where he has been since your curiosity doth not contemne what passes in it and when you have seen in what manner you are celebrated there and in what veneration I hold your vertue he will not faile to give you his testimony of my zeal and respects and assure you that I am and will ever be perfectly all my life SIR Your c. Jan. 7. 1643. LETTER XII To Monsieur Huillier Councellour to the KING c. SIR I Wil take some other opportunity to commend your eloquence but what you write me of the fourteenth of March is so affectionate and obliging that at this time I can only praise your goodnesse You draw glory from an adventure which is much more glorious for me then you The Lady that treated you as my favourite in the walks of Luxembourge has done me an honour in which you have so small a share that it was humility in you not to have rejected her Complement I receive it of her as a favour addressed directly unto me and which so pleasingly tickles my vanity that if I were at Paris I would intreate you to carry me to her to thanke her for it I cannot be known to the world by a definition that delights me more then this This is he that is so great a Lover and admirer of Monsieur l' Huillier What a goodly property is this to distinguish me from an infinite number of writers of scurvy prose and bad verse as well as I Do not mistrust the verity of my words for were I of worth enough to recommend men by the passion I have for them or if I durst give attestations of their vertue as Justus Lipsius us'd to do after I had treated you with many magnificent superlatives I would informe all present and all to come that you are one of my dearest and most violent inclinations that I am the rivall but a very zealous one of those blessed Chaplains Menages c. who possesse you in my absence That last word enforces a sigh from me Why should we grow old in a friendship altogether abstracted and seperated from matter Without any sensible society animated by word of mouth without hope to see one another again untill the resurrection ever remote above ten dayes journey For less cause then this the honestest among the Poets have made imprecations against Fate and railed at destiny But we must not adde blasphemy to our bad fortune I will comfort my self with your Letter for the happiness I am depriv'd of in the loss of your conversation and will wish you more such adventures as those in Luxembourge that from time to time some fair tongue may advertise you that I am more then any person in the World SIR Your c. Apr. 3. 1644. LETTER XIII To Monsieur de Gomberville SIR THe Holy Scripture calls Death the Kingdome of Silence and the Land of Oblivion Let us evidence that we are not yet of that Region Let us make use of our faculty of speaking and the convenience of a poste at least once in ten years Let there appear some signe of Life in our friendship either by a little motion of the heart or by halfe a word of remembrance in an old Formula to ease the paines of Rhetorick or by that ancient and famous Si vales bene est ego quidem valeo The only advantage I have of you is that I have given you the on-set for I am sure you wish me well and God forbid I should ever reckon your good will or indeed any thing of yours in the number of things corruptible Length of time hath no rust that can waste the affection of Philosophers those people go straite to eternity and perfection and particularly you Sir who continually dive into the chiefest and profoundest Ideas and purge things from all the impurities and defects that attend them Since you can make finer worlds and better then that we behold without doubt you have in your self the principle of that perfection which you communicate to your matter There is no probability that the father of Demy-gods is subject to humane infirmities or that you want generosity after you have bestowed so much on Polexander Phelismond and many more absolutely believe the truth of this Article that I made no scruple to promise your favour to the Cavalier that delivers you this Letter upon the assurance I have that it is a gage which he will find where I left it and which you have kept securely for me after so many years Thus they lived in the golden Age and I beseech you to believe that with all the franknesse and sincerity of that Age I am SIR Your c. Sep. 4. 1643. LETTER XIV To Monsieur Arnould Abbot of Saint Nicholas SIR FAther Narni is not now at Paris and you have continuall respondence at Rome I believe therefore I may without presumption accept the book which you offer me with so much civility Our friend has writ the express termes and way you took to do it which I find so generous and obliging that though the present be very rich in it self yet I do not esteem it more than them I look upon them as a liberality more your own then the first They make me remember with delight the first charmes you used to winne my heart and amidst the lightning and thunder of the Apostolicall Preacher me thinks I behold again the sweetness and serenity of your countenance Yet this is but a faint representation of the things which I have lost I am deprived of an infinity of happinesses by my remotenesse from your presence but withall I very well understand the wretchedness of my condition and the greatness of my losses Nothing is able to comfort me for them but the honour I have of your love and the favour you will do me if you please to believe me with all my soul SIR Your c. May. 13. 1639. LETTER XV. To the same SIR YOU are alwayes either doing or procuring me good you intercede for me when you do not give and my riches flow from your goodness either as from their fountain or in their channell I call those things riches which you sent me from Rome because I now know no other My soul being cured of ambition and having never so much as been sick of avarice neither the employments nor dignities of your world can tempt me in the desart I am no way pregnable but by the spirit and covetous only
the view of the frontitiers of a Country wherein you would not have found many Libraryes I am of opinion there are but very few Turkes Rhetoricians or Philosophers you would hardly have met with any solution of your doubts amongst a people that hold forth ignorance the fundamentall Article of their Religion They take the most vulgar operations of the Mathematicks for Magick and believe Printing and Clocks inventions of the Devell So that I extreamly approve your stay in Italy and the desire you had to understand and observe the deportment of the most rationall People of the world But why do not you speak of Rome as well as Venice Do you only esteem the Nephewes of Antenor and make no account of the sons of Aeneas I should think father Strada might merit as much your curiosity as father Fulgentio and you ought not to have slighted the Legitimate heir or rather the very soul of Tacitus to runne after the shadow and reliques of father Paul You make no mention of the Court of the Princes Barbarini though it is most certaine that all manner of vertue is wellcome to that Court though it come from Hamborough or beyond the Elbe The Muses are lodged in that Palace and he whom you Gallants call Jupiter Capitolinus may justly adde to his titles of Most good and Most great those of Most learned and Most generous He speakes the Language of Oracles even when he do's not speak ex Tripode and makes himselfe familiar with men And it is possible had you written that Elegy ad Romam which you have written ad Venetias the good Pope that understand the making of verses might have return'd you an answer which is beyond the skill of the Duke I am SIR Your c. Oct. 1. 1640. LETTER IIII. To Monsieur Rigault Councellour and Master of the Library to his Majesty SIR I Confesse my sinne but do not repent of it I am the most vaine of all men Living but how is it possible to be humble with all the glory that you give me After such rich tokens of your amity and esteem commendations bestowed by you are in effect something more glorious then Statues erected by a publique decree and carved by Phidias When I consider with my self it is the deare and last confident of the great President de Thou who is also my intimate and perfect friend you can not believe what advantage I draw from the meere imagination of so illustrious a society As often as I think that it is a Patriot of old Rome and a Christian of the Primitive Church which whom I converse I fancy my selfe immediately transported back into former ages and am sometimes become companion to the Sulpitii or Scevolaes and at other times to the Tertullians and Cyprians That which you have sent me to confirme my opinion of one of those good fathers is most worthy both of you and him And should he returne from the other world himselfe to give an account of his thoughts he could not justifie them better But because they may seeme somewhat harsh and strange at least to the nicety of women and ignorance of children and appearing in French cast a generall fright on all unlatin'd people I could wish you had taken the paines to transfuse them out of the vulgar tongue into the learned and adde this new benefit to all the old favours which Tertullian ha's received from you I could desire too Sir but in the same manner as Brutus did that you would give me the Christian which you once promised me I meane that Christian of the Heroick times of Christianity one of those gluttons of Fasts and Martyrdomes as your African would have called them I should be infinitely obliged to you if you would please to dispatch this present to me and if at the opening of a packet from Monsieur l'Huillier I found but three leaves written with your hand in the style and vigour of your Prefaces with this inscription on the front Rigaltii Christianus ad Balzacium Permit that admirable Monsieur l'Huillier to importune you for it in my absence and me to burden him with the solicitation of a businesse that lies neerer my heart then you can imagine Besides his own strength and power in perswasion he shall be assisted if it be necessary with the last part of my Apologies to Menander a volume of my Discourses two volumes of Letters ad Atticum and some other such Records that is the only word of Barretry I am Master of that shall all combine to demand the like debt from you When you have payed it we will talk more civilly It shall then be a benefit or a favour and I shall be glad to be yet more firmely then I am SIR Your c. Nov. 27. 1644. LETTER V. To Monsieur the Abbot of Guyet SIR YOu entreat me a great benefit to my self when you desire my company I understand what advantage a man that has but good ears may gain by it and I should have a soul too stubborn and flinty if it would not be mollified by the remonstrances you use to me Though I am one of the most rigid Anchorites that live in the Desart I must confess you have shook the firmness of my vow and the society of one of your merit is a violent temptation to encline me to Apostacy A solitary life has indeed its charmes and delights But who can chuse but grow lean when he is brought to that pass as he has no aliment but his own juyce And how commendable soever the commerce with books be yet every thing considered is it not an unburying of the dead and oftentimes a descending into their Sepulchres by deep and melancholy meditation A man had almost as good work in the mines He runs the same fortune and hazard and brings back no better a countenance nor eyes less sunck in his head They are living books that illuminate the mind without prejudice to the sight and you are Sir one of those excellent and agreeable books What delight then is in such volumes as can answer and reply they save the labour of scrutiny and choice by presenting things pure and simple they have something of more power and life then reading can possibly be capable of And though your three great favourites Terence Horace and Virgil be my ancient inclinations too yet I confess I never accounted them such honest fellows as when I heard them speak out of your mouth But what shall I say of the incomparable things I have heard from your self What Oracles have you deliver'd in my presence or to speak more plainly what admirable verses have I seen you make and recite By your favour I once had them among my papers and should have kept them still if some curious hand had not pilladg'd my Cabinet Be pleas'd to make me a second present of them if you desire to have me believe my own not displeasing to you Let Monsieur Menage prevaile with you and I