two hundred calling themselues Virgins I verily thinke there is not one who speakes truth if shee haue not recouered her Maiden-head It may be their intention is not ill and that in suffering themselues to be courted they haue no other designe then to raise seruants to God But since godly intentions doe not alwayes produce good effects if you suffer things to run on in the same course which they doe I greatly apprehend in your regard that Antichrist will shortly take his beginning in your Diocesse and lest you by consequence should be the first obiect of his persecution J suppose you haue a greater interest then any man to oppose this accident which now threatneth vs and that to diuert a mischiefe which is to be followed by the worlds ruine you ought not to spare the fulminations of Rome nor make vse onely of halfe your power There are not any will be auerse to this good Worke saue only our young Gallants But you cannot procure their disaffections vpon a better subiect then this nor doe greater seruice to the iealious God then to conserue the honour of those creatures he loueth I am Your most humble and most affectionate seruant BALZAC The 7. of October 1618. To Mounsieur Pouzet LETTER XI IF you will not returne from Court we are resolued to send Deputies on purpose to require you of the King and to beseech him to restore vs our good company I know well that in the place where you are there are prisons both for the innocent and most happy and that no man can blame you for your ouer-long abode there without accusing you for being fortunate But it were likewise small Justice your absence should make this City a Village and that Paris should vsurpe all the affections you owe me As I perfectly loue you so doe I expect to be reciprocally respected by you nor would you I should herein haue any aduantage ouer you though I yeelde vnto you in all other things Neither of vs therefore can enioy solide contentments so long as we are separated and I pretend you doe me wrong if you take satisfaction where I am not Take Poste therefore with speed to be here quickely grow not old eyther by the way or at your Inne for by this meanes I shal get the aduantage of that time and you shall gaine me foure dayes out of the losse of three Moneths I haue seene what you willed me concerning λλλ But I would you knew I haue no resentments against forcelesse enemies nor haue I any minde to put my selfe into passion when these petty Doctors please Should these fellowes speake well of me I would instantly examine my conscience to know whether I were guilty of any fault and as Hippolitus suspected his owne innocency because hee was esteemed spotlesse in his stepdames eye So should not I haue any good opinion of my owne sufficiency were I gracious in their sights who can haue no other then bad affections Howsoeuer they cause me once a day to thinke my selfe some greater matter then I am when I reflect vpon their number and the miracle I worke in interessing in one and the same cause supersticious persons Atheists and euill Monkes Adieu Yours BALZAC The 14. Aprill 1625. An answer to a Letter sent to Balzac from a learned Old Lady Madamoiselle de Gournay LETTER XII Madam I DOe here at the first tell you I haue no other opinion of you then your selfe giues me and I haue at all times had a more strong and sound notion of the inward qualities by the speech then by the Physiognomy But if after the Letter you did me the honour to write vnto me it were necessary to seeke any forraigne proofes the testimony of those two great personages who haue admired your vertue euen in the budde and left the pourtraite thereof vnder their owne hands may well serue as an Antidote to secure mee from the impressions and the painted shadowes of calumny I who know that Asia Affricke and a great part of the world besides beleeue Fables as fundamentall points of Religion doe not at all wonder if in what concerneth your particular there be some who side not with the truth which is sure to finde enemies in all places where there are men This is an effect of that errour now growne old in popular opinion that it is fit an honest woman be ignorant of many things and that to maintaine her reputation it is not requisite all the world commend her but that she be vnknowne to all men Nay I say further The vulgar doth ordinarily cast an iniurious eye and with some taxe of extrauagancy vpon great and Heroicall qualities if they appeare in that sexe to which they conceiue it ought not to appertaine Now though to speake generally and to reflect rightly vpon the order of earthly things and the grounds of policy I must confesse I should leane to the first of these opinions Yet will I be well aduised how I thinke that Nature hath not so much liberty left her as to passe vpon occasion the limits shee ordinarily alloweth her selfe or sometimes to exceede her bounds without blame to the end to produce certaine things farre surpassing the rest in perfection It is no good Argument to auerre that because you are adorned with the vertues of our sexe you therefore haue not reserued those of your owne or that it is a sinne for a woman to vnderstand the Language which heretofore the Vestals made vse of I will therefore leaue these calumnious persons who desire to bereaue Lillies of their beauty and Christall of its clearenesse to returne to the Letter I haue receiued from you where without flattery I will affirme that this man who hath beene discribed vnto you for so vaine glorious a person who despiseth times past who mocketh the moderne and preiudicateth the future hath found out diuers things in your workes well pleasing vnto him so as if my approbation be at this present of any weight with you you may for your owne aduantage adde this Encomion to that of Lipsius and Montagnie and boldly affirme you haue this aduantage ouer Kings and Emperours that the tastes of two different ages haue agreed in your fauour Since you were first commended the face of Christendome hath changed ten times Neyther our manners attire or Court are cognisible to what you haue seene them Men haue made new lawes yea and the vertues of our fore-fathers age are esteemed the vices of ours yet shall it appeare how amidst so many changes and strange reuolutions you haue brought euen to ourtimes one and the same reputation and that your beauty I speake of what enamoreth the Capucins Friers and old Philosophers hath not left you with your youth I shall in mine owne regard bee very glad the world should take notice how much I honour Vertue by what name soeuer it passeth and vnder what shape soeuer it is shrowded and I esteeme my party stronger by the halfe then
the end not to omit any thing worthy the Ancient Rome It is impossible at once to haue so glorious obiects and degenerous thoughts or not to be transported with all those Tryumphs of times past and with the glory of our Age. But this is not the place where I intend to speake it being of too small extent to receiue so illimitable a Subiect It shall therefore suffice in conclusion of this my Letter to tell you that since vpon your aduice all posterity dependeth and the whole Court expecteth from you what they are or are not to beleeue I cannot chuse my Lord but to esteeme my selfe right happy euen amidst my greatest miseries if you still continue vnto me your equall Iudgement with the honour of your fauours BALZAC From Rome this 10. of Aprill 1623. To the Lord Cardinall of Richelieu from Mounsieur Balzac LETTER V. My LORD MY purpose was at my arriual in France to haue presented my Seruice vnto you in the place of your Residence that I might haue had the honour to see you but my health hauing not beene such as to affoord me the free disposition of my selfe I am forced to deferre my contentment in that kinde and to intreate to heare some Newes from You till I be able to go to vnderstand them from your Selfe In the interim the better to cheare my Spirits I will beleeue they are as good as I wish them and will imagine this Collicke of yours whereof I had so great apprehension shall be drowned in the fountaine of Pougues This truly is so generally desired and sought for at Gods hands by so many mouthes that I am confident he will not in this poynt leaue the felicity He hath prepared for our times vnperfect and that He loueth the World too well to depriue it of the good you are to Performe Armies being defeated new Forces may be set on foot and a second Fleete may be rigged after the first perish But if we should want your Lordship the World would not last long enough to be able to repayre such a losse And the King might haue just cause to bewayle the same in the midst of his greatest Tryumphes He hath indeed an inexhaustable Kingdome of men The Warres do daily affoord him Captaines The number of Iudges is not much inferiour to that of Criminals It is only of wise men and such as are capable to guide the Sterne of States whereof the scarcity is great and without flattery to find out your Equall herein all Nature had need put it selfe into Action and that God long promise the same to mankinde before he be pleased to produce him I say nothing my Lord I am not ready to sweare in verification of my beleefe or which I confirme not by the Testimony of your very Enemies The authority of Kings is not so Soueraigne as that is you exercise ouer the Soules of such as hearken vnto you Your Spirit is right powerfull and dayly imployed in great affaires and which refresheth it selfe in agitation of ordinary occurrents You are destinated to fill the place of that Cardinall which at this present maketh one of the beautifull parties of Heauen who hath hitherto had no Successour though he haue had Heires and Brothers This being thus who will doubt that publicke Prayers are to be offred for so precious and necessary a health as yours or that your life ought to be deare vnto you within you are to conserue the glory of our age As for me my Lord who am assaulted on all sides and to whom nothing is remayning saue hope being the only benefit of those who are depriued of all others since my misfortune wil needs make me that publicke sacrifice which is to be charged with the paines of all the people and pay for all the World I could be well content you should send me your Collicke and that it come to accompany the Feauer the Scyatica and the Stone Since of so many Diseases there can but one Death be composed Nor is it time any longer to be a good husband of what is already lost But I will not enter further into this discourse wherof I shal find no end and it were to small purpose to tell you he is the most wretched man in the World who so much honoureth you for feare you should reiect my affection as somefatall thing and least it auayle me not at all to protest that I am my Lord Your most hamble and most obedient Seruant BALZAC September the 4. 1622. To the Lord Cardinall of Richelieu LETTER VI. MY LORD AFter the sealing of these presents a messenger passed by this place by whom I vnderstand that the Pope hath created you a Cardinall I make no question but you receiued this Newes as a matter indifferent vnto you and that your Spirit being raised aboue the things of this world you behold them with one and the same Aspect Yet since herein the publicke good meeteth with your particular interest and that for your sake the Church reioyceth euen in all the most irkesome Prisons of Europe it is not reasonable you should depriue your selfe of a contentment no lesse chast then those Heauen it selfe affoordeth vs and which proceedeth from the same cause All good men my Lord ought in these times to desire great Dignities as necessary meanes to vndertake great matters If they doe otherwise besides that God will demand a strict account from them of those his graces whereof they haue made no good vse the World hath likewise iust subiect of Complaint seeing them abandon it as a prey to the wicked and that their desire of ease causeth them to forsake the publicke good This my Lord is to let you know you are to reserue your Humility for those Actions passing betwene God and Your selfe But that in other cases you can neither haue too much Wealth nor ouer great power since Obedience is due to Wisedome there being certaine vertues not practiseable by the poore I doe therefore infinitely reioyce to see you at this present raised to that eminent Dignity wherein you fill the Vniuerse with Splendor and where your sole Example will I hope carry so great weight as to cause the Church to returne to the Purity of its first Jnfancy Truely if there be any hope to expect this happinesse and to see rebellious Spirits perswaded as we behold their Citties forced you doubtlesse are the man from whom wee are to expect this felicity and who is only able to finish the victories of Kings by the subuersion of Misbeleeuers To this effect doth all Christendome exact these atchieuments at your hands as a last instruction and the generall peace of Consciences and my selfe who haue thus long beene in search after the Jdea of Eloquence without finding among vs any which is not eyther counterfeit or imperfect am very confident you wil bring it to light in the same excellency as it was when at Rome the Tyrants were condemned and when it defended
or vapours of the Earth This being true God forbid that by the estate of your present constitution I should iudge of that of your Condition or that I should not esteeme him perfectly happy who is superlatiuely wise You may please to consider that howbeit you haue shared with other men the infirmities of humane Nature yet the aduantage resteth soly on your side since vpon the matter there is onely some small paine remayning with you instead of an infinity of errours passions and faults falling to our lots Besides I am confident that the terme of your sufferings is well nigh expired and that the hereafter prepares right solide and pure contentments for you and a youth after its season as you are become old before your time The King who hath vse of your long liuing makes no vnprofitable wishes Heauen beares not the prayers that the Enemies of this State offer We know no Successor that is able to effect what you haue not yet finished and it being true that our Forces are but the Armes of your Head and that your Councels haue beene chosen by God to re-establish the Affaires of this Age we ought not to bee apprehensiue of a losse which should not happen but to our Successors It shall then be in your time my Lord I hope that oppressed Nations will come from the Worlds end to implore the protection of this Crowne that by your meanes our Allies will repaire their losses and that the Spaniard shall not be the sole Conquerour but that we shall prooue the Infranchesers of the whole Earth In your time I trust the Holy Sea shall haue her Opinions free nor shall the inspirations of the Holy Ghost be oppugned by the artifice of our Enemies resolutions will be raised worthy the ancient Jtaly for defence of the common cause To conclude it will bee through your Prudence my Lord that there shall no longer be any Rebellion among vs or Tyranny among men that all the Citties of this Kingdome shall be seates of assurance for honest men that nouelties shall be no farther in request saue onely for colours and fashions of Attire that the People will resigne Liberty Religion and the Common-wealth into the hands of Superiours and that outof lawfull gouernment and loyall obedience there will arise that felicity Politisians search after as being the end of Ciuile life My hope is my Lord that all this will happen vnder your sage conduct and that after you haue setled our repose and procured the same for our Allies you shall enioy your good deeds in great tranquility and see the estate of those things endure whereof your selfe haue beene a principal Author All good men are confident these blessed euents will happen in your Age and by your Aduice As for me who am the meanest among those who iustly admire your Vertues I shall not I hope prooue the slackest in the expression of your Merits Since therefore they of right exact a generall acknowledgment if I should fayle in my particular contribution I were for euer vnworthy the Honour I so ambitiously aspire vnto the highth whereof is to be esteemed Your Lordships most humble and most obedient seruant BALZAC To the Lord Bishop of Aire LETTER VIII My Lord IF at the first sight you know not my Letter and that you desire to be informed who writes vnto you It is one more old like then his Father and as ouer-worne as a Ship hauing made three Voyages to the Indies and who is no other thing then the Relickes of him whom you saw at Rome In those dayes I sometimes complayned without cause and happily there was then no great difference betweene the health of others and my infirmity Howsoeuer be it that my imagination is crazed or that my present payne doth no longer admit of any comparison I begin to lament the Feauer and Scyatica as lost goods and as pleasures of my youth now past See here to what tearmes I am reduced and how as it were I liue if it may be called liuing to be in a continuall contestation with Death True it is there is not sufficient efficacy in all the words whereof this World makes vse to expresse the miseries I indure they leaue no place eyther for the Physitians skill or the sicke-mans Patience nor hath Nature ordayned any other remedies for the same saue onely Poyson and precipices But I much feare least I suffer my selfe to be transported with paine or endure it lesse Christianly then beseemeth me being a Witnesse of your Vertus and hauing had the meanes to profit my selfe by your Example My Lord it is now time or neuer I subdue this wicked spirit which doth forcibly transport my will and that the old Adam obey the other Yet doth it not a little grieue me to be indebted to my misery for my Soules health and that I much desire it were some other more noble consideration then necessity should cause me to become an honest man But since the meanes to saue vs are bestowed vpon vs and that we chuse them not it is fitting that reason conuince our sensiblities causing vs to agree to what is otherwise distastefull vnto vs. At the worst we must at all times confesse that we cannot be sayd to perish when we are safely cast on shore by some Ship wracke and it may be if God did not driue me as he doth out of this Life I should neuer dreame of a better I will referre the rest to be related vnto you at your returne from Jtaly with purpose to lay open my naked Soule vnto you together with my Thoughts in the same simplicity they spring in me you are the onely Person from whom I expect Reliefe and I hold my selfe richer in the possession of your good Opinion then if I enioyed the fauours of all earthly Princes and all the Wealth of their Territories and Kingdomes Truely this is the first time since I writ vnto you from Lyons I haue made vse of my hands and I haue receiued a hundred Letters from my Friends without answering one Hereby my Lord you see there is no other consideration your selfe excepted of force to cause me to breake silence since for all others I haue lost the vse of speaking Yet I beseech you to thinke notwithstanding all this my affection to be neyther penurious nor ambitious The Riches I craue at your noble hands are purely spiritual and I am at this present in an estate wherein I haue more neede to settle some order for the affaires of my Conscience then to reflect vpon the establishment of my worldly Fortunes But my Lord to change Discourse and a little to retire my selfe from my paines what doe you thus long at Rome Doth the Pope dally with vs and will he leaue to his Successor the glory of the best Election can be made Is he not affraide lest it be giuen out he hath some intelligence with his Aduersaries and that he taketh not the aduice of the Holy
you make not any better choice there then I happen on hereby chance I make ouer particular profession to relye on your iudgement and of being Your most humble seruant BALZAC The 7. October 1625 To Mounsieur de Vaugelas LETTER XV. THe good opinion you haue of me makes vp more then halfe my merit and you herein resemble the Poets Epicts who out of small truths frame incredible fixions howsoeuer if you loued me not but according to the rigour of Law and Reason I should much feare to be but of indifferent esteeme with you It is then much better for me the affection you beare me appeare rather a passion then a vertue Extremities in all other things are reprooueable in this laudable and as certaine Riuers are neuer so vsefull as when they ouerflow so hath Friendship nothing more excellent in it then excesse and doth rather offend in her moderation then in her violence Continue therefore in obseruing neither rule nor measure in the fauours you affoord me and to the end I may be lawfully ingratefull being infinitely obliged leaue me not so much as words wherewith to thanke you Truely your last Letters haue taken from me all the tearmes I should imploy in this occasion and instead of the good offices I incessantly receiue from you it seemes you will onely haue new importunies in payment Since it is thus feare not my nicenesse or that in matters of great consequence I make not vse of your affection and in slight ones I abuse it not henceforward it is requisite you recouer all my Law sutes compose all my quarrels and correct all my errours For to vndertake to cure all my diseases I suppose you would not in preiudice of Mounsieur de Lorime It shall therefore suffice you will be pleased to let him at this passage read how I requite my life at his hands and if the onely obeying him will preserue mee I will place his precepts immediately after Gods Commandements There is no receite distastefull if his Eloquence affoord the preparatiue nor paine vnasswaged by his words before it be expelled by his Art Remotest causes are as visible to him as the most ordinary effects and if Nature should discouer herselfe naked vnto him he could not thereby receiue any further communication of her secrets then he hath acquired by former experience Let him therefore bestow better nights on mee then those I haue had this sixe yeares wherein I haue had no sleepe intreate him to make a peace betweene my Liuer and Stomacke and to compose this ciuill Warre which disturbes the whole inside of my body if he desire I should no longer liue but for his glory and to perswade the world he is nothing indebted to those Arabian Princes who practised Phisicke or to the gods themselues who inuented it Truely if meere Humanists whom diuers of his profession haue sometimes scorned seeme of slight consideration with him or if he be not contented with a ciuill acknowledgement I am ready to call him my preseruer and to erect Altars and offer sacrifice vnto him Yea to compasse this I wil quit the better part of what I implore I desire not hee should cure mee It is sufficent hee hinder mee from dying and that hee cause my diseases and plaints to endure some threescore yeares I would likewise know if you please what his good Cozen doth that Citizen of all Common wealths that man who is no more a stranger in Persia then in France and whose knowledge hath the same extent as hath all the Turkish Empire and all the ancient Roman Monarchy I haue at the least three hundred questions to aske him and a whole Volumne of doubts to propose vnto him I expect at our first meeting to resolue with him vpon the affaires of former ages and concerning the different opinions of Baronius and Genebrard on the one side and of Escales and Casaubon on the other I am in the meane time resolued to passe ten or twelue daies with Mounsieur de Racan to the end to see him in that time worke miracles and write things which God must necessarily reueale vnto him Truely Conquerours haue no greater aduantage ouer Masters of Fence then hee hath ouer Doctors and hee is at this day one of the great Workemanships of Nature If all wits were like his there would bee a great deale of time lost at Schoole Vniuersities would become the most vnprofitable parts of the Common-wealth and Latine as well as Millan Parchment with other forraine Merchandizes would be rather markes of our vanity then any effects of our necessitie The 10. of October 1625. To Mounsieur de Racan LETTER XVI VVEre my health better then it is yet the roughnesse of the season wee are entring into and which J hoped to preuent makes mee ouer apprehensiue to stirre out of my Chamber or to hazard my selfe in a long voyage A Sunlesse day or one night in a bad Host-house were sufficient to finish the worke of my Death and in the state wherein I am I should much sooner arriue in the next world then at Chastellerant I must therefore intreate you to hold me excused if J keepe not promise with you or if I take some longer time to make prouision of strength to prepare my selfe for so hardy an enterprize At our returne from Court wee are to come to your delicate House and to see the places where the Muses haue appeared vnto you and dictated the Verses we haue so much admired Those wherewith you honoured me doe ouer-much engage me to leaue my iudgement at liberty I will onely content my selfe to protest that you were neuer so very a Poet as when you spake of me and that you haue Art enough to inuent new Fables as incredible as ancient fictions it seemes Diuinity cost you nothing and because your Predecessors haue furnished Heauen with all sorts of people and since Astrologers haue there placed Monsters you suppose it may bee likewise lawfull for you at least to get entrance there for some of your Friends You may doe Sir what you please nor haue I any cause to blame the height of you affection since I hold he loues not sufficiently who loues not excessiuely It will onely bee the good Wits of our Age who will not pardon you and will take it impatiently to see my Name in your Verses with as great Splendor and Pompe as that of Artemisa and Ydalia But as you imploy not other mens passions either in matter of have or loue so I suppose you make lesse vse of their Eyes in iudging the truth of things In this case I am sufficiently confident of my Retoricke to assure my selfe I shall at all times perswade you that I am more Estimable then mine Enemies and that they haue no other aduantage ouer me who am sicke but only health it they inioy it Besides you need not make any Apology in excuse of your tediousnesse I well perceiue by the Excellency of your labours the
from a man who could neuer be procured to approue euill and of whose disfauour one can hardly finde other cause then the onely truth he hath declared Howsoeuer it be since you are now in Lymosin and take not any iourney in those parts without hauing a thousand old debates to reconcile and as many new ones to preuent it is very probable that after so painefull an imployment and so great disquiet of mind my booke will fall into your hands iust at such time as you cannot find any thing more tedious vnto you then what you come from treating of For should I presume that in your pleasant walkes of Duretal where all your minutes are pleasing and all your houres precious there could be any time spare for me and my works it were as much as to be ignorant of the diuersions there attending you or not to be acquainted with the great affluence of noble company dayly repairing thither to visite you But were it so that you had none with you saue onely the memory of your fore-passed actions your solitarinesse hath no neede of bookes to make it more pleasing nay if all this were not yet if you desire to seeke contentment out of your selfe you cannot finde any more pleasing then in the presence of your Children and particularly of that diuine Daughter of yours from whom I dayly learne some miracle It is therefore in her absence and in solitary walkes where I haue the ambition to finde entertainement and to receiue gracious acceptance In all other places without presuming either to passe for Oratour or Poet it shall highly suffice me in being honoured with the assurance that I am My Lord Your most humble Seruant BALZAC The 25 of May 1624. A Letter from the Count of Schomberg to Mounsieur de Balzac LETTER XXV SIR THe stile you trauaile in causeth the Pennes of all such who attempt an answere to fall out of their hands and Eloquence may so properly be called yours that it is no maruell though others haue but a small share therein I would therefore haue you know that if I vnderstand any thing in Letters yours doe obscure whatsoeuer hath hitherto bin esteemed of in our Language and that without flattering you there can be no diuersion so pleasing which ought not to giue place to the perusing of those Lines you sent mee This occupation is worthy the Cabinets of Kings and of the richest Eare curtins of France and not as you would haue it of my solitary retirements in Lymosin from whence I am ready to be gone with resolution neuer to retire from the affection I haue promised you whence you shall at all times draw effectuall proofes whensoeuer you please to imploy them for your seruice Sir Your most affectionate seruant SCHOMBERG The 1. of Iune 1624. THE LETTERS OF MOVNSIEVR DE BALZAC To my Lord Mashall of Schomberg THE FOVRTH BOOKE LETTER I. My LORD I Should be insensible of Publique good and an enemy to France had I not as I ought a true taste of the good newes your Foot-man brought me I will not mention the obligations I owe you being no small ones if that be not a slight matter to be esteemed by you But since I make profession to honour vertue euen in the person of one departed or an enemy and at all times to side with the right were there onely my selfe and Iustice for it you may please to beleeue I complaine in your behalfe for the miseries of our times and that I am most ioyfull to see you at this present where all the world mist you Certainely your retirement from Court hath beene one of the fairest peeces of your life during which you haue made it apparent you are the same in both fortunes since I can witnesse that no one word then passed from you vnsutable to your resolution Yet this rare vertue being there hidden in one of the remote corners of the world hauing but a very small circuite to dilate it selfe must necessarily be contented with the satisfaction of your conscience and slender testimonies In the meane time the authority of your enemies hath beene obnoxious to all honest eyes There was no meanes to conceale from strangers the States infirmities or what reason to affoord them for the disgrace of so irreproachable a Minister nor was there any who grieued not that by your absence the King lost so many houres seruices For my part my Lord reflecting vpon you in that estate it seemed to me I saw Phidias or some other of those ancient Artists their hands bound and their costly materials as Marble Gold or luory taken from them But now that better time succeede each thing being againe reduced to its place it is time to reioyce with all good French-men that you shall no more want matter and that the King hath at length found how vnusefull your absence hath beene to his affaires Truely be it that he content himselfeto gouerne his people wisely or that the afflictions of his poore neighbours set neare his heart and that his Iustice extend further then his Iurisdiction No man doubts whatsoeuer he doth but you shall be one of the principall instruments of his designes and that as well Peace as Warre haue equall vse of your Conduct All men haue wel perceiued you haue not contributed any thing to the administration of the Kings treasure saue onely your pure spirit to wit that part of the soule separated from the terrestriall part being free from passions which reasoneth without either louing or desiring and that you haue managed the Riches of the State with as great fidelity as one ought to gouerne another mans goods with as much care as you conserue your owne and with as great scruple as wee ought to touch sacred things But in truth it is no great glory for that man to haue beene faithfull to his Master who knowes not how to deceiue any And did I beleeue you were onely able to abstaine from ill I would barely commend in you the Commencements of Vertue I therefore passe further and am assured that neither the feare of death which you haue slighted in all shapes and vnder the most dreadfull aspects it could possibly appeare nor complacency which often ouer passeth the best Counsels to transport it selfe to the most pleasing ones nor any priuate interest which makes vs rather regard our selues then the Publique shall at all hinder you either from purposing vndertaking or executing eminent matters Posterity which will peraduenture iudge of our age vpon the report I shall make will see more elsewhere then I can here relate and I shall rest sufficiently satisfied if you please to doe mee the honour as to remember that mine affection is no Child of your prosperity and how in two contrary seasons I haue beene equally My Lord Your most humble and most faithfull seruant BALZAC To the Bishop of Angoulesme LETTER II. SIR I Will no longer complaine of my pouerty since you haue sent me