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
ARMANDVS IOANNES DV PLESIS Cardinalis de Richelieu Sic oculis sic Ille manu sic ore decorus Pallada in hoc Martem Mercuriumque Vides P. G. De Vauchelles THE LETTERS OF MOVNSIEVR DE BALZAC Translated into English according to the last Edition By W. T. Esq Lege Collige LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes for Richard Clotterbuck and are to be sold at his shop at the Ball in Little-Brittaine 1634. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE WILLIAM Lord CRAVEN Baron of Hamsted-Marshall c. My LORD NOt to know your Lordship is an ignorance next Barbarisine but to be knowne vnto you is an honour my ambition hath alwayes aymed at but which my want of merit or euill fortune neuer yet attained In making this tender of my truest seruice I offer you the Votes of all who not poysoned by that Viper Enuie iustly extoll courage in youth not forced to action but by the only spurre of glory The vniuersall world among the wonders of our age numbers you and our world hauing the happinesse to boast her selfe your mother cherisheth you as a man shee hath long time laboured to produce This Present is but a Translation which yet may happily as well for the generall benefit as particular choice bee equall to an originall you can best iudge I haue therefore in part vindicated my selfe from those who may accuseme of not knowledge or negligence I submit all to your censure and with this small testimony of my deuotion to true Nobility doe here sue to haue these first fruits of my labours placed vnder the protection of so Honourable a Patron whose vertues as they are worthy to bee admired by all so shall they together with this so noble a fauour bee euer duely acknowledged by My Lord Your humblest seruant William Tirwhyt To the Lord CARDINALL of Richelieu MY LORD I Here present you Mounsieur Balzac's Letters which may well bee tearmed new ones euen after the eighth Edition for though they haue long since beene in possession of publike fauour yet may I iustly say this is the first time their Authour hath auouched them The aduantagious iudgement you haue deliuered of him and the ardor wherewith all France hath followed your approbation well deserueth his best endeauours toward the perfectionating so excellent things I haue beene solicitous to draw him to this labour to the end the world might know that if I bee not worthy the share I haue in his respects yet that I haue at least beene wise enough to make right vse of my good fortune and to cause it to become seruiceable to the glory of my Countrey But truely were hee master of his body or did his maladies afford him liberty of spirit hee would not suffer any but himselfe to speake in this cause and his Pen performing no slight acts would haue consecrated his owne labours and the wonders they haue produced But since euills haue no prefixed time of durance and in that all the good interims which hereafter may befall him are wholly to be imployed in his Booke The Prince I esteemed it to small purpose to attend his health in this businesse and that it was now no longer any time to deferre the purging of these curious Letters from such blemishes as ill impressions had left vpon them They shall therefore now appeare in the parity wherein they were conceiued and with all their naturall ornaments Besides I haue added diuers letters of his not as yet come to light which may serue as a subiect of greater satisfaction to all men and bee as a recompense of the honour wherewith he hath collected the former And truly my Lord had it beene possible to place in the Frontispiece of this Booke a more illustrious name then yours or should Mounsieur de Balzac's incsination and mine haue beene farre from any such intention yet would not the order of things or the law of decency haue permitted any other reflection then what I now make I speake not at this present of that dazeling greatnesse whereunto you are eleuated nor of that so rare and necessary vertue which rightly to recognize the greatest King on earth hath esteemed himselfe not to bee ouer able I will onely say I had reason to submit an eloquence produced in the shade and formed in solitarinesse to this other eloquence quickned both with voyce and action causing you to reigne in soueraignety at all assemblies Certainely my Lord you are more powerfull by this incomparable quality then by the authority wherein the King hath placed you The onely accent of your voyce hath a hidden property to charme all such as hearken vnto you none can bee possessed with any so willfull passions who will not be appeased by the reasons you propound and after you haue spoken you will at all times remaine master of that part of man no way subiect to the worlds order and which hath not any dependency vpon lawfull power or tyrannicall vsurpation This is a trueth my Lord as well knowne as your name and which you so solidly confirmed at the last assembly of the Notables as that in the great diuersity of humours and iudgements whereof it was composed there was peraduenture this onely point well resolued on That you are the most eloquent man liuing This being true I can no way doubt but the perusall of this Booke I offer vnto you will extraordinarily content you and that you will bee well pleased to retire thither sometimes to recreate your spirits after agitation and to suspend those great thoughts who haue for their obiect the good of all Europe It is a Booke my Lord wherein you shall find no common thing but the Title where entertaining some particular person Mounsieur de Balzac reades Lessons to all men and where amidst the beauty of Complements and dexterity of Ieasting he often teacheth of the most sublime points of Philosophy I meane not that wrangling part thereof which reiecteth necessary verities to seeke after vnprofitable ones which cannot exercise the vnder standing without prouoking passions nor speake of moderation without distemper and putting the soule into disorder But of that whereby Pericles heretofore made himselfe master of Athens and wherewith Epaminondas raised himselfe to the prime place of Greece which tempereth the manners of particulars regulateth the obligation of Princes and necessarily bringeth with it the felicity of all States where they command This booke will make it apparent euen to your enemies that your life hath beene at all times equally admirable though not alwayes alike glorious How you haue conserued the opinion of your vertue euen in the time of your hardest fortunes and how in the greatest fury of the tempest and in the most extreame violence of your affaires the integrity of your actions hath neuer beene reduced to the onely testimony of your conscience To conclude It is in this Booke my Lord where I suppose you will bee well pleased to reade the presages of your present greatnesse and what
duty being conformable to his inclination so as the onely meanes then to be rebellious was to beblinde When this young Lord came to Rome at his returne from the battaile of Prague I can well witnesse the iealousie he at once afforded both to men and their wiues and of the great Prognostickes all such gaue of him who presumed to haue any experience in future occurrents either by the aspect of Starres or some more sublime vnderstanding besides to consider how at twenty yeares of age there is scarce any corner of the knowne world he hath not traced to encounter honourable actions nor any sort of combate wherein for the most part he hath not beene Conquerour that he hath borne Armes against Turkes and Jnfidels that he hath appeared both in battailes and sieges of Citties that he hath giuen life to some enemies and taken it from others This to speake truth is a thing God suffereth as rarely to be seene as deluges and other great effects of his power or iustice In a long processe of time the meerest Cowards may become Maisters were it by no other meanes but that by seeing all men dye before them they may inherit the whole world Diuers likewise haue performed great exploits who haue begun their actions either with grosse errours or meane aduentures But as there are very few Riuers nauigable euen from their first fountaines nor Countries where the Sun fendeth forth his full heate from the very day-spring so are such men doubtlesse very rare and singular who haue not any neede either of growth or yeares nor are subiect either to the order of times or rules of Nature But I haue no purpose to folde vp a booke in a Letter for though my griefe doe sometimes permit mee to spend some small time vpon pleasing subiects yet will it not allow me to make thereon any long stay I must therefore leaue off during my short good day lest I fall sicke againe in your presence and once more clogge you with my complaints insteade of thanking you for your kinde remembrance and assuring you of the great desire I haue to remaine so long as I liue Your most humble seruant BALZAC The 4. August 1615. A Letter from Balzac to Mounsieurde Bois Robert LETTER VII THough I receiue no newes from you and howbeit those from Paris are generally naught yet am I so confident of your excellent constitution as I cannot imagine it can be endamaged by that contagious ayre Surely if it be not in such sort infected that birds fall downe dead and that the Springs be not corrupted you haue small cause to feare and I haue heretofore seene you of so perfect a composition and so strong a substance that an ordinary infection I suppose is vnable to seaze vpon you And rather then I will haue any apprehension of your being carryed away with the current of those who dye of this great mortality I shall sooner beleeue that God reserueth you to make the worlds Epitaph and those last Songs appointed for the Catastrophe of all humane ioyes Yet ere it come to this point remember your promise I pray you and send me something to rid me of the Megreme I haue taken in reading the sotteries of these times I cannot counterfeit the matter but must confesse I taste Verses as I doe Mellons so as if these two sorts of Fruites haue not a relish neare approaching to perfection I know not how to commend them though on the Kings Table or in Homers workes Whatsoeuer you doe yet at the least permit nothing to your spirit which may wound your reputation and aboue all let me intreate you not to bee the man who may iustly be taxed of hauing violated the chastity of our Language or for instructing the French in forraigne vices vtterly vnknowne to their Predecessours Poetry which God hath sometimes made choice of for the vttering of Oracles and to vnfold his secrets to Mankinde ought at the least to be imployed in honest vses Nor is it a lesse offence to make vse thereof in vicious matters then to violate a Virgin This I speake vpon the subiect of our Friend whose end I feare will hardly be naturall if hee dye not the sooner of his fourth Poxe This is the second time hee hath issued out of Paris by a breach hauing escaped as furious a flame as that of Troy For my part I cannot conceiue what should be his designe For to warre against Heauen besides that he shall be but slackly accompanied in such an expedition nor hath a hundred hands as it is sayd of Gyants he ought to vnderstand it was an action they could neuer atchieue and how in Cicilia there are Mountaines yet smoaking with their Massacre We come not into this world to prescribe Lawes but to submit our selues to those we find and to content ourselues with the wisdome of our fore-fathers as with their Land and Sunne And truely since in matters indifferent nouelties are euer reprehensible and that our Kings quit not their Lillies to quarter Tulipans in their armes by how much greater right are we obliged to conserue the ancient and fundamentall points of Religion which are by so much the more pure in that by their antiquity they approach nearer to the Origine of things and for that betweene them and the beginning of all good there is the lesse time subiect to corruption To speake plainely there is small appearance that truth hath from the beginning of the world attended this man on purpose to discouer it selfe vnto him in a Brothell or Tauerne and to bee sent forth of a mouth which comes short in sobriety to that of a Suisse I intend not to intermeddle with the Courts of Parliament nor to preuent their Decrees by mine opinion And to thinke to make this man more culpable then he is were as much as to cast Inke on an Ethiopians face I owe so much to to the memory of our fore-past acquaintance as I rather pitty him as a diseased person then pursue him as an enemy I confesse he hath parts in him not absolutely ill nor doe I deny I haue much pleased my selfe with his freedome of speech so long as hee proposed onely men for his obiect and spared to speake of holy things But when I heard say he exceeded the bounds of inferiour matters and banded himselfe euen a gainst what is transcendent to Heauen I instantly quitted all acquaintance with him and thought the onely pleasure I could doe him was to pray to God to restore him to his right sences and to take pitty on him as he did of the Jewes who crucified our Sauiour Hereafter I will be better aduised then to weary you with so long a discourse or to tyre my selfe in troubling you But truely I thought I could doe no lesse after three yeares silence esteeming this not to be ouer much for a man who is so slow a pay-master for so many Letters hee oweth you Yet cannot I conclude before I
enables them not to write many bookes I might enlarge my selfe vpon this subiect and discouer diuers secrets vnto you the world is not yet acquainted with But I haue neither time nor paper left saue onely to tell you that J am Sir Your most humble seruant BALZAC Another Letter from Balzac to the same man LETTER IX IVnderstand some haue taxed me for saying in my last Letter vnto you the spirits of Angels since Angels being all Spirits it seemed vnto them to be two inseperable tearmes But to let such men see how ill grounded their Obiection is and I suppose our iudgements will herein agree it may please them to remember that we call Angels Spirits to distinguish them from bodies being a farre different signification from what the word Spirit importeth when we take it for that part of the soule which vnderstandeth reasoneth and imagineth and which causeth so different effects in the soule of a foole and that of a discreete person Questionlesse euen among Angels themselues there may be a difference found betweene the spirits of some and other some of them to wit in the faculty of Ratiotination and Comprehension Since those of the last order are not illuminated but by meanes of them of the precedent rankes and so of the rest euen to the first which haue a farre more sublime intelligence then the inferiour Orders which as no man how smally soeuer seene in the Metaphisiques will doubt of come as farre short of the vnderstanding the first Order is indued with as they doe of their degree We are therefore to admit of this difference and say that an Angell is doubtlesse a Spirit to wit he is not a Body but withall that an Angell hath moreouer a spirit namely this faculty of knowing and conceiuing either lesser or more large according to the priuiledge of his Order So as if a Spirit hath no other signification then a simple and incomposed substance this inequality were not to be found among the Angels being equally simple and farre from all composition and mixture When then I say it was a wrong done to Angels to call any other Spirits diuine saue onely theirs I take the word Spirit in its second signification and thereby seperate it from the Angell and distinguish the simple substance and nature Angellicall from that faculty of the Soule tearmed the vnderstanding But that one may not say the spirit of Angels because they are all spirit is a reason very reproueable and whereto there wanteth nothing but verity to make it no vntruth for that besides the spirit or vnderstanding affoording to Angels so eminent a knowledge of diuine things they are likewise indued with will causing them to loue what they know and with memory dayly adding something to their naturall intellect But admitting I should yeeld to whatsoeuer these my reprehendors would haue and that I limit the word Spirit within the bounds of its first signification I should still haue the better of it For in truth our ordinary manner of conception cannot possibly represent Angels without bodies yea and the Church it selfe affoordeth them so faire beautifull and perfect ones that from thence the best Poets ordinarily picke their Comparisons to pourtraite the rarest beauties Besides if in holy Writ mention be often made of the Spirit of God euen before he assumed our corporall substance and in a sence which could not be vnderstood of the third person in Trinity why may not I as iustly speake of the spirits of Angels being in comparison of Gods Spirit no better then earth and materiall and which approacheth not by many degrees vnto the simplicity and purity of this maiesteriall cause being as the Mother to all the rest You see here that howsoeuer it is very dangerous to study by halfe parts or to vnderstand some small matter more then those who neuer were at Schoole yet is it out of such men as these that Nouellists and superstitious persons are raised yea and all the rest who haue reason enough to doubt but not science sufficiently to determine rightly BALZAC To Mounsieur de Bois Robert from Balzac LETTER X. SIR YOu haue anticipated what I intended to say and haue not left for me in all Rhetoricke either complement or commendations to returne you This is to force ingratitude by excesse of obligation and to reduce me to the necessity of being indebted vnto you after I be dead In truth it were necessary I had the power to promise you felicity and Paradise in requitall of the vowes and sacrifices you offer vnto me and that I were in case to be your aduocate instead of being thus put to a stand to answer you It may be you haue a minde in such sort to disguise me to my selfe as I shall not hereafter know who I am but be forced to forget my owne name by causing me to imagine I am not the same man I was yesterday Proceede at your pleasure to deceiue me in this sort for I am resolued not to contest with you in this kind to the worlds end nor to arme my selfe against an enemy who onely throwes Roses at my head I should be very glad all my life would passe in such pleasing Dreames and that I might neuer awake for feare of knowing the truth to my preiudice But for the attayning this happinesse it is necessary I doe quite contrary to your aduice and neuer quit my Countrey-house where none comes to enter into comparisons or contest with me for the aduantage I haue ouer bruite beasts or my Lackeyes I agree with you that it is the Court-voice which either approueth or condemneth all and that out of its light things though neuer so perfect haue no appearance But I know not whether it were my best to make that my owne case since I feare lest my presence there will rather preiudice my reputation and your iudgement then make good your position Vpon the matter if there be any tollerable parts in me they appeare so little outwardly as I had neede haue my breast opened to discouer them And in conclusion you will finde it a sufficient obligation for me to haue you thinke my soule is more eloquent then my discourse and that the better part of my vertue is concealed Yet since my promise is past I must resolue for Paris though it prooue as strange a place vnto mee as if I were out of the World or as though they should chase raw Courtiers thence as they doe corrupt States-men To tell you plainely how the case stands J am none of those who study the slightest actions of their liues and who vse Art in all they doe or doe not I cannot light vpon that accent wherewith they authorise their follies nor make of euery meane matter a mystery by whispering it in the eare And lesse doe I know how to palliate my faults or make shew of an honest man if really I be not so Now though I could make my selfe capable of these Arts yet
hereafter labour as well to cure our selues of Vice as of the Feauer It is that image of God wee defaced by our owne hands we ought to repaire and our first innocency is the thing it behoueth vs to aske at his hands rather then our former health For my part I am absolutely resolued to lead a new life and to take no other care but for my soules health and to procure the same for others And truely it were farre better to consecrate this great Eloquence of ours to his glory who gaue it vs then to imploy it in commending fooles and in making our selues to be praised among children The P. E. whom happily you know and who hath one of the best and most polite wits of all his company confirmes mee all he can in this my designe and euery houre of his company is as much to mee as eight dayes of reformation yet is hee not a man who professeth that pale vertue which affrighteth all men and is incompatible with humane infirmities but quite contrary he flattereth mee in reprehending my errours and instead of the pennance I deserue he is contented to enioyne me honest recreations Your brother will tell you more about eight dayes hence and will giue you an accompt both of my actions and intentions beleeue him as truth it selfe and besides assure your selfe further vpon my word he is worth some Doctor and an halfe and hath a good wit without speaking of his zeale and vertue BALZAC The 17 of Ianuary 1623. To Olympa from Balzac LETTER XV. I Am much troubled to finde the cause of your teares to impute them to the death of your Husband is happily but the bare pretext It is not to be imagined that Death which causeth the most beautifull things to become offensiue to the dayes brightnesse and affrighteth those who formerly admired them should make that man pleasing vnto you who was neuer so to any Yet you seeme with him to haue lost all and doe so cunningly counterfeit the afflicted I can hardly beleeue what I see Can it be possible you should be thus pestered to support your good fortune with patience or be really so sorrowfull for the losse of a poore gouty fellow whose ouer-long liuing I should rather haue thought it fit to comfort you But if this be not thus what doe you with all this great mourning wherein you plunge your selfe and this mid-night neuer remouing from your Chamber I must confesse I was neuer more astonished then to finde such an Equipage of sadnesse about you accompanied with such elaborate actions and so constrayned countenances and without iesting Olympia after this I haue seene there remaineth nothing for the full expression of a fained passion but onely to weare blacke smockes and to be attended by Moores Yet is it time or neuer to returne to your right sences and to conclude your Comedy let me intreat you to leaue off all these sower faces to fooles Cast off this blacke vaile which hinders me from seeing you and consider that fiue foote of ground is worth you two thousand pounds by the yeare To raise such a rent the reuenewes of halfe some Kingdome were hardly sufficient nor can you taxe mee for not speaking herein the truth since I haue it from your owne mouth Is it not almost incredible so small a corner of earth should yeeld so large a reuenew I doubt not but diuers will suppose it beares Pearles or Diamonds But I had almost forgot the most important businesse J am to impart vnto you and where upon I first intended to write I must therefore say you are to haue a speciall care neuer to repaire the losse you haue lately receiued assuring your selfe there is no one man in the world worthy to enioy you priuatiuely you shall be answerable for those excellent qualities Nature and Art haue conferred vpon you for the commanding of men if you say you cannot liue without submitting your selfe to one Herein Olympa you ought not suffer the vaine ambition to be wife to a great Signiour to transport you or the aduantage of entring into the Loouer in Carroch to cause you quit the happinesse you haue to be Queene of your seife How much gold soeuer one bestow in fetters and how glorious soeuer the scruitude be yet assure your selfe they are but a couple of bad matters Of late there was not any part of your body whereof another was not master he would examine your very Dreames and thoughts It was not in your power to dispose of one single haire nay he robbed you of your very name See here Olympa what it is to haue a Husband and what you torment your selfe for with such prodigall teares Methinkes it were all you could or ought to doe were he reuiued or if the newes of his death were doubtfull Yours BALZAC The 22. of Iuly 1622. To Crysolita from Balzac LETTER XVI I Must needes disabuse you Crysolita and informe you better in the History of that old Haxtris you supposed to bee a very Saint First you are to vnderstand shee is extracted out of her mothers sinnes nor was euer any Virginity so britle as that she brought into this world It is very likely she hath lost all remembrance of any such matter But people of those dayes sticke not openly to affirme that the first time she had liberty to goe abroade at her comming home she mist her gloues and Maiden-head After this her beauty augmenting with riper yeares shee drew the eyes of all Italy vpon her and sold that fifty times at Court she had formerly lost at Schoole But since then she is arriued to an experience farre surpassing that of the Lord Chancellor or the Popes Datary and when I shall tell you shee knoweth whether there be more pleasure in a circumcised Courtizan then in a Christian and that she hath experienced the actiuity of Jndians and Musconites yet shall I relate but halfe the story So it is that now after she hath filled Limbo with her paricidiall leachery and bin threescore yeares a Lectoresse in vice shee would make you confident of her conuersion Yet am I credibly informed that not hauing now any thing worth the losing she is turned Solicitresse to entice others to vice nor is there any chastity can escape her if it take not sanctuary in the Carmolites Shee cannot endure there should be one honest woman in the whole City this angering her as much as though the robbed her or had declared her selfe her enemy Yet is this the Saint you so much talke of Câ—â—solita and the very same old Madame from whom you promised me so many miracles Now I who know her very heart write vnto you what hereafter you ought to belecue for let her make what shew she will yet I know she is as far from her conuersion as from her youth The Capuchins themselues could not cause her to passe her word to turne honest woman the next grand Iubile for instead of a better
I receiue them I lose all my humility and in reiecting them I giue that as granted which I am taxed for Vpon the edge of these two extreamities it is more laudable to suffer my selfe to fall on my friends side and to ioyne in opinion with honest men then to leane to that of Lysander since all men agree that his censure is euer opposite to the right and that he is the wisest man in France who resembles him the least There would be some errour in the reputation I aime at were I not condemned by him Thinke it not therefore strange that iniuries are blowne vpon mee by the same mouth which vttereth blasphemies against the memory of ÏÏÏ and remember this old Maxime that fooles are more vniust then some sinners The best is that for one Enenemy my Reputation raiseth against mee it procures me a thousand protectors so as without stirring hence I get victories at Paris nor finde I any Harmony so pleasing as what is composed of one particular murmure mingled with generall acclamations There are sufficient in your Letter to cause me to retract the Maximes of my ancient Philosophy At the least they oblige me to confesse that all my felicity is not within my selfe things without mee entring towards the composition of perfect happinesse I must freely confesse vnto you mine infirmity I should grow dumbe were I neuer so short a time to liue among deafe persons and were there no glory I should haue no Eloquence But it is time I returne to the taske I haue vndertaken and that instead of so many excellent words you haue addressed vnto me I onely answere you that I am Your most humble seruant BALZAC To Mounsieur Tissandier LETTER VIII AT my returne from Poiton I found your packet attending me at my house but thinking to peruse your Letters I perceiued I read my Panegyricke I dare not tell you with what transport excesse of ioy I was surprised thereupon fearing to make it appeare I were more vaine then vsually women are and affect praises with the like intemperance as I doe persumes Without dissembling those you sent mee were so exquisite as be it you deceiue me or I you there neuer issued fairer effects either from iniustice or errour I beseech you to continue your fault or to perseuere in your dissimulation For my part J am resolute to make you full payment of what J owe you and to yeeld so publicke a testimony of the esteeme I hold of you as my reputation hereafter shall be onely seruiceable to yours oblige me so farre as to accept this Letter for assurance of what I will performe and if you finde mee not so seruiceable as I ought to be blame those troublesome persons who are alwayes at my throate forcing me to tell you sooner then I resolued that I am Your most humble and faithfull seruant BALZAC The 5 of August 1625. To Mounsieur de Faret LETTER IX THere is not any acknowledgement answerable to my obligations vnto you If I owe you any honour I am farther indebted vnto you then my life comes to Truely to be sensible of another mans sufferings sooner then himselfe or to assume a greater share in his interests then hee doth I must confesse is as much as not to loue in fashion or not to liue in this Age. It is likewise a long time since I haue bin acquainted that the corruption enuironing you doth not at all infect you and how among the wicked you haue conserued an integrity suiting the Reigne of Lewes the twelfth Nay happily we must search further and passe beyond the Authenticke History It is onely vnder the Poets Charlemaine where a man of your humour is to be found and that the combat of Roger hath beene the victory of Leon. Without more particularly explaining my selfe you vnderstand what I would say and I had much rather be indebted to your support then to the merit of my cause or to the fauourable censure I haue receiued from the Publicke Certainly truth it selfe cannot subsist or finde defence without assistance yea euen that concerning Religion and which more particularly appertaineth to God then the other seaseth not on our soules but by the entermise of words and hath neede to be perswaded to haue it beleeued You may hereby iudge whether the good offices you affoorded me were not vsefull vnto me or whether or no my iust cause happened successefully into your hands But I must deferre the thankes due vnto you vpon this occasion till our meeting at Paris to the end to animate them by my personall expression Be confident in the interim though pitty it selfe would stay me in my Cell yet you are of power to cause mee to infringe my heremeticall vow besides you haue set such a luster vpon that great City and haue punctuated vnto me so many remarkeable things and nouelties thereof in the Letter you pleased to send me as I should shew my selfe insensible of rarities and not possessed with an honest curiosity had I not a desire to returne thither I therefore onely attend some small portion of health to strengthen me to part hence and to goe to enioy with you our mutuall delights I meane the conuersation of Mounsieur de Vaugelas who is able to make mee finde the Court in a Cottage and Paris in the Plaines of Bordeaux Adieu Mounsienr loue mee alwayes since I am with all my soule Your most humble and affectionate seruant BALZAC The 12. of December 1625. To Mounsieur Coeffeteau Bishop of Marseilles LETTER X. IT is now fifteene dayes since I receiued any newes from you yet will I beleeue the change of ayre hath cured you and if you as yet walke with a staffe it is rather I hope for some marke of your authority then for any support of your infirmity If this be so I coniure you to make good vse of this happy season yet remaining and not to lose these faire dayes hastning away and which the next Clouds will carry from vs. I giue you this aduice as finding it good and because there is not any thing doth more fortifie feeble persons then the Sunne of this Moneth whose heate is as innocent as its light Adamantus hath had his share of the vnwholesome influence raigning in these parts The Feauer hath not borne him the respect due to a person of his quality hauing so rudely intreated him as he is scarce to be knowne Yet hath he some kind of obligation to his sicknesse in hauing acquainted him with such pleasures as were not made for those who are ouer fortunate and which formerly he knew not At this present he can neuer be weary in praising the benefits of Liberty nor in admiring the beauty of Day and the diuersities of Nature so as to heare him speake you would suppose all things to be Nouelties vnto him and that he is entred into another world or new borne againe in this Besides they passe their time merrily at N. and of
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
time you haue therein imployed and know that perfection is not presently to be attayned A Crafts-man may easily in a short time finish diuerse Statues of Clay or Plaster but these are but for a dayes vse or to serue as Ornaments at a Cities tryumph not to continue many Kings raignes Those who carue in Brasse or Marble waxe old vpon their Workes and doubtlesse matters euer to endure are long to be meditated if my Megreme would permit mee I could say more vnto you but all J can obtayne of it is to signe this Letter and to assure you that J am perfectly Your most humble and affectionate seruant BALZAC The 20. of Nouember 1625. To the Abbot of St. Cyran LETTER XVII SInce you desire to see in what Stile J begun to Write and how sufficient a fellow I was at nineteene I here send you my Errours of that Age and the first faults I committed it were much better to condemne their memory then to fall into them a fresh by renewing them in this place But you will be absolutely obeyed and J haue no resistance against your force See heere then the remainder of many things now lost and what I haue saued from ship-wracke being neither valuable to the Diamonds or lumpes of Ambergreece the Sea hath lately cast vpon vpon the Coast of Bayone I aduise you for your honours sake not to refresh the memory of what is past nor to seeke for examples of your fidelity in our Ciuill warres since you haue not therein conserued it You may hereupon say what you please and try if you can to make things seeme to vs contrary to what they are yet am I well assured you were engaged in a faction wherein you haue not beene vsefull to the King no nor where you could serue him as an honest man ought so as if you desire I should to doe you a fauour forget things past or if you will alledge that the tranquility we now enioy and the good order vsed in mannaging Publique affaires were the effects of your prudent conduct besides that this glory is not absolutely due vnto you and there remaining others who suppose they haue as large a share therein as your selfe You must not take it ill if I freely tell you there is not any thing therein worthy of admiration You entred vpon the State gouernment in a peaceable time you therein found all things so wel disposed as they seemed of themselues to worke the wished effects and the most of the French so inclined to subiection as it was no hard matter to bring them to due obedience And herein you are necessarily to confesse you owe much to CCC and that he passed the last yeares of his life for your instructions as he since then dyed for the generall good of this Kingdome If there hath beene any obstacle to remooue which at this present may be troublesome vnto you he hath before his death rid his hands thereof with as much good fortune as resolution If it may be esteemed a benefit to vnderstand the nature of the people thereby to deale with them according to their humours he hath made it appeare vnto you there was not any thing aboue his patience since without resentment he was able to suffer the losse of his liberty and if so it were that he was forced to make vse of some violent act which neuerthelesse was necessary neither hatred nor enuy haue euer beene of power to hinder his vndertakings In a word he hath tamed the most stubborne spirits he hath left the parties who most perplexed this poore Kingdome either absolutely ruined or so weakned as they are vtterly vnable to rise againe He hath accustomed all men to patience and hath performed so strange things as wee now finde not any thing extraordinary and what I most esteeme hee hath made the world see how great things the Kings authority was able to doe though sometimes he did this for the establishing his owne I therefore doe not at all now wonder if hauing found affaires disposed to receiue such impressions as you pleased to put vpon them you haue hitherto caused them to fall out indifferently well or if you haue not as yet committed any confiderable errours in the mannaging of State-affaires as not hauing any matter of difficulty to ouercome you haue onely herein suffered your selfe to be guided by common and ordinary presidents But what is all this that your indeauours should deserue to be preferred before all those seruices the D. and P. with their Predecessors haue performed Had you any imagination when you spake in so high tearmes you could cause vs to beleeue so great improbabilities or had you so poore an Opinion of all mens iudgements as to suppose wee more valued your feares and continuall distrusts then so many generous actions performed by them in the eye of all Christendome for the glory and reputation of this Crowne I will not touch vpon the merits of the liuing lest you should impute that to a desire of complacency or some particular obligation which the onely interest of truth exacteth of me I onely require iustice for the dead whom you haue dared to wrong in the Kings presence against all rules of Piety obliging you to respect their memory Doubt not but that they are yet sensible of things in this world and that amidst the glory and contentments they possesse their care to liue in the good odour of men doth yet continue You may therefore well imagine they haue iust cause to thinke those liues they haue lost in their Princes seruice and for the defence of their Country had beene ill imployed and might iustly complaine of our ingratitude should we suffer before our eyes their reputations to be questioned without testifying any distaste In vaine had they triumphed ouer the most beautifull parts of the earth and carryed their victorious Armes where the name of France was not yet arriued To small purpose had they recluded the power of strangers wherein the limits Nature prescribed vnto them In vaine likewise euen in our memory had they conserued State and Religion when those of your faction did diuersly labour the ruine of both should you now be suffered to enter into comparison with them or as though the possession of that glory wherein they alwaies remained were vniustly controuerted in their case But the mischiefe herein is that we haue only right on our side and that all things are so auerse vnto vs as it wil be very hard to cause reason to be so much as regarded because it fauours vs so as I get nothing by disputing with a man who is aboue Lawes and in whose behalfe the King hath receiued so aduantagious impressions as he may securely exercise his passions vnder pretext of his authority and confound his particular enmities togetherwith the interests of the Common-wealth I should be very leath to say you are growne to such extremities or that out of vanity and presumption two imperfections purely
words or aspect and though I haue alwayes vsed to be diffident of my first opinion nor euer to iudge without long deliberation I haue notwithstanding herein sinned against my owne rules and was not ashamed to say that a wit of twenty yeares had amazed mine But the Sermon bell rings which calls and forceably drawes me from you my contentment therefore must giue place to my duty which commands mee to make an end after I haue required newes from you concerning a woman to whom I am extraordinarily and particularly obliged of a woman I say who is more worth then all our bookes and in whose conuersation there is sufficient to make one an honest man without either the helpe of Greekes or Romans How old a Courtier soeuer you are you vnderstand not French if you vnderstand not Madame de Desloges On Christmas day 1625. To the same LETTER XXIII I Hope very shortly to follow these few lines and to come to court you with as much assiduity and subiection as though you were to be the founder of my fortunes I haue no other businesse at Paris but this though I frame many pretexts for that voyage but I sweare seriously you are the onely cause My melancholy is of late become so blacke and my spirits are so beclouded as I must of necessity see you to dissipate them It is to small purpose to speake well of me in the place where you are they doe me no good though this is as much as to cast incense vpon a dead body and to strow flowers vpon his graue but this is no reuiuing of him I no longer receiue any comfort in the newes you send me and I am well assured my misfortune is constant what alteration so euer happen in the World it remayneth then that I seeke for my consolation in your presence and powre forth all my complaynts into your bosome this I will do at the first sight of the Sun-beames beseeching you to beleeue that as in the middest of felicity I should haue neede of you to make me happy so also hauing such a friend as your selfe I shall neuer esteeme my selfe absolutely miserable The 20. of Nouember 1625. BALZAC Balzac his Letter to Hidaspe LETTER XXIIII I Doe far more esteeme the Carthusians silence then the Eloquence of such Writers and am perswaded excepting in Church Seruice and for the necessity of Commerce the Pope and the King should do well to forbid them Lattin and French whereof they seeke to make two barbarous languages I know well that French spirits are sworne Enemies to all sorts of bondage and that twelue hundred yeares of Monarchy hath not beene of power to make them lose their liberty it being as naturall to them as life it selfe Whatsoeuer vgly face they frame to the Inquisition and how full of Tygers and Serpents soeuer they paint the same yet do I finde it right necessary in this Kingdome For besides that it would cause as in Spaine and Italy euen the wicked in some sort to resemble the Vpright and vice not at all to offend the publicke Eye it would besides hinder Fooles from filling the World with their bastardly Bookes and the faults of Schoole maisters from being as frequent as those are of Magistrates and Generals of Armies Truly it is a shame there are Lawes against those who counterfeite Coynes and falsifie Merchandizes yet that such are freely permitted who corrupt Phylosophy and Eloquence and who violate those things the Vulgar ought no more to meddle with then with State gouernment or Religious Mysteries The late great Plague was of small consideration in comparison of this which checkes all the World and surely if speedy order be not taken the multiplicity of our Authors will make a Lybrary as big as Paris wherein there shall scarcely be found one good word or reasonable conceit These be the fruites arising out of inordinate idlenesse and the third scourge caused by Peace sent to afflict this poore Realme after Duels and Law-suites There are hardly any to be found who are contented to keep their faults and follies to themselues or to sin in secret but are also doting vpon their owne follies as they desire to engraue them in Marble and Brasse thereby to Eternize their memory and to make them past retracting Now to returne to the party of whom you particularly required my opinion and who indeede is the first subiect of this Letter I must ingeniously confesse vnto you that next to Beere and Pbysicke I neuer found any thing so distastefull as his works he wanteth almost throughout euen naturall Logicke yea that part thereof which prooueth men to be reasonable creatures In three words hee speakes foure bad ones and as he alwayes strayeth from the subiect whereof he treateth so doth he ordinarily talke in an vnknowne language though he intend to speake French Besides yce it selfe is not more cold then his conceites and when he desires to be facetious as at euery turne hee faine would he had neede to be in fee with his Reader to make him laugh as at Funerals in Paris weepers are vsually hired for money There is no question but truth were of far more force and disarmed then it can be with the assistance this simple Fellow would striue to affoord her Now supposing such men were ingaged in the right without any treacherous designe yet is it as much as to abandon Gods cause to suffer it to be supported by so weake and vnworthy Pennes The Renegadoes haue not so much wronged Christianity as those who haue not valiantly defended themselues against the Turkes and such who through defect of conduct and skill though they wanted neither zeale nor affection suffer themselues to be surprised by the same aduantages they otherwise might haue had ouer their enemies Truely the Empire of the wicked doth much more maintaine it selfe by our pusillanimity then by its owne power or forces nor doth any thing cause Vertue to be so badly followed as doth the weake and vnskilfull teaching and explanation thereof It were therefore requisite some wise man who had beene in this Countrey where there is continuall debate and where there is neuer eyther peace or truce called the Colledge of Sarbow and who besides had the art to make good things gratefull and could bring matters to attonement by a sweete hand should come to cleanse the Court from those opinions lately introduced and cure Soules instead of wounding them with iniuries It was that great Cardinall who triumphed ouer all humane spirits and whose memory shall euer be sacred so long as there remaine any Alltars or that oblarion is offered on Earth It was I say the Cardinall of Perron who was able to shew Epiourus himselfe something more sublime and transcendent then this life and cause his fleshy soule to be capeable of the greatest secrets of Christian Religion Though this man had a dignity equall in hight to the greatest Conquerors and Monarchs Yet had he in what concerned Religion
an heart as humble as that of decreped men and Infants How often hath hee with those two different qualities imposed silence vpon all Philosophyi and spoken of Diuine matters with as great perspicuity as though he had already beene in Heauen or had seene the same diuine verity wholy discouered whereof here on earth we haue onely a confused vnderstanding and imperfect knowledge To tell you in plaine tearmes but for the workes of this diuine person which I as highly esteeme as the victories of the late King his Maister and wherein I desire alwayes to leaue mine eyes when I am necessitated to giue ouer reading I had beene much troubled to retire my selfe from the tracing the Booke you sent me since any mischiefe doth so easily catch hold of mee when I come neare it as I can hardly looke vpon a begger without taking the itch and my imagination is so tender and delicate as it is sensible and afflicted at the sight of any base obiect yet thankes be to God and the Antidote I continually take I am the better armed against the conspiracy you intended against me and haue yet life in me after hauing beene vnder a fooles hands longer then I desired But by what I can gather he is notwithstanding in good repute in the place where you are and likely enough to finde store of such as will follow him in that he is head of an euill party I can herevnto answere you nothing saue onely that betweene this place and the Pyrenean Mountaines good wits doe sometimes stray from common opinion as from a thing too vulgar and doe often take counterfeit vertues yea euen those who haue not any resemblance to the right for perfect varities But when I consider how there is scarce any kind of beast which hath not heretofore beene adored among Idolaters nor any disease incident either to the body or minde of man whereunto Antiquity hath not erected Temples I doe not as all maruell why diuers mon doe sometimes esteeme of those who are no way deseruing or why simple people should hold Sots in high reputation since they haue addressed incense to Apes and Orotadiles The thing I most veâ—e as herin is that both your selfe I are in some sort obliged to the Author of the book you sent me that I haue receiued the beginnings of my studios and first tincture of Learning from the last and least estimable of all men For my part I protest before all the world I am not for all that guilty either of the follies he will fall into or of any such as he hath formerly coÌ„mitted and that hauing had much adoe to purifie my vnderstanding from the orders of the Colledge and to quit my selfe from peruerse studies I haue now no other pretention but to follow such as can no way be reproachable vmo mee How soeuer I should not reiect Chastity though my Nurse had died of the Poxe and it may sometimes happen that a bungling Mason may lay some few stones in the building of the Loouer or at the Queene-mothers Pallace LETTER XXV THe Letter newly deliuered vnto me from you is but three Moneths and an halfe old it is an Age wherein men are yet yong yet some Popes haue not reigned so long and in the state wherein the Churches affaires haue often stood You might haue written vnto me at the beginning of one Papacy and I had receiued yours at the end of another howsoeuer J can no way better imploy my patience then in attending my good fortune and as it was the vse to be inuited a yeare before hand to the Sybarites Feasts so is it fitting you make me long attend the most perfect content I enioy in this world I doubt not but T. T. seeketh all occasions to doe me ill offices and that my absence affoordeth him much aduantage to wrong me but on the other side I cannot thinke men will more readily beleeue mine enemies words then mine owne actions or that it is sufficient onely to slander an honest man to make him presently wicked It is true what he saith that I am not very vsefull for Adamantaes seruice I will at all times readily yeelde that quality to his Coach horses to the Mules that carry his Coffers Yet am I too well acquainted with the Generosity of that Signiour to thinke he doth more esteeme the body then the soule or to suppose that a Farmer should be of higher consideration with him then a man of worth What confession of Faith soeuer R. makes I will not imagine hee can euer be really altered I had rather both for mine owne contentment and his honour beleeue it is onely a voyage he hath made into the Aduersaries Countrey to the end to bring vs some newes and to giue vs account of what passeth at Charenton Surely I suppose I should not wrong him so much in holding him for a Spye among Enemies as to call him a forsaker of his side and a Fugitiue from that Church whereto he hath at least this obligation if he will confesse no other that it is she who made him a Christian You may doe me a courtesie to make mee acquainted with the cause mouing him to forsake vs and to goe from those Maximes hee hath so often preached vnto mee That a wise man dyes in the Religion of his Mother That he neuer alters his opinion That hee neuer repents himselfe of his forepassed life therein That all Nouelties are to him suspicious It is long since J knew that no mans cause can be bad in the hands of Mounsieur ' d Andilly and that he betters all he affects he interessed himselfe in my protection the first day he saw any workes so as it is not any more my selfe whom hee commends but his owne Iudgement which he is bound to defend Yet will I not desist from being much obliged vnto him For I supposing one affoords mee a fauour when at any time hee doth me Iustice you may well thiuke I haue right particular and most tender sensibilities for those courtesies I receiue but they are in speciall regard with me when they come from a person of so high estimation in my thoughts as he is and of whom I should still haue much to say after I had related how amidst the corruption of this age and in the authority Vice therein hath gained he hath notwithstanding the fortitude to continue an vpright man and blusheth not at Christian vertues nor vanteth of Morall ones I hope to see him within few dayes and to take possession of some small corner in his House at Pompona which hee hath prouided for me there to breath at mine ease and to set my spirits sometimes at liberty In the interim you must needes know about what I busie my selfe and that I tell you I entertaine a foole in whom I finde all the Actors in a Comedy and all sorts of extrauagancies incident to the spirit of man After my bookes haue busied me
all the morning and that I am weary of their company I spend some part of the after-noone with him partly to diuert my thoughts from serious things which doe but nourish my Melancholy Euer since I came into this world I haue bin perpetually troublesome to my selfe I haue found all the houres of my life tedious vnto mee I haue done nothing all day but seeke for night Wherefore if I desire to be merry I must necessarily deceiue my selfe and my felicity is so dependant vpon exterior things that without Painting Musicke and diuers other diuertisments how great a Muser soeuer I am I haue not sufficient wherewith to entertaine my selfe or to bee pleased Thinke not therefore that either my foole or my bookes are sufficient to settle my contentment nay rather if you haue any care of mee or if you desire I should haue no leasure to be sad make me partaker of all the newes happning in the place where you are let me fee the whole Court by your eyes cause me to assist at all Sermons by your eares giue me accompt of the good and bad passages happening this Winter and that there part not a post vncharged with a Gazetto of your stile as there shall not any goe hence who shall not bring you some vision of my retirednesse There runnes a rumour in these parts that Mounsieur de Boudeuille is slaine but since there are not many more hard atchieuements to be wrought then that it is too great a death to be beleeued vpon the first report The 1. of November 162â— LETTER XXVI WEre I not confined to my bed I should my selfe haue sollicited the businesse I haue recommended vnto you nor should I haue suffered you thus farre to oblige me in my absence But since I cannot possibly part hence and am here constrayned to take ill rest being farre more grieuous vnto me then agitation I humbly beseech you to suffer these Lines to salute you in my stead and to put you in remembrance of the request I made vnto you Sir I am resolued not to be beholding to any but your selfe for the happy successe wherof the goodnes of our cause assureth vs and in case your Integrity should be interessed I would owe the whole to your fauor For besides that you are borne perfectly generous I doe not at all doubt but the commerce you haue with good bookes and particularly with Seneca hath taught you the Art To doe good to all men But to the end the obligation I desire to owe you may be wholy mine owne instead of referring it to the study of Morality to your bountifull inclination or to the Iustice of my request I will rather imagine I shall be the sole cause of this effect and that you will act without any other assistance out of the loue you beare mee who am passionately Your most humble and most faithfull seruant BALZAC Paris the 2. of May 1627. LETTER XXVII GX X. is resolued to leaue all worldly affaires in the state he found them and these great cares which should haue extended themselues ouer the most remote parts of Christendome haue not as yet passed the limits of his house He preserues his old age and prolongs his life by all the possible meanes he can imagine But it is thought he will not long make his successor attend and that his Death will be the first newes in the Gazetto Phisitians and Astrologers haue concluded vpon this point that he shall not see the end of Autumne For my part I neuer made any great difference betweene a dead person and an vnprofitable one and if things lesle perfect ought to be post posed to more excellent ones it were a mockery to make choyce of sicke folkes and cause them to be adored by those who are in health or to put soueraigne power into their hands to the end onely to haue them leaue it to others But it is not my part to reforme all things displeasing me in this World and I should be very vngratefull if I blamed that forme of gouernment wherein I finde my selfe very well In effect Sir speake no more to me of the North nor its neighbours I declare my selfe for Rome against Paris nor can I any longer imagine how a man can liue happily vnder your Climate where Winter takes vp nine Moneths of the Yeere and after that the Sunne appeareth onely to cause the Plague and weake as it is forbeares not to kill men There is not any place Rome excepted where life is agreeable where the body findes its pleasures and the spirit his where men are at the source of singular things Rome is the cause you are neither Barbarian nor Pagan since she hath taught you the ciuility of Religion She hath giuen you those Laves which arme you against errour and those Examples whereto you owe the good actions you performe It is from hence Inuentions and Arts are come to you and where you haue receiued the Science of Peace and Warre Painting Musicke and Come dies are strangers in France but naturall in Italy that great Vertue it selfe you so much admire in your Court is shee not Roman That Martchionesse of whom so many maruells are related is shee not Countrey-woman to the Mother of the Graches and to the Wife of Bratus and in truth to possesse all those perfections the World acknowledgeth in her was it not fitting shee should be borne in a place whereon Heauen defuseth all its Graces Truely I neuer ascend Mount Palatin or the Capitole but I change spirit and others then my ordinary cogitations seaze vpon me This Ayre inspireth me with some great and generous thing I formerly had not and if I muse but two houres vpon the bankes of of Tyber I am as vnderstanding as if I had studied eight dayes It is a thing I wonder at that being so farre off you make so excellent Verses and so neare the Maiesty of Virgils I suppose therefore none will blame me for hauing chosen Rome for the place of my abode or for preferring flowers before snow and yce If men choose Popes of threescore and ten yeeres old and not of fiue and twenty the dayes are therefore neither sadder nor shorter nor haue wee any subiect to complaine of our Masters debility since we are thereto obliged for our quiet From Rome the 25. of March 1621. LETTER XXVIII IT is not to answer your excellent Letter I write you this but onely to let you know you haue so absolutely acquired me to your seruice as you haue left me no liberty to doe what I desire when there is any question of performing your pleasure Since therefore you and your Printers haue conspired against my quiet and that you determine to make my infirmities as publicke as though you meant to leade me to the Hospitals or Church-porches J am co ntented with closed eyes to obey you and to put my reputation to aduenture rather then seeme to refuse you a thing you haue demanded