to no purpose rely on your good Offices to me And thereupon Madam de Monglas having caused Ink and Paper to be brought I wrote this Letter SInce considering the course I take the Passion I have for your Mistress neither offends my honour nor the friendship I owe you I may well without shame acquaint you with it and on the contrary I should dishonour my self by concealing it from you Know then that I have not been able to see Madam de Monglas any longer without loving her and that sending for me to day to know the reason of a Retreat I told her she had Charmed me but that I might not do any thing that was contrary to my duty I would see her no more I thought my self obliged to give you notice hereof that you might take other measures as to her and that you might see by the misfortune that has hapned to me of becoming your Rival that I am not unworthy of your friendship nor your esteem Having read this Letter to Mad. de Monglas Well Madam said I to her is this fair dealing Ah my Lord replyed she nothing can be more handsome but tho I believe you have the best Soul in the world it would be very difficult for you having a hand in your Rivals Intrigues finding a thousand reasons to do one another ill Offices and thinking to take advantages of our fallings out that you should resist considering the passion you have for me the temptation of breeding quarrels between us And as you are a witty man you would not find it difficult so to order your business as that one of us might seem to be faulty and to lay upon one of us or upon Fortune the mischance you only were the cause of though your Friend should leave off loving me through his own Inconstancy after what I know of you I should ever believe if you concern your self in our Intrigue that it was by your Artifices So that you have great reason my Lord not to see me any more and tho I should lose infinitely thereby I cannot forbear commending that Action After some other Discourses upon this Subject I went away to dispatch the Letter I had written to Feuillade and ten days after I received this Answer YOu have done your Devoir my Dear and I am going to do mine I have more confidence in you than you your self wherefore I desire you to continue your Visits to Madam de Monglas and to serve me with her When persons are so nice upon interest as you seem to me they are certainly incapable of treachery but tho the Merit of Mad. de Monglas shall have so blinded you thay you should be no longer able to retire I should willingly excuse you upon the necessities there are of loving her when we know her perfectly With this Letter there was the following one inclosed for Madam de Monglas I Am not at all surprized Madam to learn that you have charmed my Friend my wonder would be the greater if a wel-bred Man who daily sees and converses with you should defend his heart against so much Merit He sends me word that he will see you no more for fear he should yield to the inclination he has for you and for my part I desire him not to retire upon the assurance I have that he has more force than he imagins and tho he should not be able to resist any longer you would not give your heart to a Traytor having refused it to the most faithful Lover in the world As soon as I had received these two Letters I went to carry them to Madam de Monglas but not to injure my friends whose Mistress was very Nice I efforced all the end of the Letter he wrote to me from that part where he tells me that tho the Merit of Madam de Monglas should have so blinded me that I should not be in a Condition to retire upon the necessity there was of loving her When she was well acquainted with I was afraid she would think as well as I that that part was very gallant but not very passionate You are in the right answered the Count de Guiche and not only that part but both the Letters seem to me well written but show the person indifferent The sequel replyed Bussy will not undeceive you You must know then continued he that Madam de Monglas seeing this scratching asked me what it was I told her that evillade spoke to me of an affair of Consequence which Concerned me Since he is desirous said she to me that you continue your Visits to me I give you my Consent but my Lord it is upon Condition you never speak to me of the sentiments you have for me I will not since you are so pleased replied I Not but that I ought to speak of it without being suspected by you for tho I love you more than I do my life if to a knowledge my love you should despise that of my friend in ceasing to esteem you I should likewise cease loving you The reason why I love you Madam is I assure you not for that you are beautifull but because you are also no Cocquet I beleive you my Lord said she to me but since you neither desire nor pretend nothing love me no longer for what is a love without desires and hopes I pretended to Nothing said I to her but I hope and I desire And what can you desire replied she I desire replied I that la Feuillade should leave off loving you and that it should be indifferent to you And in case that should be said she should you think to be the more happy I know not if I should be so Madam said I to her but at least I should be nearer happiness than I am And thereupon I made this Song Since only loving you I find Does so much pain procure Me thinks you should be something kind And moan what I endure My Rivall does all to me disclose And me his Confident has chose What gave me some Comfort in the Prospect of all the pains that an Amour without hopes is attended with is that I was upon the Point of having the charge of Major General of the Horse and that this Charge obliging me to go suddainly to the Army honour would Cure me of an unfortunate passion Some days before my departure I was willing to do divert the trouble I had through the violence I used upon my self to Conceal my passion and for that end I gave Madam de Savigny a very fine and extraordinary treat which you will certeinly be well pleased to have the description of First sigure to your self in the Gardon of the Temple which you know a Wood wherein two Allyes cross in the place they meet there was a great Oval of Trees on whose Branches a hundred Christal Candlesticks were tyed on one side of this Oval was a magnificent Theater raised whose Decoration well deserved to be so lighted as it
made a great Noise they had both of them Enemies but the Fortune of the One and the Beauty of the Other made-a great many envy them tho all the world would have served them they would have destroyed all by their Imprudence and all the world would have done them hurt They made Assignations every where without having taken any measures with any Body They saw One another often in a house that the Duke of Candale kept in the name of a Country Lady whom Madam d' Olonne pretended to visit most commonly by night at her own House all these Rendevouzes did not take up all the time of this perfidious One for when the Duke left her she went to the conquest of some new Lover or at least to reassume Beuvron by a thousand kindnesses for the fears the Duke gave him The Winter passed thus without the Duke of Candales suspecting the least ill in all she did and he left her to return to the Army as well satisfied as he had ever been he had not been there two Months but that he learnt news which troubled his joy His particular friends who took strict notice of his Mistresses Conduct did not dare to say any thing to him as long as they found him prepossessed by that faithless One but something very extraordinary having happened since his absence and not fearing a sight of her should destroy the impressions they would give him they altogether hazarded without making appear any design or concert to acquaint him with her behaviour Whereupon they each of them singly sent him word that Ieannin was deeply engaged with Madam d' Olonne that his assiduities gave cause to believe not only a design but a happy success and in a word that tho she were not culpable he ought not to be satisfied with her seeing she was suspected by all People But while these News are going to put the Duke of Candale in a rage it is fit I should speak of the birth progress and ends Jeannin's Passion Jeannin de Castille was well shaped had a pleasing Countenance was very spruce but had little Wit his Quality and Profession were the same that Pagets and was very rich as well as he He was handsome enough to have it believed that in case he had worn a Sword his Merit alone might have procured him the Ladies Favours but his Profession and his Riches made it suspected that all the Women he had had Intrigues with were interessed insomuch that when he was seen to be in love with Madam d' Olonne it was not doubted but that he would be beloved for his Money The King after having passed the Summers upon the Frontiers usually returned to Paris in the Winters and all the Divertisements of the World possessed his Mind by turns Billiards Tennis Hunting Plays and Dancing had each their times with him At that time Lotteries were so much the mode that every one had them some of Money others of Jewels and Moveables Madam d' Olonne resolved to have One of Money but whereas in the most part of them all the Cash was employed they had received and that Fortune shared it in this which was of Ten thousand Crowns there was not Five employed and those Five too were distributed according as Madam d' Olonne thought fit Jeannin was present when she made the first Proposals of the Lottery and as she asked a Sum of every one according to their Abilities and that she told him he was to give an Hundred pound he made Answer That he was willingly and moreover promised her to procure amongst his Friends wherewith to make it up a Thousand Presently after all the Company being gone except Jeannin I know not Madam said he to her whether you are yet acquainted with my Passion for I have loved you a long time and my sighs already mount to a very great sum but after having given my self entirely to you I must needs ask the confirmation of my Bail which I beseech you to sign Madam and observe that besides the Hundred pound you taxed me I give you Nine hundred more for the having your Affection for what I said of my Friends was only to deceive the People that were here when I spoke to you of this Affair I confess Sir answered Madam d' Olonne I never thought you in love till now not but that I have observed by certain Meenes in you what made me suspect some things but I am so disgusted with those kind of ways and sighs and languishings are in my mind so poor a Galantry and such feeble Testimonies of love that if you had not taken a more gentile Course with me you had lost your pains all your life time Now as for Acknowledgment you may believe that People are not far from loving when we are well assured of being beloved There need no more to make Jeannin believe that he was at the Critical Minute He cast himself at Madam d' Olonne's feet and as he would have made use of that Action of Humility for a pretext to higher Enterprizes No said she you are mistaken Sir In what Country have you heard say that Women make Advances When you shall have given me reall marks of a great Passion I shall not be ungrateful Jeannin seeing that with her Money was to be delivered before the Commodity told her That he had two Hundred broad Pieces and that he would give them her if she pleased She consented and having received them If you think fit Madam said he to her to grant me some favour upon the account of this Money you will extreamly oblige me or if you will stay till you have received the whole Sum give me a Note under your Hand of the value received She chose rather to kiss than write and a Moment after Jeannin went away assuring her that he would bring the rest on the morrow which he did not fail to do and the Moment was no sooner counted then that she kept her word with him with all the Honour that can be expected in such a Treaty Tho Jeannin came in through the same Door that Paget did she used him much better whether she hoped to draw greater Advantages from him at length or that he had some concealed Merit that served him instead of Liberality she did not ask him new Proofs of Love for the giving him new Favours The Thousand pounds made her love him three Months together that is to say treated him as if she had loved him In the mean time the Duke of Candale having received Advice of his Mistresses new Intrigues he wrote her this Letter THo you would justifie your self to me of all the things you are Accused of I can no longer love you tho all that is said of you was done only out of Malice All Lovers are usually overjoyed to hear their Mistresses named as for me I tremble as soon as I hear or read your Name I ever fancy in these Occasions that I shall learn
all manner of ill names she there attended me with the greatest violence imaginable For my part without making either Prayers or Complaints knowing what I had deserved I went home in a fury and having put my self to Bed I turned all my choler against the cause of my Disgrace Fury then seiz'd me patience me forsook A Razor in my hand enrag'd I took But my designe I found was all in vain Being the Author of my shameful pain All in a fright and quite froze up with fear Some wrinckles of it only did appear And towards it's Center seem'd to crow'd I thought And thus for refuge in my Belly sought So that not being able to do any thing the rage I was in made me talk to my self much to this purpose Ah! Traytor what hast thou to say infamous part of my self and really shameful Member for it would be very ridiculous to give thee an other name Tell me have I ever obliged thee to use me in this manner and make me receive the cruellest Affronts in the World to make me abuse the favours that are done me and being but two and twenty make me have the infirmities of old Age while that Choler made me speak thus My Eyes towards Heaven I then did ghastly turn My cruel Fate I did lament and mourn I saw that all reproaches were in vain To talk to it to rocks was to complain I spent the Night in mortal Agonies I knew not if I ought to write to Madam d' Olonne or surprise her by an unexpected Visit at lenght after having been a long time considering I chose to do the last at the hazard of finding an obstacle to our pleasures but I was so happy as to find her a lone just as it grew dark She had put her self to Bed as soon as I was gone from her At my Coming into her Chamber I told her Madam I come either to dy at your feet or give you satisfaction I begg you would not be in a rage I know what I have merited Madam d' Olonne who feared as much as I did such an other mischance as those that had happned to me took care not to daunt me with reproaches on the contrary she told me all that might re-establish in me a good opinion of my self which I had almost lost and faith if I was enchanted as I told her two dayes before I break the Charme the third time you may imagine added the Count de Guiche that she called me no ill names at parting as she had done the other times This is the state of our Intrigue which I begg you would seem to be ignorant of Vinevil having promised him he would they parted the Count de Guiche went to the Countess of Fiesque's House to whom amongst other things he said he had no thoughts of Madam d' Olonne This Gallant 's Intrigue had not continued long with his new Mistress when Marsillac discovered it tho he had so little sence and she had taken all imaginable care to deceive him but jealousy that serves in stead of cunning made him discover in her less eagerness for him than was usual Insomuch that having made her some Modest Complaints in the beginning and afterwards more sharp ones seeing at length they did not at all restrain her he resolved to revenge himself at one blow both of his Rival and his Mistress Whereupon he gave his friends Madam d' Olonne's Letters and desired them to show 'em in all Companies Mademoiselle d' Orleans hated the Count de Guiche extreamly He gave her the Letter the Count had written to his Mistress in which he had spoken ill of the Queen and the Duke of Orleans The first thing the Prince did was to show the Duke of Orleans the Count de Guiche's Letter thinking to animate him so much the more against him for that she knew that Prince had had a great kindness for him however that Prince was not in so great a passion as she hoped he would have been and contented himself with telling Pequelain that his Cosin was ungrateful that he had never given him reason to talk of him as he did and that all the resentment he should have of it was to have no longer the same esteem for him he had had but if the Queen knew after what manner he had talked of her she would not certainly have so much moderation as she had The Princess not being well pleased to see his Royall highness so favourable to the Count de Guiche resolved to tell the Queen and having acquainted one of her Confidents with her design the Marshal of Grammont came to hear of it He went and beseeched her not to ruine his son she promised him she would not and kept her word This Princess was haughty and did not easily pardon People who had not for her all the respect her illustrious Birth and extraordinary Merit obliged all the World to but when she was once perswaded they loved her nothing was so good natured as she While that the Marshall and his Friends were endeavouring to stifle the Noise that Marsillac had made with the Count de Guiche's Letter Madam d' Olonne was known to show this for the breaking of a Marriage that made Marsillac's fortune You do not think Madam of the constraint I am in I am sorced to go two or three times a Week to visit Mademoiselle de Rochegayon to talk to her as if I loved her and to this purpose must spend that time I ought only to employ in seeing writing and thinking of you and in what Condition soever I may be it would be a great trouble to me to be obliged to keep company with a Child but now that I live only for your sake you may very well imagine that it is to me the cruellest of Tortures that which makes me take patience in some manner is that I hope to revenge my self on her by marrying her without loving her and after that seeing more nearly the difference there is between you and her I shall love you all my life time yet more if it was possible than I do at present This at first surprized all the World Thitherto indiscreet Gallants had only been found and never Mistresses They could not imagine that a Woman to revenge her self of a Man she no longer loved would help one in that manner to convict herself This indiscretion had not however the effect that Madam d' Olonne had promised herself Monsieur de Liancourt Mademoiselle de la Rochegayon's Father knowing that Madam d' Olonne was desirous to incense him against Marsillac answered those who spoke to him of that Letter That were it not for offending God Marsillac could not do better than apply himself to gain the Heart of so beautyful a Lady as Madam d' Olonne that this was not the first time that Wives were spoke ill of at Mistresses Bed-side But as the passion Men had for her was more violent than that they
not resist her but yielded through the weakness of the Flesh rather than the inclination of the heart The Duke of Rochefoucault who had been for three years the beloved Gallant of Madam de Longueville saw the Infidelity of his Mistress with all the rage that can be had in such like Occasions But she being full of a great Passion for the Duke of Nemours was not at all careful to please her ancient Lover The first time that she saw the Duke of Nemours in private she asked him in the most passionate moment of the Assignation what had passed between him and Madam de Chastillon The Duke having answered her that he had not had any Favour Ah! I am undone said she to him since in the Posture we are in at present you have the power to conceal the truth This Commerce did not last long and the Duke of Nemours not being able to force himself to pretend love where he had none and you may imagine that the Princess who was nasty and had an ill smell with her could not conceal her ill Qualities from a Man who was infinitely in love elsewhere These Disgusts did likewise further the Journey that the Duke of Nemours was to make into Flanders to bring a Succour of Strangers to the Princes Party But the real cause of his impatience was to see Madam de Chastillon again whom he ever loved more than his life whereupon he passed through Paris where he saw her again and put her into that wretched Condition that may be called the Shipwrack of Widows When she perceived her misfortune she sought for the means to be freed from it Des Fougerets a famous Physician undertook this Cure and while he had her in hand the Prince of Condé returned from Guyenne to Paris and brought la Rochefoucault with him The Prince had lively Eyes a Hawks and sharp Nose hollow lean Cheeks a long Face and the Physiognomy of an Eagle frizled Hair his Teeth were ill set and nasty a careless Aire had but little care of his Person but was well shaped his Wit had a great deal of flame but was not exact he laughed much and disagreably his Genius was admirable for War and particularly for Battails On the day of Battail he was mild to Friends and fierce to Enemies He had an unparallel'd neatness of Wit force of Judgment and easiness of Expression he was Roguishly inclined but had Faith and Probity in great Occasions He was naturally insolent and without regard but Adversity had taught him how to live This Prince finding himself disposed to fall in love with the Dutchess La Rochefoucault helped still to inflame him by the great desire he had of being revenged on the Duke of Nemours Rochfoucault perswaded him to give her the Propriety of Marlou which she had only the usu-fruit of telling him that Madam de Chastillon was younger than he and that this Present would only injure his Posterity and that a Lordship of two thousand pounds a year more or less would neither render him richer nor poorer When the Prince fell in love with Madam de Chastillon she was in the hands of Des Fougorests who made use of Vomits to free her of those ill Circumstances The Prince who was continually at her Bed-side asked her what her Sickness was she told him that she believed she was poysoned This Lover being extreamly grieved to see his Mistress in danger of her life told the Apothecary who served her that he would cause him to be hanged This poor man not daring to justifie himself went and told Bordeaux who was married to Ricoux that if he was pressed too much he would tell all In short the Remedies had the effect that they had promised themselves And shortly after this Cure the Prince having given her Marlou Madam de Chastillon was not ungrateful but she only gave him the usu-fruit of what the Duke of Nemours had the Propriety However Rochefoucault took full Vengeance of the Duke of Nemours and gave him displeasures by so much the more cutting that he had not the power to cure himself of his Passion as Rochefoucault had done of that he had had for Madam de Longueville Besides Rochefoucault Vinevil was likewise the Prince's Confident who in serving him with his Mistress endeavoured likewise to be beloved himself Vinevil was the President d' Ardiers Brother of a pretty good Family in Paris had a pleasing Face much Learning and was a well-bred man His Humour was pleasant and Satyrical tho very fearful this had often brought him into trouble he was undertaking with Women and that made him almost always successful he had had an Intrigue with Madam de Montbazon Madam de Movy and likewise with the Princess of Wittembergh And this last Gallantry had so embroiled him with the late Duke of Chastillon that without the Prince's protection he would have suffered some Violences and Chastillons hatred for him had sufficiently disposed his Wife to love him But let us leave Vinevil for sometime and return to the Duke of Nemours His Jealousie so transported him that having one day found the Prince at Madam de Chastillon's whispering with her he all scratched his hands without perceiving what he did and it was one of his Servants who made him take notice of the Condition he had put himself in At length not being able to suffer the Prince's Visits to his Mistress he desired her to go for some time to her Country House She loving him extreamly and not thinking that a short absence would cool the Prince's Passion granted him his request and likewise promised him to turn off Bordeaux who had quitted his Interests for to be for those of his Rival Madam de Chastillon was not long in the Country and at her Return the Duke of Nemours was jealous to that degree that he was twenty times upon the point of causing the Prince to draw and he would at length have been overcome with this Temptation had it not been for the Duel he fought with his Brother in Law in which he lost his Life Madam de Chastillon who of twenty Lovers she had favoured in her life time had never loved any so much as the Duke of Nemours was really grieved for his death One of her Friends who brought her the News of it told her at the same time that it was requisite that she should get out of one of Monsieur de Nemours his Valet de Chamber 's hands a Cabinet full of her Letters She sent for him and upon the promise she made him of giving him five hundred Crowns she got the Cabinet from him but the poor Fellow could never get any of the Money As for the Prince what obligation soever he had to the Duke of Nemours jealousie had so disunited them that he was very glad of his death Glory as well as Love had caused so much Emulation between them that they could not bear with one another and this is so true
heard it said Wherewith a Man to Charme and lure I mean a Man that is well bred And for our Drudgery fit and sure Not like Him whom I do know Who never yet the Feat did do Nor cause the pain I undergo No Body in the World is more gay has more Wit nor a more-agreeable Wit than she Menage being fallen in love with her and his Extraction his Age and his Figure obliging him to Conceal his passion as much as he could he happened to be one day at her House just as she was going out about some business Her Woman not being ready to attend her she bid Menage come into the Coach with her and that she was not afraid people should talke ill of it Menage jeassted in appearance but indeed was angry made her answer that he found it very severe to see that she was not satisfred with rigours she had so long treated him with but that she likewise despised him to the point of beleiving that nothing could be said of her and him Come in said she to him Come into my Coach If you are angry I will make you a Visit at your own house As Bussy finished these last words word was brought this Gentleman that the meat was upon the Table They went to dinner which having done with the usual merriment they went into the Park where they were no sooner come that they desired Bussy to relate to them the story of Madam de Monglas and his Amours which having granted them he begun after this manner The History of Madam de Monglas and of Bussy FIve years before Madam de Sevigny's and my falling out being at Paris in the beginning of Winter and much a friend to Feuillade and Darcy it came into all our heads to be in love and because that we were not willing that our affairs should part us from one another we cast our Eyes upon all the pretty Women to see if we could find three who were as much friends as we were or who might come to be so we sought a long time without meeting with what we wanted The Ladies of Monglas Precy and L' Isle were very much friends and very lovely but as perhaps we should have been troubled to have agreed upon the the Choice and that the Merit of those Ladies was not so equall that our inclinations should Carry us to love them equally we agreed to make three tickets of their three names and to put them into a purse and to keep to her that fate should give us in drawing them Madam de Monglas fell to Feuillade's share Madam de L' Isle to Darcy and Madam de Precy to me Fortune in this occasion shewed how blind she is for she did a favour to Feuillade which he knew not so well the value of as I did but I was forced to be contented with what she had given me And as I had seen Madam de Monglas but five or six times I fancyed that the applications I was going to make to Madam de Precy would efface out of my mind the beginning of a Passion We thereupon made our Addresses to our Mistresses la Feuillade having for a Fortnight or three Weeks made love to Madam de Montglas by assiduities resolved at length to make her a Declaration At first he found her a Woman who without being too severe seemed to him so natural an Enemy of Engagements that he almost despaired of effecting his designs with her or at least of effecting them suddenly Yet he was not quite disencouraged and sometime after he found her more uncertain and in short he pressed her so much and seemed to her so much in love that she gave him leave to hope being beloved one day But before I speak further it is convenient that I describe to you Madam de Monglas and Feuillade Madam de Monglas has little black sparkling Eys an agreable Mouth a Nose something turned up fine white Teeth a too lively Complexion fine and delicate Features and a pleasing turn of Countenance her Hair is black long and thick she is extream neat and the Air that comes from her is purer then that she breathes she has the finest Neck imaginable her Arms and Hands delicately shaped she is neither great nor little but of so easie a shape that it will be ever agreable if she can save it from the inconveniency of too much fat Madam de Monglas has a quick and penetrating Wit like her Complexion even to excess she speaks and writes with a surprizing Facility and the most naturally imaginable her thoughts are often diverted elsewhere in Conversation and you cannot say to her things of so great Consequence as to take up all her attention she desires you sometimes to tell her something she had then a mind to know and as you begin your Relation she forgets her Curiosity and the fire she is full of makes her interrupt you to speak of something else Madam de Monglas loves Musick and Verses she makes very pretty ones her self she sings the best of any Woman in France of her Quality no Body dances better than she she fears Solitude shè is a true Friend even to take the part of those she loves with indiscretion and to the very giving them all her Estate if they have occasion for it She keeps their Secrets religiously she knows very well how to converse with the World she is as Civil as a Woman of Quality ought to be And tho she is not willing to displease any Body her Civility has more of Pride than Flattery for which reason she does not gain hearts so soon as several others that are more insinuating But when they know her stedfastness they apply themselves much more earnestly to her La Feuillade is not altogether for a Man what Madam de Monglas is for a Woman their Merits are different he has however some false Charms with which the weak are at first dazled but which never deceives such People as make Reflections he has blew lively Eyes a great Mouth a short Nose frizled Hair and something reddish his Shape is pretty good his Knees turn inwards he has too much vivacity he speaks much and will alway be pleasant but he does not always do what he has a mind to that is to say with civil Persons fancy to the populace and meanest Wits with whom there needs no more than to have always the Mouth open to laugh orto speak he is admirable he has a light wit and a hard heart even to ingratitude he is envious and it is to him an affront to be in prosperity he is vain and haughty and at his first coming to Court he had so often told us that he was brave that he made a Conscience of suspecting it however at present we make a Conscience of believing it I have told you that Madam de Monglas being perswaded that he had a violent Passion for her gave him hopes of being beloved Any other than Feuillade would