seeke for another kinde of world then this and for more perfect creatures then Mortals There will euer be poysnings beyond the Alpes Treasons at Court and reuolts in this Realme Howsoeuer my Lord there will be loue euen in spite of you so long as there are eyes and beauties in the world yea the Wise themselues will loue if they finde Clorindaes Dianaes and Cassandraes to be beloued Fire seazeth somtimes on Churches and Pallaces God hath framed Fooles and Philosophers of one and the same matter And that cruell Sect which seekes to bereaue vs of the one halfe of our selues in seeking to free vs from our passions and affections instead of making a wise man haue onely raised a Statue I must therefore once againe tell you that I loue since Nature will haue it so and that I am of the progeny of our first Parent but I must withall informe you that all my affections spring not from the distempers and diseases of my soule my inclination to serue you hauing immortall reason not momentary pleasure for its foundation one day happily I shall no more be amorous but will alwayes remayne My Lord Your most humble and most affectionate Seruant BALZAC To the Lord Cardinall of Valete Sonne to the Duke of Espernon LETTER II. My LORD AT length they haue done you right and you now enioy what you deserued from the first day of your Natiuity if there could bee any thing added to a man who reckoneth Kings among his Predecessors and whose inclinations happily are ouer-great to liue vnder the power of another I should aduise you to reioyce at this newes but being extracted as you are from one of the most illustrious Origines on earth and begotten by a Father whose life is loaden with Miracles it sufficeth that you pardon Fortune since it hath so happned that present necessity hath gained of her what she in right owed to your name I know well that some will tell you you are created Prince of such an Estate as is bounded neither by Seas nor Mountaines and how the extent of your iurisdiction is so illimitable as were there many worlds they ought all of them to depend thereon as well as this But I who suffer not mine eyes to be dazeled by any other luster then that of Vertue and who doe not so much as bestow the looking on what most men admire if I should esteeme you either more great or happy then you were I should not haue sufficiently profited vnder you in the true vnderstanding of you Doubtlesse in the opinion of the Vulgar it is an extraordinary Honour to be a prime person in a Ceremony and to weare a Hat of equal esteeme to Crownes and Diadems Yet I presume you will pardon mee if I make bold to tell you it is an honour can neuer oblige a wise man to enuy you For had you this point onely aboue me I should still be my owne Master Nor had I for your sake renounced that liberty which was as deare to mee as the Common-wealth of Venice Vpon the matter to haue none other Iudge on Earth saue onely your reputation and conscience and to haue a great trayne of followers some whereof are imployed in the procuring your spirituall pleasures others in the conduct of your temporall affaires all this shal be still the same with you and diuers others whom you slight but to performe good and vertuous actions when you are assured they shall neuer come to the worlds eye to feare nothing but dishonest things to beleeue death to bee neither good nor bad in it selfe but that if the occasion to imbrace it be honourable it is alwayes more valuable then a long life to haue the reputation of integrity in your promises in a time when the most credulous haue enough to doe to confide on publique faith This is it which I admire in you my Lord and not your Red Hat and your fifty thousand Crownes Rent yet I will say that for the honour of Rome you ought to esteeme of what she sends you The time hath bin when she would haue erected Statues for you and affoorded you sufficient subiect to haue merited Tryumphs but those dayes being past and since that Empire is no longer maintayned by such meanes yet ought you to rest satisfied with the honours of Peace and accept as a high fauour a Dignity the King of Spaine's Sonne hath made suite for If there were nothing else in it but that it causeth you to quit your Mourning-robes to reuest your selfe with the colour of Roses you can doe no lesse then reioyce at such a change Howsoeuer the nearest obiects to your eyes will not be so dolefull as formerly they were since there will be nothing vpon you which shall not be resplendent and glorious I would willingly dilate this discourse but the speedy departure of the Post will not suffer me and besides I being well assured that if you esteeme any thing in my Letters it is not the multitude of words I ought to be contented to end this after my humble suite vuto you to loue me alwayes since I am passionately My Lord Your most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC To the Lord Cardinall de Valette from Balzac J here send you two Letters which were deliuered mee to bee conueyed vnto you the one from the Duke of Bauaria the other from the Cardinall of Lerma My Lord you shall thereby perceiue that your proposition hath affoorded ioy both to the Victorious and to the Afflicted and that the World receiueth a notable interest therein since it augmenteth the contentment of Triumphes and sweetneth the harshnes of retyrement LETTER III. MY LORD I Suppose you haue vnderstood of the Election of the Pope some two dayes iournies from Paris and that you will make no great hast to adde your approbation to a thing already dispatched I had sent a Post on purpose to aduertise you thereof but my Lord Embassador thought it not fit but hath encharged his owne Messenger to aduertise you of all things in your Voyage this way and to giue you accompt of all occurrents This makes me thinke that the subiect of your voyage ceasing and the time of yeare being as yet some what troublesome for the vndertaking thereof you will rather reserue it for a fitter season when you may performe it with lesse disorder and more aduantagiously for the Kings seruice My meaning is that I would haue you set forward about the end of Autumne that you may spend here with vs one of these warm and springing Winters laden with Roses wholy reserued for our admirable Italy And my Lord though herein the consideration of my priuate interest may seeme to make me speake thus rather then my affection to your seruice yet would I willingly tell you that all kinde of contentments attend you here and if your great Spirit aspire to glorious things for the keeping it in action it shall infallibly finde them at Rome In
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
hath beene foretold not by Astrologicall rules or the aspect of some Constellation but by a true discourse founded vpon the maximes of reason and experience of things past causing him to presume that God hath not conferred such extraordinary endowments vpon you to be for euer encloistered within your selfe And that he hath loued France better then to depriue her of the good you ought to procure her But all these verities shall one day be comprised in that worke the King by your mouth my Lord hath commanded Mounsieur de Balzac to vndertake and which one yeere of leisure will effect There shall it be where he will cause all men to confesse that to haue the pourtraict of a perfect Prince the reigne of so great a Monarch as ours is to bee attended that the Diuine Prouidence neuer shewed it selfe more apparantly then in the conduct of his designes and in the euent of his enterprises and how Heauen hath so farre declared it selfe in his fauour that were his state assaulted on all sides and all ordinary meanes of defence should faile him he hath vertue sufficient to saue himselfe and performe miracles Now as you are the prime intelligence of his Councill and your cogitations the first causes of the good resolutions therein taken you are not to doubt my Lord but you likewise possesse the principall place therein after His Maiestie and that you participate more then any other of His triumphs There shall you be reuenged of all those wretched writings you haue formerly slighted There the spirits of all men shall bee satisfied in the iustice of your deportments and calumny it selfe will there bee so powerfully conuinced that to cry downe so legall a gouernement as yours ill affected French-men and those strangers enemies to this Crowne will finde no further pretext in affaires nor credulity among men And truely when I on the one side consider how fat all it is to those who gouerne to be exposed to the enuy of great ones and complaints of meaner persons and how Publike affaires haue this fatality as how pure soeuer the administration thereof be they still afford sufficient colour to calumny to disguise them and cause them to appeare iniust And on the other side when I consider that to guide this State is no lesse then to manage a body hauing no one sound part and how there is no sicke person who doeth not sometimes murmure against his Phisitian I dare bee confident my Lord that such a man as Mounsieur de Balzac will not prooue vnusefull vnto you and that the lustre of your actions and glory of your life shall receiue no diminution in his hands I would say more did I not feare to disoblige him in commending him or if I beleeued him to be so great a selfe admirer as his enemies figure him vnto vs. But I who haue sufficiently studied him to know him and who am acquainted with his most secret Inclinations and the most particular conception s he hath in his soule and of a farre different opinion to theirs I will therefore rest there my Lord and not to cause you to loose more time and to the end you may the sooner inioy the entertainement this excellent Booke prepareth for you I will satisfie my selfe in letting you know that I esteeme not my selfe so vnfortunate as formerly I did since I haue happened vpon so faire an occasion to let you know that I am My Lord Your thrise humble and most obedient seruant Silbon THE PREFACE Vpon the Letters of Mounsieur de BALZAC By Mounsieur de la Motte Aigron I Doubt not but among those who shall see these Works some there are who will esteeme them worthy a more aduantagious Title then that of Letters as well in regard of the greatnesse of those things therein frequently handled as in respect of the exactnesse where-wherewith they seeme to haue beene composed Butas I willingly excuse those who with vnapt complements imagine they haue composed a good Letter nor doe any more blame such as there in neuer digresse from their perticular affaires â—o must I likewise acknowledge that such writings as these hauidg not beene made with any intention to bee put in Print the World might well haue passed without them And that it is only allowed to the Germans to giue account to the age they liue in and to posteritie forsooth concerning the affaires and fortunes of their particular families and of the silly acts of their Colleagues Truely it is an errour to beleeue that graue and solemne subiects are to bee banished out of all Letters or that euen eloquence ought but slackly therein to appeare and that the Maiestie of both these is only reserued for Pulpits and Panegyrick Orations as though valour neuer appeared saue onely in pitcht Battells and that in single Combats it were lawfull to run away or that vertue therein were vtterly vnusefull because it hath fewer witnesses neither is so fully regarded But besides that wee are no longer in those times wherein the State gouernment was publiquely questioned where the Oratours forced the Lieutenants generall of armies to render accompt of their seuerall charges and that consequently there is no more any meanes remaining to become eloquent in that kind Yet are there reasons whereby wÌ„ee may vnderstand the merit of Letters to bee of no lesse regard then that of Orations Howbeit if there bee any necessitie to find some difference betweene these this at least can neither be in regard of the dignitie of the Subiects the force of Reasons the gracefullnesse of Discourses nor in the sublimitie of Conceits To speake trueth when I consider the Orations yet remaining among the ruines of former ages some where of were publikely pronounced others onely penned I am so farre from admiring any aduantage they haue ouer those Letters now extant among vs both of the same Authors and Ages as I doe not so much as wonder at all how the first hauing beene armed with discourse and voice together with the gesture and motion of the body haue produced such prodigious effects as wee all know and haue so often as it were by maine force extorted the consents of all hearers yet the second though they had not the like arms and allurements haue notwithstanding not beene any way â—â—â—icient Those smooth Exordiums whereby they prepare and put themselues by easie accesses as it were into possession of the Readers those straites and passages whereby they conduct the spirits of men from pleasant to painefull and from grieuous to gracious obiects to the end that hauing in a maner shaken and cast them out of their former stations they may afterwards force them to fall on what side they please Surely all these aduantages are so peculiar to Orations as I ingeniously confesse Letters doe not so much as know what they meane In these we enter at the first dash vpon the matter nor doe wee scarse at any time quit the same the reasons goe altogether alone without
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
he would bring a blessing to all France and though he intimated nothing to the King yet that he would at least inspire whatsoeuer were necessary for the good of his Subiects and Dignity of his Crowne I will reserue to speake as I ought of this rare Vertue till my great Worke come to light Where I will render euery man his right and condemne euen those as culpable whom the Parliaments crouch vnto There shall it be where I will canuasse the Court of Rome which I alwayes separate from the Church with as much force and freedome as he vsed from whose mouth we haue seene lightning to issue and Thunder to be throwne out There is not any thing of so faire a semblance whose deformities I vnmaske not There is nothing of eminency from one end of the World to the other I ouer-turne not I will discouer the defects of Princes and States I will expugne Vice wheresoeuer it is hidden and with what Protection soeuer it is palliated To conclude I will passe as seuere a Judgement as was that of the Areopagites in times past or of the Inquisition at this present Yet my Lord in this my common censure I will take a particular care of the Queene Mothers reputation and will let all the World see that what heretofore others haue called Vertue is the naturall habitude of this great Princesse In the place for others appoynted for Afflictions and Calamities She shall together with the King receiue onely Flowers and Crownes and as her innocency had saued her from the generall deluge had she then liued so will it cause her to Tryumph in my Story amidst the tuines of others I haue not the faculty of Flattering but the Art only to speake the Truth in good termes and the Actions you see had need be more eminent then those you haue read of if I equall them not by my Words This being thus my Lord as I hope you doubt not imagine in what tearmes I will iustific the R. D. L. R and in what fort I will intreate her enemies if I haue a minde to it I will make it one day appeard that 〈◊〉 hath beene as cruell a Monster as those who deuourewhole Cities and denounce Warre agaynst all Humane and Dinine things One will imagine by the markes I giue him that R. was a Magician which daily pricked some Image of Waxe with needles and who disturbed the repose of all Princes Courts of his time by the force of his Charmes The truth is I will do great matters prouided my courage quaile not on his part whence I expect it should come and to whom by a kind of strict Obligation I am excited to vndertake this Iudgement which will be no lesse famous then that of Michael Angelo At our next meeting I will more particularly acquaint you with the whole designe of my Worke with its order ornaments and artifice you shall there see whether or no I make good vse of those houres I sometimes obtaine from the tyranny of my Phisisians and lingring maladies In the interim doe me the Honour to loue me still nor thinke I speake the Court-language or that I compliment with you when I assure you I am more then any man liuing My Lord Your most humble seruant BALZAC The 28. of December 1622. Another Letter to the Lord Bishop of Ayre LETTER XII My Lord IT must needes be your Oath of Fealty doth yet continue and that the Ceremony you are imployed in be longer then I imagined since I haue no newes from you for I must freely confesse vnto you I am not so slightly perswaded of my selfe as to haue any thought as that you neglect me Besides I am certaine that publique faith and what hath euer beene sworne vpon Altars and the Gospolls are not more inuiolable then your word and that it will stand good though Heauen and Earth should start Besides I can lesse coniecture that you are hindred by want of Health whereof I hope you enioy so large a treasure as it is like to contine as long as the World lasteth It were a wrong to me should you alledge Sicknesse and no lesse then to wrangle with me for a thing in such manner appropriated to my selfe as I cannot communicate it to any other I will therefore imagine whatsoeuer you will haue me to thinke you may loue me if you please without taking the paines to tell mee so But for my part how importunate soeuer I am herein yet am I resolute to write vnto you till you cut off my hands and to publish so long as I haue a tongue that I am Sir Your most humble and most affectionate seruant BALZAC The 16. of December 1622. To the Lord Bishop of Ayre from BALZAC LETTER XIII My Lord YOu cannot loose me how little care soeuer you take to keepe mee The Heauens must necessarily infuse new affections in me and vtterly alter my inclinations if they intend to inhibite mee to be your Seruant Yet doth it not a little grieue me you doe not testifie what I know you beleeue and that hauing the power to make me happy by the least of your Letters I haue more trouble to impetrate this fauour then I should finde in the obtaining of three Declarations from the King and as many Briefes from his Holinesse But all this notwithstanding I cannot be perswaded you place mee among matters of meere indifferency or that you no longer remember what you haue promised with so large protestations which I hold to be most authenticall I rather for the satisfaction of my thoughts will be confident you haue resolued to loue me in secret thereby to auoide all iealousie and will beleeue there is more cunning then coldnesse in your Silence were it otherwise or had I really lost your Fauours certainely I would not suruiue so deepe a discomfort since there is not any banishment shipwracke or sinister fortune I could not rather require at Gods hands then such a losse But these Discourses are as much as to suppose impossibilities or to inuent Dreames I will therefore leaue them to let you vnderstand some newes from me I can onely say the Ayre of this Countrey is not offensiue vnto me for to assure you that I am in health were too great a boldnesse I confesse I haue now and then some pleasing pauses and I enioy certaine good Houres which make mee remember my former Health But there is great difference betweene this imperfect estate of mine and a constitution comparable to that of yours who haue life sufficient to viuifie thirty such worne bodies as mine which needes but one blast to blow it downe Howsoeuer my Phisitians haue promised to make me a new man and to restore vnto mee what I haue lost I should be well contented they were men of their words and that I might at my ease attend all occasions to testifie how passionately I am The 6. of Ianuary 1623. Your most humble and most affectionate Seruant BALZAC To the
multitude who flocke to heare you euery morning Are you perswaded that I and the people can neuer be of one minde That I will oppose my selfe to the beleefe of honest men to the approbation of Doctors and to their authority who are eminent aboue others No Father I allow no such liberty to my spirit assure your selfe I esteeme you as I ought I commend your zeale and learning yea were it truer then euer it was that to compose tedious Volumnes is no lesse then to commit great sinnes Yet if you oblige me to iudge of yours by that you sent vnto me I say it is very excellent in its kind and that I will no way hinder you from obtayning a Ranke among the Fathers of these moderne ages But my testimony will not I hope become the onely fruite of your labours I wish with all my heart the conuersion of Turkes and Infidels may crowne your indeauours I am perswaded all the honour this world can affoord ought to be esteemed as nothing by those who only seeke for the aduancement of Gods glory I will therefore no farther dilate my selfe vpon this Subiect nor wrong holy things by profaine praises my intention is onely to let you know J assume not so poore a part in the Churches interest as not to bee extraordinarily well pleased with those who are seruiceable thereto and that I am right glad besides the propension I haue to esteeme your amity so powerfull a perswasion as Religion is doth yet further oblige me Yours BALZAC To the Cardinall of Vallete LETTER IIII. My LORD THe Letter you pleased to send mee from Rome caused me to forget I was sicke and I presumed to solace my selfe after three yeares of sadnesse euer since newes was brought mee of Lucidors death and the successe of that fatall combate wherein you could not but bee a loser on which side soeuer the aduantage happened My Lord I doubt not but your spirit though altogether stoute and couragious to support your proper misfortunes is yet mollified by the relation of their miseries who loue you and where there is question rather of shewing your good nature or your constancy you will quit one vertue to acquire another I know well that in the number of your goods you reckon your friends in the first ranke allowing onely the second place to your dignities and to fifty thousand Crownes rent which accompanies them and consequently I assure my selfe you beleeue you are as it were growne poore by the losse of a man who had relation vnto you But I am likewise most certaine how after the passing certaine vnpleasant dayes out of the loue you bare him and hauing affoorded him sufficient testimonies of your true affection he now expecting no further acknowledgement or seruice you will at length call to minde that it is the Publique to whom you owe your cares and passions and that you are not permitted farther to afflict a spirit which is no longer yours Since the misery of this age is so generall as it leaueth no one house without teares nor any one part of Europe without trouble and since Fortune is not of power to conserue euen her owne workemanships who are many of them fallen to ground it must needes so happen my Lord that being of the world you are to taste of the fruites it produceth and that you purchase at some hard rate the good successes dayly attending you But truely the place where you are and the great designes taking you vp may well furnish you with so strong and solide consolations as they neede leaue no worke for others and my Eloquence would come too late should I imploy it after your reason which hath formerly perswaded you there being now neither precept nor Counsell in all humane wisedome vnproposed to your view and since neither Seneca nor Epictetus can say any thing saue onely your thoughts I had much rather send you diuertisements no way distastefull then to present you any remedies which doubtlesse will proue importunate These writings my Lord here inclosed shall not enter as strangers into your Cabinet they will not talke vnto you of the fiue Pradicables of Perphirie nor of Iustinians Neuelles or the numbers of Algebra But you may there recreate and repose your spirits at your returne from Audiences Congregations and the Consistory I could well haue bestowed vppon them a more eminent title then what they haue I could out of these composures haue framed Apologies Accusations and politique discourses yea had I pleased neuer so little to haue extended some of my Letters they might haue beene called bookes But besides my designe aiming rather to please then importune and that I tend to the highth of conceptions and not at the abundance of words When I treate with you my Lord I suppose my selfe to be before a full assembly and doe propose to my selfe neuer to write any thing vnto you which Posterity ought not to read Now if sometimes from your person I passe to others or if I commend those whom I conceiue are deseruing I assure my selfe I therein performing an act of Iustice and not ofsubiection you will be no way displeased with what I doe and well hope I may conserue your fauours without violating humane Lawes or separating my selfe from ciuill society Your most humble seruant BALZAC The 15. of Iuly 1629. To the Cardinall of Vallete LETTER V. My Lord THough innocency be the Felicity of the afflicted and that I finde in my selfe the satisfaction he can expect who hath not offended yet can I not so easily comfort my selfe And the remedien my Phylosophy affoord me are for meaner misfortunes then the losse of your fauours All I can contribute to my consolation out of the assurance I haue of mine innocency is the liberty I haue taken to tell you so and to complaine of the iniustice you haue done me if you haue so much as suffered any to accuse me I neede not seeke colours to palliate my actions or words it is sufficiently knowne their principall obiects haue euer bin the glory of your name and the desire to please you I befeech you likewise to call to remembrance that hard times haue not hindred me from imbarking my selfe where my inclination called me and that I haue serued my Lord your Father when most of his followers were in danger to become his Martyrs It should seeme perchance I stand in neede of the memory of what is past and that I make my precedent good offices appeare to the end to cause them to ouer way my present offences No my Lord I intend not to make vse of what now is not for the iustification of mine actions nor am I ignorant that neuer any woman was so vicious who hath not heretofore bin a Virgin nor criminal who cannot prescribe some time preceding his bad life I speake of to day as well as of heretofore and doe protest vnto you with all the Oathes able to make truth appeare holy and inuiolable
hath beene their subiect not altogether sutable to this State nor very fitting for English eares The rest are here presented to thy gratious accetpance not doubting but they will prooue both pleasing and profitable to diuers who endeauour to make right vse thereof My desires haue aimed at that end and my greatest ambition is to haue them find courteous entertainement and to afford Publique Vtillitie Vale. VV. T. PErlegi hunc librum cui titulus Balzac his Letters una cum praefatione duplici ad Dominum Cardinall de Richelieu ad Lectorum qui quidem liber continet folio 176. exceptis quae delentur in quibus nihil reperio sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribus contrarium quo minus cum publica utilitate Imprimatur ita tamen ut si non intra annum proxime sequentem typis mandetur haec licentia sit omnino irrita GVLIELMVS HAYWOOD Capellan domest Archiep. Cantuar. THE LETTERS OF MOVNSIEVR DE BALZAC THE FIRST BOOKE A Letter from the Cardinall of Richelieu to the Signior of BALZAC LETTER I. SIR THough I haue formerly deliuered my Opinion to a friend of Yours concerning some of your letters he shewed me yet can I not satisfie my selfe before these Lines affoord you a more Authenticall approbation thereof It is not any particular affection I beare to your person which imsiteth me to this allowance but Truth it selfe carrying with it such a Prerogatiue that it compelleth all who haue their Eyes and Spirits rightly placed for the deliuering an vnpartiall opinion to represent them without Disguise My censure shall be seconded by many others and if there be any of a contrary conceite I dare assure you time will make them know that the defects they finde in your Letters proceede rather from their Spirits then from your Pen and how nearely they resemble the Icterickes who hauing the Iaundesse in their Eyes see nothing which seemeth not vnto them to carry the same colour Heretofore meane Wits admired all things aboue the pitch of their capacity but now their Iudgements seconding their Sufficiencies they approoue nothing but what is within the compasse of their Talent and blame all whatsoeuer exceedeth their Studies I dare without presumption say in what concerneth you herein that I see things as they are and declare them to be such as I see them The conceptions of your Letters are strong and as transcendent aboue ordinary imaginations as they are conformable to the common sense of such who are of sound iudgement The Language is pure and the Words perfectly well chosen without affectation the Sense is cleare and neate and the Periods accomplished with all their nūbers This censure of mine is by so much the more ingenuous as that approouing whatsoeuer is your owne in your Letters I haue not concealed to a certay ne Friend of yours that I found some rectification to be desired concerning certaine things you insert of other mens fearing least the liberty of your Pen should cause many to imagine that it is to often dipped in their humours and manners and draw such as are more acquainted with you by name then Conuersation to be otherwise conceited of you then you willingly could wish The manner wherewith you haue receiued this my Aduise causeth me that continuing my former freedome I will conclude in aduertizing you that you shall be answerable before God if you suffer your Pen to sleepe and that you are obliged to imploy it vpon more graue and important Subiects being contented that you shall blame me if in so doing you receiue not the satisfaction to see that what you performe herein shall be praysed and esteemed euen by those wh would willingly picke occasion to controule them which is one of the most sure markes of the perfection of any Worke. You shall receiue some in this kind out of my Affection when I may haue the opportunity to assure you that I am Your well affectionate to serue you the Cardinall of Richelieu From Paris the 4. of February 1621. To the Lord Cardinall of Richelieu from BALZAC LETTER II. MY LORD I Am as proud of the Letter you did me the Honour to addresse vnto me as if there were a thousand Statues erected for me or if I were assured by infallible authority of my works excellency Truly to be commended by that man our Age opposeth to all antiquity and vpon whose Wisedome God might well intrust the whole earths gouernment is a fauour I could not wish for without presumption and which I am yet doubtfull whether I haue really receiued or onely dreamed somesuch matter But if it be so that my eyes haue not deceiued me and that you are hee who hath bestowed that voyce vpon me which hath bin chosen by all France to present her petitions to the King and by the King himselfe to conuey his Commands into Citties and Armies My Lord I must humbly then acknowledge you haue already payed me before hand for all the seruices I can euer possibly performe vnto you and I should shew my selfe very vngratefull if I should hereafter complayne of my fortunes since vpon the matter the goods and honours of this World are most ordinarily none other then the inheritance of Sotts or rewards of Vice Estimation and Commendation being onely reserued for Vertue Ought I not then to rest highly satisfied hauing receiued from your Mouth the same Prize which Conquerors expect for their Victories yea all that your selfe could hope for in lieu of your great and immortall Actions if there were another Cardinall of Richelieu to giue them their due Commendations But truely my Lord that is a thing which will alwayes be wanting to your Glory for when by your onely Presence you haue appeased the spirits of an incensed Multitude when by your powerfull Reasons you haue induced Christian Princes to set the Natiue Countrey of Jesus Christ at liberty and to vndertake the Holy Warre when you haue gayned whole Nations to the Church as well by the force of your Example as by that of your Doctrine who is of ability to pay you the Reputation which you in all right deserue and where shall you finde so excellent a Witnesse for all the marueilous Acts of your Life as I haue of my Watchings and Studies I cannot chuse but reiterate this and my ioy is ouer iust to be concealed Is it possible this great Wit and high spirit which hath bin imployed euen from his first Youth in perswading Princes in giuing instructions to Embassadours and hath beene listned vnto by old men who haue seene foure Reignes Is it possible I say this man should valew me on whose Approbation all enemies agree nor is there among all men a contrary party or diuersity of beleefe in this poynt If I had a purpose to disquiet the repose of this Kingdome I would seeke for the consent of slacke spirits and I should stand in need of the fauour of all sorts of men were I to study for Reputation in a
popular State but truely I neuer affected confusion or disorder and my designes haue euer aimed at the pleasing of a few For since you haue declared your selfe in fauour as hee likewise hath done for whom France at this day enuieth Italy and since you carry after you the most solid part of the Court I am content to let the rest runne astray with Turkes and Infidels who make the greater number of Mankinde Yet my Lord I cannot thinke that any hereafter will be so farre in loue with himselfe or so obstinate in his owne opinion as not to be a Convertite by the onely reading the Letter you honour'd me with and who in conclusion will not subscribe to your great Iudgement And if it be certayne that truth it selfe could not be strong enough against you there is no question but that side whereon you two shall agree oughtto be vniuersally followed For my part my Lord let all men say what they will I fixe my selfe with closed eyes there and what enemies soeuer the reputation you haue allowed mee procure me yet knowing your abilities and what you are I will be no farther solicitus for mine owne Interest or future benefit since it is become your cause I am My Lord Your most humble and most obedient seruant BALZAC The 10. of March 1624. To the Cardinall of Richelieu from BALZAC LETTER III. My Lord I Humbly intreate you to be pleased by these presents to permit me to confirme vnto you the assurance of my most humble Seruice and that you would allow mee to craue some Newes from you It is the onely thing wherein I am now curious and which in the very depth of my retirednesse obligeth me to reflect sometimes vpon worldly Affaires But happen what can I am most assured you will remayne constant euen amidst publique ruines and that Fortune cannot bereaue you of those aduantages shee neuer gaue you Yet could I wish that your life were somewhat more calme and lesse glorious And that Artemiza's goodnesse hauing so great Affinity to what is infinite and which is of power to procure loue euen amidst the most sauage beasts doth in right deserue to obtaine truce and repose among reasonable Creatures It is not in vs to be Authors of hereafter nor doe our wishes rule the euent of humane Affaires But surely if there be any Justice in Heauen whereof there is no doubt and if God haue an Eye to worldly matters wee must beleeue the teares of vpright persons shal not be shed in vaine or that your Queene shall waxe old in her Misfortunes yet at the least since our cogitations be still within our owne compasse and we being not forbidden to hope well let vs make the best vse we may of this small portion of Liberty yet remayning The vertue she hath hitherto made vse of in resisting her afflictions will happily oneday serue to moderate her felicities And if God strooke a certayne Woman with suddaine death for that she should haue beene seated in the place hee destinated to this great Princesse he surely will not suffer that man to liue long who hath so highly iniured her Howsoeuer my Lord it is great Honour vnto you not to haue fayled her in her afflictions and to haue vnder-valewed all worldly Prerogatiues to be vnfortunate with her I know that herein you satisfie your selfe with the testimony of a cleare conscience and that it is not so much for Opinion of men you vndertake Worthy actions as for your owne priuate Satisfaction Nor are you a little to comfort your selfe in that at this present you are praysed euen by your very enemies and to see your Resolutions redoubtable to those who haue great Armies on foote and the chiefe forces of the State vnder their Command I would say more did I not feare you might suppose I had some priuate designe in my Discourse or seeke hereby to prepare you to receiue some kind of importunity from me But I most humbly beseech your Lordship to be confident that I being of free Condition am little acquainted with Flattery and that I am not so giuen ouer to gaine but that notwithstanding you were still in Auignion I would euer as really as at this Houre remayne My Lord Your most humble and most affectionate Seruant BALZAC The 15. of May 1623. To the Cardinall of Richelieu from BALZAC LETTER IIII. My Lord VVEre I not well acquainted with my owne insufficiency I might well be possessed with no small vanity vpon the Letter you did mee the Honour to addresse vnto me and might well imagine my selfe to be some other thing then if I was the day before I receiued it But knowing it is no other then a meere fauour you pleased to affoord me I will not flatter my felfe in my good fortune nor lessen the Obligation due vnto you in presuming to merit the same If Vertue required any Recompence out of her selfe she would not receiue it from other mouth then yours and your Reputation is at this day so Iust and Generall as it is become a Verity wherein the Wise agree with the Vulgar I doe therefore account my selfe very happy to be reputed of by a Person who is able to giue a value to things of themselues worthlesse and I attribute so much to your Iudgement that I will no longer hold any meane opinion of my selfe lest therein I should contradict you Truely my Lord very difficultly will my parts any way answere your Expectation The time my Feauer affoordeth me for rest is so short I can hardly imploy it to other purpose then to complaine of its cruelty I haue enough to doe to liue and to make that good I keepe my selfe as carefully as though I were composed of Christall or as if I were some necessary matter for the good of all men Yet my Lord you haue so great power ouer me that I will ftrayne my selfe to shew my Obedience and to giue you an account of my leasure since you please to thinke I ought not to depriue the World thereof It is better to vtter glorious Dreames then to labour in grosse Designes and there are certayne Acts of the spirit so excellent that Princes are too poore and their power too slender to affoord them their full merit But my Lord you haue often giuen so great testimonies of me that if I should not haue some presumption it were fit I lost my memory Wherefore out of the assurance you giue me that my Stile doth not stray from that perfection which men imagine but neuer saw nor haue attayned vnto I will enter vpon a designe which shall amaze our vulgar wits and cause those who haue hitherto supposed they surmount others to see I haue found what they seeke for Whatsoeuer I doe I will at least haue you at all times present to my thoughts thereby to oblige my selfe not to come short before so great an example nor will I forget the place where at this present I am to
or vapours of the Earth This being true God forbid that by the estate of your present constitution I should iudge of that of your Condition or that I should not esteeme him perfectly happy who is superlatiuely wise You may please to consider that howbeit you haue shared with other men the infirmities of humane Nature yet the aduantage resteth soly on your side since vpon the matter there is onely some small paine remayning with you instead of an infinity of errours passions and faults falling to our lots Besides I am confident that the terme of your sufferings is well nigh expired and that the hereafter prepares right solide and pure contentments for you and a youth after its season as you are become old before your time The King who hath vse of your long liuing makes no vnprofitable wishes Heauen beares not the prayers that the Enemies of this State offer We know no Successor that is able to effect what you haue not yet finished and it being true that our Forces are but the Armes of your Head and that your Councels haue beene chosen by God to re-establish the Affaires of this Age we ought not to bee apprehensiue of a losse which should not happen but to our Successors It shall then be in your time my Lord I hope that oppressed Nations will come from the Worlds end to implore the protection of this Crowne that by your meanes our Allies will repaire their losses and that the Spaniard shall not be the sole Conquerour but that we shall prooue the Infranchesers of the whole Earth In your time I trust the Holy Sea shall haue her Opinions free nor shall the inspirations of the Holy Ghost be oppugned by the artifice of our Enemies resolutions will be raised worthy the ancient Jtaly for defence of the common cause To conclude it will bee through your Prudence my Lord that there shall no longer be any Rebellion among vs or Tyranny among men that all the Citties of this Kingdome shall be seates of assurance for honest men that nouelties shall be no farther in request saue onely for colours and fashions of Attire that the People will resigne Liberty Religion and the Common-wealth into the hands of Superiours and that outof lawfull gouernment and loyall obedience there will arise that felicity Politisians search after as being the end of Ciuile life My hope is my Lord that all this will happen vnder your sage conduct and that after you haue setled our repose and procured the same for our Allies you shall enioy your good deeds in great tranquility and see the estate of those things endure whereof your selfe haue beene a principal Author All good men are confident these blessed euents will happen in your Age and by your Aduice As for me who am the meanest among those who iustly admire your Vertues I shall not I hope prooue the slackest in the expression of your Merits Since therefore they of right exact a generall acknowledgment if I should fayle in my particular contribution I were for euer vnworthy the Honour I so ambitiously aspire vnto the highth whereof is to be esteemed Your Lordships most humble and most obedient seruant BALZAC To the Lord Bishop of Aire LETTER VIII My Lord IF at the first sight you know not my Letter and that you desire to be informed who writes vnto you It is one more old like then his Father and as ouer-worne as a Ship hauing made three Voyages to the Indies and who is no other thing then the Relickes of him whom you saw at Rome In those dayes I sometimes complayned without cause and happily there was then no great difference betweene the health of others and my infirmity Howsoeuer be it that my imagination is crazed or that my present payne doth no longer admit of any comparison I begin to lament the Feauer and Scyatica as lost goods and as pleasures of my youth now past See here to what tearmes I am reduced and how as it were I liue if it may be called liuing to be in a continuall contestation with Death True it is there is not sufficient efficacy in all the words whereof this World makes vse to expresse the miseries I indure they leaue no place eyther for the Physitians skill or the sicke-mans Patience nor hath Nature ordayned any other remedies for the same saue onely Poyson and precipices But I much feare least I suffer my selfe to be transported with paine or endure it lesse Christianly then beseemeth me being a Witnesse of your Vertus and hauing had the meanes to profit my selfe by your Example My Lord it is now time or neuer I subdue this wicked spirit which doth forcibly transport my will and that the old Adam obey the other Yet doth it not a little grieue me to be indebted to my misery for my Soules health and that I much desire it were some other more noble consideration then necessity should cause me to become an honest man But since the meanes to saue vs are bestowed vpon vs and that we chuse them not it is fitting that reason conuince our sensiblities causing vs to agree to what is otherwise distastefull vnto vs. At the worst we must at all times confesse that we cannot be sayd to perish when we are safely cast on shore by some Ship wracke and it may be if God did not driue me as he doth out of this Life I should neuer dreame of a better I will referre the rest to be related vnto you at your returne from Jtaly with purpose to lay open my naked Soule vnto you together with my Thoughts in the same simplicity they spring in me you are the onely Person from whom I expect Reliefe and I hold my selfe richer in the possession of your good Opinion then if I enioyed the fauours of all earthly Princes and all the Wealth of their Territories and Kingdomes Truely this is the first time since I writ vnto you from Lyons I haue made vse of my hands and I haue receiued a hundred Letters from my Friends without answering one Hereby my Lord you see there is no other consideration your selfe excepted of force to cause me to breake silence since for all others I haue lost the vse of speaking Yet I beseech you to thinke notwithstanding all this my affection to be neyther penurious nor ambitious The Riches I craue at your noble hands are purely spiritual and I am at this present in an estate wherein I haue more neede to settle some order for the affaires of my Conscience then to reflect vpon the establishment of my worldly Fortunes But my Lord to change Discourse and a little to retire my selfe from my paines what doe you thus long at Rome Doth the Pope dally with vs and will he leaue to his Successor the glory of the best Election can be made Is he not affraide lest it be giuen out he hath some intelligence with his Aduersaries and that he taketh not the aduice of the Holy
very prayers shee hath not as yet begun I am here some hundred and fifty Leagues from these fine things where I study to solace my selfe as much as possibly I can and to this end I make my selfe drunke euery day But to free you from any sinister opinion of what I say I assure you it is onely with the water of Pougues which surely would bee Inke were it blacke so that I surfeit without finning against the Rules of Sobriety and my frolickes are as Austeere as the Minimes fastings I haue a great desire to enter couenants with my Phisitians wherby it might be granted that all agreeable things should be wholesome that one might speedily recouer his Health by the sent of Flowers instead of their Medicines which are ordinarily second miseries succeeding the former yet without spending much time or trouble I haue made all impossibilities passable with me and in the case I am I would swallow Fire were it prescribed me for the recouery of my health It is no small aduantage not to be reduced to these tearmes no more then you are and not to know what it is to suffer or complayne So is it for the generall good of the whole World that GOD hath giuen you this vigorous Health to imploy it in the seruice of Kings and in your Vigilancy ouer the conduct of People As for me who should not happily make so good vse thereof as I ought and who am farre more inclinable to Vice then to Vertue I hold it conuenient I be alwayes crazy and that GOD take from me the meanes to offend Him whereof otherwise I should infallibly make but ouer-much vse I write not at this present to M. it is all I can do to finish this Letter in hast and to tell you what you long since knew that I am my Lord Your most humble and passionate Seruant BALZAC October the 15. 1622. To the Lord Bishop of Aire from BALZAC LETTER XI My Lord I Am infinitely glad to vnderstand by your Letters of your safe returne into France and that you haue now no further vse of Cypbers for the expression of your minde to my Lord the Cardinall of Richelieu I shall at your pleasure I hope vnderstand the particulars of your Voyage and what you haue seene at Naples and Venice worthy your content This is not out of any great curiosity I haue for these things or that I admire dumble Marble or Pictures being no way so beautifull as the Persons These trifles are to be left for the Vulgar with whom the same Obiects limit their imagination and sight and who of all times reflect mearely vpon the present and of all things onely vppon the appearance but for my part I am of a contrary opinion There are not in the whole world any Pallaces so sumptuous or of so high a structure which are not farre vnder my thoughts and I conceiue in my spirit a poore hermitage to the foundation whereof many more materials are proiected then were requisite for establishing a Republicke You see here my Lord how in some sort I play the Prince amidst my pouerty and with what insolency I scorne what the world so much admireth I am as haughty as though I were a Minister of State or as if this last change in the Kingdome had beene made for me alone yet you know well that I call not my selfe L. M. D. L. V and how if there had beene none but my selfe to assault my Lord the Comte of Schambergs Vertue it still had continued in the same place where it hath beene reuerenced of all men Each man hath his seuerall censure concerning this great newes but whatsoeuer they can say I assure my selfe there can nothing befall that Lord whereto hee is not at all times prepared and that he hath liued too long not to know that Fortune taketh speciall delight in dallying with the affaires of France and hath from all Ages made choyce of our Court as the Theater of her follies If he had not beene prouided of the gouernment of this Citty and what time the King commanded him to come thence his fall had beene more fearefull then it was but it is Gods will that Augolesme should be the fatall retreate of the afflicted and truely allthings well considered it is no great downe come to light vpon a Mountaine Now truely if the e be any thing amisse in the administration of the Kings Monies hee cannot be taxed for introducing this errour for he found it there and besides the necessity of the times haue euer resisted his good intentions and haue hindred the appearance of what he had in his heart for the reformation of disorders It is now necessary the King vndertake so glorious a Designe and set his hand to that part of the State which hath more neede of redresse then all the rest But he is first to begin by the moderation of his Spirit and hee shall after gaine their loyalty who serue him If those Princes our Elders haue seene had considered that the Coyne comming into their Exchecquers was no lesse then the blood and teares of their poore Subiects whom they haue often forced to flye into Forrests and passe the Seas to saue themselues from taxes and impositions they would haue beene more scrupulous and cautelous how they had touched vpon so dreadfull vndertakings at least they would not haue beene at once both indigent and vniust nor haue amazed all the Princes of Europe who could neuer conceiue why they borrowed their owne moneyes of their Treasurers who receiue their revenewes as they purchase their owne strong places from their Gouernours who command therein Truely it is very strange the Great Turke can intrust his Wiues to the vigilancy of others and assure themselues their Chastity shall therby be conserued yet that Kings know not to whom they may safely encharge their Treasures But the true reason is for that an honest man is by so much more difficultly found then an Eunuch by how much Miracles are more rare then Monsters Great Fortitude is requisite for the attayning of Honesty but the will onely sufficeth to become couetous and the most harmelesse haue hands and may happen to haue temptations Were it my part to play the reformer and to preach before the Prelates I would enlarge my selfe vpon this Subiect but in the condition wherein I stand it is sufficient I approue not the ill and haue a good Opinion of the present State prouided the report be current that there is now no obstacle betweene the King and the Queene his Mother likely to hinder them from meeting and that things are reduced to those tearmes wherein Nature hath placed them Then will the face of the State shortly resume the same beauty the late King bestowed thereon and God will with a full hand powre his Graces vpon so iust a Gouernment Though my Lord the Cardinall of Richlieu were onely neare Publique affaires without touching them there is no question but
the interim how short a while soeuer you stay here you shall haue the contentment to see France change some fiue or sixe times At your returne you will hardly find any thing answerable to what you left there they shall not be the same men you formerly saw and all things will appeare vnto you as the affaires of another Kingdome But before the matter be growne to that head it is fitting you reigne here in Soueraignty and become the Supreame Iudge of three or foure Conclaues And truly it might so happen my Lord that I should do you some acceptable seruice in those great occasions if I had my health but to my great griefe it is a happinesse for which I enuy my Grand mother and howsoeuer I haue heretofore beene little or much estimable I confesse that at this present I am but the halfe of what I was It is therefore in vayne to expect workes of any great value from me or that you importune me to take paynes for the Publicke for in Conscience what high defignes can a man haue betweene the affliction of diseases and the apprehension of Death The one whereof doth neuer forsake me and the other daily affrights me or how can you imagine I should conceiue eminent matters who am ready to dye at euery instant True it is that the necessity to obey you which I haue alwaies before mine Eyes is an extraordinary strong motiue but not to dissemble the impossibility of my performance is yet more forcible and so long as I continue in the state I now am I can not promise you so much as the History of the Kingdome of Yuetot nor that of the Papacy of Campora though it continued onely one halfe quarter of an houre From Rome this 27. of February 1622. Another Letter vnto Cardinall de la Valete from Balzac LETTER IIII. My LORD YOur Cash-keeper hath newly brought mee the summe you commanded him to deliuer vnto me I would willingly shew sufficient thankefulnesse for this high fauour but besides that your benefits are boundlesse and that you are so gracious an obliger that it doth euen augment the value of your Bounty I should seeme ouer presumptuous to thinke any words of mine valuable to the least of your actions It shall therefore suffice me to protest vnto you that the bounty wherewith the Letter I receiued from you is so stored being of force to infuse Loue and Fidelity in the hearts of very Barbarians shall worke no lesse effect in the spirit of a person who hath learned both by Nature and Philosophy not to be ingratefull Since I finde my interest within my duty I must necessarily loue you if I hate not my selfe and be an honest man by the very Maxime of the wicked Yet is not this last consideration the cause chiefly obliging me to your seruice For though I acknowledge diuers defects in my selfe yet may I without vanity affirme I was neuer besotted with so base an attraction as that of gaine I therefore reflect vpon your fauours in their naked purity and the esteeme you make of me is to me by so much a more strong obligation then all others in that it regardeth my merit and not my instant pouerty and proceedeth from your iudgement which is farre more excellent then your fortunes are eminent Herein my Lord it is manifest that all your inclinations are magnificent for you knowing me neither to be fit to make the Father of a Family nor to solicite causes at the Counsell-table nor well to ride post you make it appeare you are of the right blood of Kings who are onely rich in superfluous things Truely it were a hard matter to guesse what in this world is the true vse of Pearles and Diamonds or why a Picture should cost more then a Pallace but onely pleasure which to satisfie the inuentions of Art are dayly imployed and Nature to that end produceth whatsoeuer is rare being indeede a thing more noble then necessity shee being contented with small matters euer preferring profit besore pleasure And I will here stop lest I speake too much to my owne aduantage And if I haue already incurred that crime I beseech you to beleeue it hath not beene with purpose to praise my selfe but onely to extoll your liberality Yet will I make bold to acquaint you how I imploy your money and yeelde you a more particular account of the affaires I dispatch for you here at Rome First in this hot Moneth I seeke all possible remedies against the violence of the Sunne I haue a Fanne which wearieth the hands of foure Groomes and raiseth a winde in my Chamber which would cause shipwracke in the maine Sea I neuer die but I dye Snow in the Wine of Naples and make it melt vnder Mellons I spend halfe my time vnder water and the rest on Land I rise twice a day and when I step out of my bed it is onely to enter into a Groue of Orange-trees where I slumber with the pleasant purling of some twelue Fountaines but if occasion be offered to goe further once in a Weeke I crosse not the street but in Carroach passing still in the shade betweene Heauen and Earth I leaue the smell of sweetest flowers vnto the Vulgar as hauing found the inuention to eate and drinke them The Spring time neuer parts with me all the yeare either in variety of distilled Waters or in Conserues I change perfumes according to the diuersity of Seasons some I haue sweeter others stronger And though the Ayre be a thing Nature bestowes for nothing and whereof the poorest haue plenty yet that I breath in my Chamber is as costly vnto mee as my house-rent Besides all this I in quality of my Lord your Agent am almost daily feasted and there whilest others fill themselues with substantiall and most ponderous cates I who haue no great appetite make choice of such Birds as are crammed with Sugar and nourish my selfe with the spirit of Fruites and with a meate called felly My Lord these are all the seruices I yeeld you in this place and all the functions of my residence neare his holinesse and I hold my selfe particularly obliged now the second time to thanke you for this fauour for by your meanes I enioy two things seldome suiting together a Master and Liberty and the great rest you allow mee is not the least present you please out of your Noblenesse to affoord me Your Graces most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC From Rome the 15. of Iuly 1621. To the Lord Cardinall de Valete from BALZAC LETTER V. My Lord VVIthin the Deserts of Arabia nor in the Seas intrailes was there euer so furious a Monster found as is the Scyatica And if Tyrants whose memories are hatefull vnto vs had beenestored with such instruments for effecting their cruelties surely I thinke it had beene the Scyatica the Martyres had indured for Religion and not the fire and biting of wild Beasts At
bee very hard for me to be of a fooles minde though he were a Monarch Iintend not to steale your fauours but to purchase them legally and hauing euer beleeued flattery to bee as mischieuous a meanes to gaine affection as charmes and sorcery I cannot speake against my conscience and were not this true I tell you I would not assure you that I am Your most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC From Rome this 10. of December 1622. To the Lord Cardinall de Valete from Balzac LETTER VI. My LORD HOw great soeuer the subiect of my sorrows be yet doe I finde in your Letters sufficient to make mee happy in my hard fortune The last I receiued hath so much obliged mee that but for the displeasing newes comming vnto me which tempered my ioy my reason had not beene of sufficient force to moderate it But at this time the death of my poore Brother being incessantly before mine eyes taketh from me the taste of all good tidings and the prosperity euen of the Kings affaires seeme displeasing vnto mee finding my selfe to beare vpon mee the mournings of his Victory Yet since in this fatall agitation of Europe it is not I alone who bewayle some losse and since your selfe haue not beene able to preserue all that was deare vnto you I should seeme very vnciuill if I presumed to preferre my priuate interest before yours or reflect vpon my particular affliction hauing one common with yours It is long since I haue not measured either the felicities or fatalities of this world but by your contentments or discomforts and that I behold you as the whole workmanship God hath made Wherefore my Lord I will lay aside whatsoeuer concernes my selfe to enter into your resentments and to tell you since you cannot make vnworthy elections it must needes be that in the death of your Friends you can suffer no small losses Notwithstanding as you transcend sublimary things and in that all men draw examples out of the meanest actions of your life I assure my selfe they haue acknowledged vpon this occasion that there is not any accident to surmount against which you haue vse of all your vertue Afflictions are the gifts of God though they be not of those we desire in our prayers and supposing you should not approue this proposition yet haue you at all times so little regarded death as I cannot beleeue you will bewayle any for being in a condition your selfe esteemes not miserable My Lord it sufficeth you conserue the memory of those you haue loued in consequence of the protestation you pleased to make vnto me by your Letter And truly if the Dead be any thing as none can doubt they cannot grieuefor ought in this world wherein they still enioy your fauours In the meane time I take this to my selfe and am most happy in hauing conferred my dutifull affections vpon a man who setteth so high a value vpon those things he hath lost For any thing my Lord I perceiue there is small difference betweene good workes and the seruices we offer you they hauing their rewards both in this life and the other your goodnesse being illimitable as is the desire I haue to tell you I am Your most humble and most faithfull Seruant BALZAC From Rome the 29. of December 1621. To the Lord Cardinall of Valete from BALZAC LETTER VII MY LORD THough I be not in state either to performe any great exploite vpon the person of any man nor haue any great force to defend my selfe yet cannot I touch vpon the Count Mansfield without taking it to heart and ioyning my good affections to the Kings forces If this were the first time the Germans had exceeded their limits and sent their Armies to be ouerthr owne in France the nouelty of these barbarous faces and of those great lubberly swat-rutters might easily haue affrighted vs But vpon the matter we haue to doe with knowne enemies and who will suffer vs to take so sufficient aduantages ouer them besides those we naturally enioy as without being forced to make vse of Armes we may defeate them onely by their owne euill conduct I doe not wonder there are men who willingly forsake Frost and Snow to seeke their liuing vnder a more pleasing and temperate climate then their owne and who quit bad Countreyes as being well assured the place of their banishment shall bee more blissefull vnto them then that of their birth Onely herein it vexeth me in the behalfe of the Kings honour to see him constrayned to finish the remainder of the Emperours victories vpon a sort of beaten Souldiers and who rather fly the fury of Marquesse Spinola then follow vs. These great Bulwarks whose neighbour I am seeming rather the Fabricks of Gyants then the fortifications of a Garrison-towne will not euer be looked vpon with amazement one day I hope there will appeare nothing in their places but Cabbins for poore Fishermen or if it be requisite the workes of Rebellion should still remaine and the memory of these troublesome some people indure yet longer we shall in the vpshot see them remoue Mountaines and diue into the Earths foundations to prouide themselues a Prison at their owne charge But withall my Lord I beseech you let there be no further speech made of occasions or expeditions and let a Peace be concluded which may continue till the Worlds end let vs leaue the Warre to the Turke and King of Persia and cause I beseech you that wee may lose the memory of these miserable times wherein Fathers succeed their Children and wherein France is more the Countrey of Lansknights and Swisses then ours Though Peace did not turne the very Desarts into profitable dwellings as it doth or caused not the quarries or flints to be come fruitfull though it came vnaccompanied without being seconded with security and plenty yet were it necessary onely to refresh ourforces thereby to enable vs the longer to endure Warre As I was ending this last word I heard a voyce which desired my dispatch oblieging me to end what I supposed I had but begun It is with much reluctation my Lord I am depriued of the onely contentment your absence affordeth me But since you could not receiue this Letter were it any longer J am resolued to lose one part of my content to enioy the other and to say sooner then I supposed that I am euer absolutely Your most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC The 16. of September 1622. To the Cardinall de Valette from BALZAC LETTER VIII My LORD YOu should oftner receiue Letters from me could I ouer-master my paine but to say truth it leaueth me not one thought free to reflect vpon any thing else and what desire soeuer I haue to giue you content yet am I not able to doe any thing but at the Physitians good pleasure and at the Feauers leasure whilest the Court affoordeth you all content and prepareth whatsoeuer is pleasant for you reseruing distrusts
continuance thereof yet haue I not lost all hope to see you one day in this Countrey the prescriber of Lawes to inferiours and of examples to Commanders My Lord it may be God reserueth me for your sake that nothing be wanting to your Glory and to the end there might be yet one man in the World able to affoord you the prayses proper to your merits My Lord Your most humble and most faithfull Seruant BALZAC The 23. of Iune 1623. To my Lord Cardinall de la Valete LETTER X. My LORD IT must necessarily be the greatest Affaire at this present in agitation on Earth that could oblige you to leaue Paris nor had you patted thence vpon any slighter condition then to make a Head for all Christendome If you arriue there opportunely to haue your part in this great Election and that the Conclaue attend your Presence on purpose to affoord a more full Reputation and Authority to what shall there be resolued vpon I doe no way doubt but you will maintayne the same aduantage ouer the Italian wits as you haue obtayned ouer ours or that their policies will not be as impertinent in your Presence as the Charmes of Magicians are friuolous being confronted with Diuine matters You haue sufficient of their patience to put off affaires when occasion is offered but you haue a courage they come short of to carry matters by strong hand if necessity require Therefore my Lord to what part soeuer your Opinion shall incline you will carry that with you which gaineth victories and causeth the greater party to side with the sounder yea if matters should passe without contestation yet should you at least take notice that you are intreated to that action wherein God permits you to supply his place and intrusteth to your care the most important matter of all his Workes To speake seriously his prouidence is neuer in so high imployment as when hee is to choose the man who hath power to vse well or abuse all the Riches of Heauen and who is to exercise a power nearest approaching to Diuinity Heretofore God made vse of Thunder and tempests when he purposed to denounce any thing to men declaring his Will by other then ordinary meanes But since hee hath caused Oracles to cease and suffereth the Thunder to worke only naturall effects It is onely by the voyce of Cardinals hee causeth his desires to bee manifested and ordayneth concerning the worlds Conduct When you please my good Lord I shall haue some notice of these inspirations hee hath sent you and of the election you haue made For to force me so soone to informe my selfe thereof in the place where it was performed this Kingdome had neede be ouer hot for me and that I were not so well acquainted as I am with the Sun at Rome That which blackes the Moores and burnes Lybia is not so dangerous at this Season and were you not stored with treasures of Snow and prouided of Halls of Marble to defend you from the scorching Ayre I should as soone chuse to be condemned to the fire as to be forced to reside where you are at this present But your Grace I know can not be affrighted with all these apprehensions of heate you are none of those who will finde fault with the Ayre which all that ancient Republicke breathed or with the Sunne which hath holpen to make so many Conquerours and giuen light to so many glorious Tryumphs Yet for my part I who haue none of these considerations and who haue wholy put my selfe into the power of Phisicke it is requisite I auoide the very shadow of danger and liue with as great apprehension of feare in this world as though I were in an Enemies Countrey or in a Forrest of wilde beasts It is therefore out of pure necessity I attend your commands in this place and a more seasonable time to testifie vnto you without running the hazard of my life that I am with all my soule My Lord Your most humble and most obedient seruant BALZAC The 2. of August 1623. To the Lord Cardinall de Valete from Balzac LETTER XI My LORD I Verily beleeued I could neuer haue bin so vnfortunate as to be forced to search in the Gazettes for what you doe and to heare no other newes from you then what common brute bestoweth in all parts of the World and which the English and Germans may as well know as I. This punishment is by so much the more wounding in that I haue heretofore beene enriched with those benefits whereof you now seeme to bereaue me and in that the time was when you pleased so farre to discend from the ranke whence you are deriued as to lay aside all those lusters which incompasse you to conuerse freely with me But my Lord since one word of your mouth hath often cured my decayed spirits and hath many times made me happy without the helpe of Fortune I freely confesse vnto you I cannot resolue to change condition as knowing the losse of the least of your fauours cannot be liittle Yet being so innocent that I can no way imagine my offence and not acknowledging among men other more assured verity then your word I haue a great reluctation to be diffident of a thing vpon the certainty whereof halfe the Court is ingaged for Warre and the besieged would make small difficulty to surrender themselues My Lord you haue pleased to promise you would loue me alwayes therefore I beseech you not to be offended if I put you in minde that as the ancient gods of the Country where now you are submitted themselues to Destinies after they had once assigned them So you though aboue all other Lawes are yet subiect to your word I am confident it cannot be reuoked so long as the order of sublunary things change not and the Decrees of Gods prouidence remaine immoueable and if you repent any one action in your whole life you therein doe more then your very Enemies who neuer as yet called the least of them in question For my part I am far from thinking I haue totally lost your fauours lest I should wrong your Judgment which conferred them vpon me and blame the best eyes in the World for hauing heretofore beene blind I will rather suppose if you send me no newes it is because you thinke I know what will be done some ten yeares hence and that I am brimfull of the Roman Court and of the Jtalian affaires Truely I know the present Pope and I haue euer belceued there is not any humane wit more capable to carry so ponderous a felicity or to let vs againe behold the Primitiue beauty of Religion and the golden age of Gods Church I know how at Rome idlenes is day and night in action and that the complements and ceremonies there put you to more trouble then you should find in gouerning the whole world if God had left it to your conduct Me thinkes I yet see this great Tyrant with so many
appeare that I am Mounsieur Your most faithfull seruant BALZAC To Mounsieur de Montigny from BALZAC LETTER XIIII SIR THough you vseme ill and that I haue reason to be sensible of your neglects yet I am resolued to suffer from you with an obstinate patience and to acquire your fauours by force since I cannot obtaine them otherwise But I am assured you are not so vnciuill as not to suffer your selfe to be beloued nor so tyed to your owne fancies as that there remayneth no affection in you for whatsoeuer is separate Otherwise I should thinke your humour were as much changed as are the affaires of France or that you were snddainly become quite another man I will therefore rest confident in the Opinion most pleasing vnto me and imagine you are sufficiently my friend in your thoughts but that you are ouer loyall a French man to haue any intelligence out of the Kingdome It may be the Example of the Duke of Biron affrights you and that you take all such as are in Jtaly for Don Pedros or Countes of Fuentes in this case intruth you haue reason and it is far better to write no Letters at all then to be forced to explaine them before the Court of Parliament But if you were of my humour and that you would referre the whole State and all the affaires therein to Mounsiour Luynes me thinkes our Amity could not passe for conspiracy and you might safely let me haue newes from your selfe and the rest of our friends without any hazard at all I desire onely to know what you doe and wherein you imploy the fairest season of your life Doe you neuer part from the lips of Opala whose breath is so sweete as it seemes shee feedeth onely on Pinkes and Perfumes are you in as high esteeme in your Mistresses thoughts as your merits and seruice deserues and as your loyalty obligeth her vnto Is Clitophon still in his generous musings doth he dayly take Townes at table and doth he yet frame forraigne designes betweene his Bed-curtaines Is there any good inclination in the Court for our great Cardinall and are they not perswaded that if he were Pope the Church would soone be as well Mistresse in Germany as at Rome After you haue satisfied me in all these points I am contented to be at truce with you as long as you please and if neede be will suffer you to waxe old vpon the bosome of Opala without euer asking you what you doe there Yours BALZAC BALZAC his Letter to the Duke of Espernon LETTER XV. My LORD VVEre I not borne as I am your most humble seruant yet should I shew my selfe a very degenerate Frenchman if I did not much reioyce in the happinesse of your Family since it is a publick Felicity I haue heard the prosperous successe of the Voyage you made into Bearn and of the great beginnings you haue giuen to what the King desireth there to vndertake And truly the Election He hath made of you to serue him in an occasion of such importance hath beene so generally approued that if heretofore there hath beene any defects pretended in the conduct of our Affaires we must necessarily auow that this last Action hath sufficiently iustified all the former it appearing plainly that it is not only fauour which setteth the difference between men J no way doubt but right and power siding together that the euent of things will be sutable to our desires But howsoeuer it happen you haue already the glory of hauing facilitated the victory and made it appeare how the Enemies of the State haue no other force but what they draw out of our weaknesse It is now time my Lord you take notice of those aduantages God hath giuen you aboue the rest of men You ought at least to remember how being tryed with Worldly affaires and retired from Court publicke necessity had not sought you out in your priuate reposednes at home to put the Kings royall Armies into your hands if you were not the only man from whom all men expect the re-establishment of these affaires I will not so farrerelie vpon my owne opinion as to answere for the future Yet when J consider the actions of your Life which are so eminent that we find difficulty to beleeue them euen after they haue beene performed and those in such number that Strangers may well imagine you haue liued from the very beginning of our Monarchy I suppose I might boldly affirme that if there be yet any great matter remaining to be atchieued in the World there is none but your Selfe must attempt it You haue possessed the fauour of Kings as Fortunes which might faile you and haue not feared that their passions could out-last your innocency This Vertue we so much admire hath succeeded the same authority our Fathers haue adored You haue made no vse of your power in State which you haue not euer since coserued by the force of your Courage You haue at all times preserued the liberty of France amidst the miseries of times and the vsurpation vpon lawfull power Who is there can say this of himselfe where are they that haue stood firme betweene rebellion and seruitude where was there euer knowne an olde age so necessary for the world or so much good and bad fortune equally glorious My Lord you know your selfe too well to suspect me of flattery and my humour is so aliene from any seruile actions as the Court hath not sufficient hopes to cause me to do any thing against my conscience I then speake as I doe now for the onely interest of Vertue and if that were not on your side I would seeke for it among our enemies to doe it right None will suspect I haue any pretentions at Madrill or that I intend to make a fortune in Holland yet to heare mee speake of the Prince of Orenge and the Marquesse Spinola one would say that I did at once expect Abbies from the Hollanders and were a pensioner to Spaine In summe I hold my selfe obliged to those who affoord me matter and meanes to reconcile the two rarest things in this world to wit Vertue and Eloquence And as their reputation hath neede of my Pen to make it immortall so are their liues and actions right vsefull vnto me when I imploy my paines on excellent Subiects You haue euer done mee the honour to wish me well and I haue receiued innumerable fauours from my Lord the Cardinall your Sonne but howsoeuer I humbly beseech you to be confident that my affections are absolutely pure and that my particular interests haue not any alliance therewith I am so happy as to haue serued you in a troublesome time and to haue bin of the weaker side as iudging it to be the more honest I haue not since beene of another mind and the reasons drawing me to doe what I did being still the same I am really as I euer haue beene My Lord Your most humble and thrice obedient seruant BALZAC
double as rich as thou desirest to be I haue long since beene assured thy thoughts are not inthralled to the earth or that thy passions onely exceede those of the vulgar Let me intreat thee to cherish them my deare Hydaspe and though I be continually sad and at all times ill affected in my health yet remember that the very rauings of my Feauer are sometimes more prizeable then Philosophicall meditations and we see beautifull faces often weepe so gracefully that some haue beene enamoured of their teares I haue fully acquainted thee with our occurrents here by my last Letters nor will I let any opportunity passe without giuing my selfe the content of discoursing with thee in that kind binde me so much vnto thee as to doe the like on thy part But if thy Letters be so short as vsually they are I will now betimes tell thee I will read them so often as they shall become long enough in spite of thee I know well how in the place where thou art thou oughtest not lose any minute of time since opportunities last no longer and resolue thy selfe to take a thousand vnprofitable iournies to thy Lords Chamber before thou makest one to purpose Great men vse not to keepe Registers of the absent nor remembrancers of them they vsually forget but rather to the contrary they imagining there is no other thing on earth but themselues and what concernes them prouided they finde any who looke like men they neuer trouble themselues to enquire for others since with them assiduity often workes more then seruice yea and those whom they would not affect for merit they will loue by custome It is therefore necessary you be still in sight and alwayes at hand for the entertainment of Fortune It is a tradition the subtle Gascoynes at their deathes leaue to their Children and truely as choler assumeth Armes out of whatsoeuer it encounters so is it true that occasion taketh hold of all such as present themselues We ought to contract perfect loue with honest men but yet not to be at oddes with others Poysons themselues are necessary in some cases and since we are forced to liue among sauage creatures wee had neede haue the industry either to familiarise or force them I aduise thee not to looke before thee behinde thee and on euery side when thou speakest or to be in so great feare to be taken at thy word as thou darest not tell what a Clocke it is if one askes thee Thou shalt gaine much by being silent the dumbe shall at all times therein exceede thee For my part I neuer make question of speaking when I haue any thing in my head better then silence I doe not hereby meane that wee ought to discouer our intentions by our lookes or that our interiour conceptions appeare outwardly with all their passions namely of feare hatred or distemper This were to betray our selues and to giue ill example to others But herein you are to make election of place and persons and not wilfully to depriue thy selfe of the most pleasing fruite of mans life there being not any in whose breast we may securely deposite either our griefes or ioyes Besides I would not haue thee of that Spaniards humour who tooke for his deuice Que fi que no but consider with thy selfe that Reason is a sacred thing whereto thou art to yeeld where euer it appeares I confesse that most things are inuolued in vncertainties and that humane Sciences haue very slender and vncertaine foundations yet are there some truths so perspicuous and so absolutely receiued into the Worlds approbation as it were no lesse then to lacke common sense to call them into question for hee who should say my Lord the Constable d'Esdiguieres were not valiant or my Lord the Cardinall of Richelieu were not a man of able parts doubtlesse all men would wonder at him as at one who sought to introduce some new Sect or indeauour to ouerthrow the fundamentall Lawes of the Kingdome Nay I tell you yet more you are piously to beleeue diuers sots to be sufficient men since the World will haue it so and that Kings are not the onely men who desire complasency since if we meane to liue among others we must sometimes necessarily flatter and frame our selues to their opinions Let vs then follow the iudgement of the wise and the customes of the vulgar let vs keepe our thoughts to our selues and allow them our actions and out-sides As J haue aduised thee not to be ouer silent so would I not haue thee ouer talkatiue nor to weary any one with thy discourse of Mountauban or the exploits thou hast there seene performed I assure thee to auoyde the company of these boasting companions I would take poste goe to Sea or fly to the Worlds end They seeme to me to haue gotten a patent for prating and that it were no lesse then to take their purse if one should offer to speake a word in their presence But aboue all it is very death to me when these fellowes come fresh out of Holland or when they begin to study the Mathematicks From Millan to Sienna I was haunted with one of these Chapmen whose company I shall so long as I haue life reckon among my greatest misfortunes Hee would needes reforme all the fortifications of those strong places wee passed by bee trode on no earth at which he carped not nor trauailed ouer any Mountaine on which hee had not some designe he set vpon all the Citties in the Dukedome of Florence he desired onely a certaine short prefixed time to take in all the States of Medena Parma and Vrbin yea I had much adoe to draw him from casting his designes vpon the lands of the Church and St. Peters Patrimony These be diseases the roots whereof are not to be cut vp without taking away the tongue withall Nay J feare when all this is done there will be yet neede to passe further into the cure and to vse meanes to bereaue them of voyce for the generall good of such as can heare There is yet another sort of importunate people whose number doth so multiply in France it is almost arriued to an infinity These haue not one halfe houres intertainement for thee without telling thee the King is raysing puissant forces how such a one is out of credit with his faction another is a great searcher into and medler in State-matters and how a third diueth into all the intricacies of Court-businesses If you can haue the patience to heare them yet a while longer you shall straite vnderstand how the President Iannin was the man who had the truest intentions of all the ministers of Justice That it is expedient to shew a Master-peece of State to giue reputation to the present current of affaires That the Kings authority was interessed in this action and that those who sought to cry downe the present gouernment rather aimed at their particular aduantages then redresse of disorders See here the
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