enables them not to write many bookes I might enlarge my selfe vpon this subiect and discouer diuers secrets vnto you the world is not yet acquainted with But I haue neither time nor paper left saue onely to tell you that J am Sir Your most humble seruant BALZAC Another Letter from Balzac to the same man LETTER IX IVnderstand some haue taxed me for saying in my last Letter vnto you the spirits of Angels since Angels being all Spirits it seemed vnto them to be two inseperable tearmes But to let such men see how ill grounded their Obiection is and I suppose our iudgements will herein agree it may please them to remember that we call Angels Spirits to distinguish them from bodies being a farre different signification from what the word Spirit importeth when we take it for that part of the soule which vnderstandeth reasoneth and imagineth and which causeth so different effects in the soule of a foole and that of a discreete person Questionlesse euen among Angels themselues there may be a difference found betweene the spirits of some and other some of them to wit in the faculty of Ratiotination and Comprehension Since those of the last order are not illuminated but by meanes of them of the precedent rankes and so of the rest euen to the first which haue a farre more sublime intelligence then the inferiour Orders which as no man how smally soeuer seene in the Metaphisiques will doubt of come as farre short of the vnderstanding the first Order is indued with as they doe of their degree We are therefore to admit of this difference and say that an Angell is doubtlesse a Spirit to wit he is not a Body but withall that an Angell hath moreouer a spirit namely this faculty of knowing and conceiuing either lesser or more large according to the priuiledge of his Order So as if a Spirit hath no other signification then a simple and incomposed substance this inequality were not to be found among the Angels being equally simple and farre from all composition and mixture When then I say it was a wrong done to Angels to call any other Spirits diuine saue onely theirs I take the word Spirit in its second signification and thereby seperate it from the Angell and distinguish the simple substance and nature Angellicall from that faculty of the Soule tearmed the vnderstanding But that one may not say the spirit of Angels because they are all spirit is a reason very reproueable and whereto there wanteth nothing but verity to make it no vntruth for that besides the spirit or vnderstanding affoording to Angels so eminent a knowledge of diuine things they are likewise indued with will causing them to loue what they know and with memory dayly adding something to their naturall intellect But admitting I should yeeld to whatsoeuer these my reprehendors would haue and that I limit the word Spirit within the bounds of its first signification I should still haue the better of it For in truth our ordinary manner of conception cannot possibly represent Angels without bodies yea and the Church it selfe affoordeth them so faire beautifull and perfect ones that from thence the best Poets ordinarily picke their Comparisons to pourtraite the rarest beauties Besides if in holy Writ mention be often made of the Spirit of God euen before he assumed our corporall substance and in a sence which could not be vnderstood of the third person in Trinity why may not I as iustly speake of the spirits of Angels being in comparison of Gods Spirit no better then earth and materiall and which approacheth not by many degrees vnto the simplicity and purity of this maiesteriall cause being as the Mother to all the rest You see here that howsoeuer it is very dangerous to study by halfe parts or to vnderstand some small matter more then those who neuer were at Schoole yet is it out of such men as these that Nouellists and superstitious persons are raised yea and all the rest who haue reason enough to doubt but not science sufficiently to determine rightly BALZAC To Mounsieur de Bois Robert from Balzac LETTER X. SIR YOu haue anticipated what I intended to say and haue not left for me in all Rhetoricke either complement or commendations to returne you This is to force ingratitude by excesse of obligation and to reduce me to the necessity of being indebted vnto you after I be dead In truth it were necessary I had the power to promise you felicity and Paradise in requitall of the vowes and sacrifices you offer vnto me and that I were in case to be your aduocate instead of being thus put to a stand to answer you It may be you haue a minde in such sort to disguise me to my selfe as I shall not hereafter know who I am but be forced to forget my owne name by causing me to imagine I am not the same man I was yesterday Proceede at your pleasure to deceiue me in this sort for I am resolued not to contest with you in this kind to the worlds end nor to arme my selfe against an enemy who onely throwes Roses at my head I should be very glad all my life would passe in such pleasing Dreames and that I might neuer awake for feare of knowing the truth to my preiudice But for the attayning this happinesse it is necessary I doe quite contrary to your aduice and neuer quit my Countrey-house where none comes to enter into comparisons or contest with me for the aduantage I haue ouer bruite beasts or my Lackeyes I agree with you that it is the Court-voice which either approueth or condemneth all and that out of its light things though neuer so perfect haue no appearance But I know not whether it were my best to make that my owne case since I feare lest my presence there will rather preiudice my reputation and your iudgement then make good your position Vpon the matter if there be any tollerable parts in me they appeare so little outwardly as I had neede haue my breast opened to discouer them And in conclusion you will finde it a sufficient obligation for me to haue you thinke my soule is more eloquent then my discourse and that the better part of my vertue is concealed Yet since my promise is past I must resolue for Paris though it prooue as strange a place vnto mee as if I were out of the World or as though they should chase raw Courtiers thence as they doe corrupt States-men To tell you plainely how the case stands J am none of those who study the slightest actions of their liues and who vse Art in all they doe or doe not I cannot light vpon that accent wherewith they authorise their follies nor make of euery meane matter a mystery by whispering it in the eare And lesse doe I know how to palliate my faults or make shew of an honest man if really I be not so Now though I could make my selfe capable of these Arts yet
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
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
and iealousies for others I here endure torments such as wherewith one would make conscience to punish Paricides and which I would not wish to my worst enemies If notwithstanding all this in obedience to the Counsell you giue mee in the Letter you did me the honour to write vnto me I should make my selfe merry I were necessarily to take my selfe for some other body and become a deeper dissembler then an honest man ought to be My Melancholly is meerely corporeall yet doth my spirit giue place though not consent thereto and of the two parts whereof I am composed the more worthy is ouer-borne by the more weighty Wherefore if the whole world should act Comedies to make me laugh and though St. Germans Faire were kept in all the streets where I passe the obiect of Death euer present before my eyes bereauing me of sight would likewise barre mee of content and I should remaine disconsolate amidst the publique Iubilations Yea if the stone I so much dread were a Diamond or the Philosophers Elixa I should therein take small comfort but would rather beseech God to leaue me poore if he please to bestow no better Riches vpon me But when I haue sayd all be it vnto me as he shall please to appoint since I am well assured my maladiys will either end or I shall not for euer hold out yet should I dye with some discontent if it happen before I testifie my dutifull affection towards you and the sensibility I haue of your noble fauours But howsoeuer it fare with me I would willingly make a iourney to Rome there to finish the worke I promised you and which you commanded me to vndertake for the honour of this Crowne Certainely if I be not the cause to make you in loue with our language and to preferre it in your estimation before our neighbour Tongues I am affraide you will be much troubled to reuolte from the Roman Empire and that it will not be for the History of Mathew or of Hallian you wil change that of Salust and Liuie I will not deceiue you nor delude my selfe yet may I tell you that my head is full of inuentions and designes and if the Spring for which I much long would affoord me the least glimpse of health I would contest with any who should produce the rarest things I haue an infinite of loose flowers which onely want binding vp into Nosegayes and I haue suffered others to speake any time these sixe yeares on purpose to bethinke my selfe what I haue to say But I well perceiue the publique shall haue onely desires and hopes and truely if I spring not afresh with the trees in stead of so many bookes you expect from me you shall not read any thing of minesaue onely the end of this Letter and the protestation I here make vnto you to dye Your most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC The 7. of Ianuary 1623. To the Lord Cardinall de Valete from BALZAC LETTER IX My Lord THe hope which any time this three Moneths I haue had of your determination to come into this Countrey hath hitherto hindred me from writing vnto you or to make vse of the onely meanes remayning for me to be neare your person But since you haue supposed the speedy quitting the Court to be as fatall as to dye a suddaine death and that no lesse fortitude or time is requisite to resolue to weane our selues from pleasing things then to surmount painefull ones I will by your permission resume the commerce the common rumor caused me to surcease and will not hereafter beleeue you can with any lesse difficulty get out of Paris then can the Arsenac or Loouer Were it not a place all stored with inchantments and chaines and which is of such power to attract and retayne men as it hath beene necessary to hazard diuers battailes to driue the Spaniards further off one might well wonder at the difficulty you finde to conuay your selfe thence But in truth all the world doth there finde both habitations and affaires and for you my Lord since in that Countrey our Kings both enter into their first infancy and grow old as being the seate of their Empire no man can iustly blame you for making ouerlong abode there without accusing you of ouer much loue to your Master and for desiring to be neare his person At Rome you shall tread vpon stones formerly the gods of Caesar and Pompey and shall contemplate the Ruines of those rare workmanships the antiquity whereof is yet amiable and shall dayly walke among Histories and Fables But these are the pastimes of weake spirits which are pleased with trifles and not the imployments of a Prince who delighteth in sayling on rough Seas and who is not come into the world to let it rest idle When you haue seene the Tyber on whose bankes the Romans haue performed the Apprentiships of their rare Victories and begun that high designe which they ended not but at the extreame limits of the Earth When you shall ascend the Capitol where they supposed God was as well present as in Heauen and had there inclosed the fatality of the vniuersall Monarchy After you haue crossed that great Circus dedicated to shew pleasures to the people and where the blood of Martyrs hath beene often mingled with that of Malefactors and bruite beasts I make no doubt but after you haue seene these and diuers other things you will grow weary of the repose and tranquility of Rome and will say they are two things more proper for the Night and Church-yards then for the Court and the Worlds eye Yet haue I not any purpose to giue you the least distaste of a Voyage the King hath commanded you to vndertake and whereof I well hoped to haue bin the guide if my crazy body would haue seconded the motion of my Will But truely my Lord I am deepely ingaged in this businesse and when I looke vpon my selfe single I sometimes haue a desire to make you suspicious of those felicities I feare I shal not be able to enioy with you yet whatsoeuer I say I am not so farre in loue with my selfe as to preferre my priuate content before the generall desires of all men and the Churches necessities It is requisite for infinite considerations of importance you should be present at the first Conclaue and that you appeare at a Warre not therefore lesse considerable in being composed of disarmed persons or for that it makes no Widowes nor Orphans I am certaine you haue elsewhere seene more dangerous encounters and haue often desired more bloudy Victories But how great soeuer the obiect of your ambition be yet can it not conceiue any thing of such Eminency as at once to giue a Successor to Consuls to Emperours and Apostles and to make with your breath the man who ouer-toppeth Kings and who commandeth ouer all reasonable Soules Though my health be so vncertaine as I cannot promise my selfe three dayes
what concernes me Feare not to shew your selfe my sure friend for it is neyther theft nor throat-cutting and of the two extreamities of defect and excesse it is better to fall into the fairest and least faculty Otherwise if Friendship should neuer appeare but remaine at all times as a recluse what better vse can we draw thence then of hatred alike hidden and at the worst what vse is there to be made thereof but onely for the pleasure of conuersation and necessity of commerce But I will leaue this discourse whereof I hope you haue no vse to aske you some newes or the little man you sometimes see and who imagineth the King bereaueth him of all such offices as he bestoweth vpon Mounsieur de Luynes I make no question but he dayly tormenteth both soule and body for that he is not alwayes at his Masters elbow nor is so ordinarily seene at the Loouer as the steps of the great staires or the Swisses Hall Threescore and ten yeares of experience haue not sufficed to settle his spirit and he who should obserue his discourse without knowing him instead of supposing his beard to be siluer-haired would rather thinke hee had cast flowre on his face yet are wee to confesse he is one of the rarest Court-peeces and that it is no small sport to see him in a chafe against the State and the age wee liue in which he maliceth more then he doth his creditors Make quiet vse of so pleasing a diuersion and remember the World could not end nor Nature bee perfect if there were not as well such men as there are Apes and Monkies The 13. of Nouember 1623. To the same from Balzac LETTER XII SIR I Beseech you reserue your counsell for those who are not as yet resolued and goe perswade the Count Maurice to marry and beget Captaines for another age As for me I loue both solitarinesse and society but will not be continually tyed to either If my Father had beene of my minde I had remayned where I was before he got me I imagine the party you desire to bestow on me is faire but stay awhile and she will not be so She is no foole but happily more witty then is necessary for an honest woman to be She is rich but my liberty is vnprizeable So as to make mee alter my resolution there is no other meanes then an expresse commandment from God with this proposition either of death or a wife Those creatures at Paris are ordinarily so cunning and well practised they finde nothing strange the first night they are married and here they haue not wit enough to giue their bodies right motion but in all places they make men alike miserable as doe Feauers Warre or Pouerty To tell you freely how the matter stands I will not dayly disturbe my selfe in telling my Mistresses haires for feare she should bestow them as fauours vpon her familiars or to be iealous lest all the women who come to see her were young men disguised I cannot endure that in my absence she and her gallant drinke to the health of their Cuckold and that I be the subiect of all their chatt And on the other side it were farre worse were shee chaste yet a scowld and to be troubled with an enemy to assault me day and night J rather affect a tractable vice then a tyrannicall vertue But if there bee any other remedy I will not be reduced to such straights as to chuse the least of euills since there is not any of this nature I esteeme not vnsufferable In a word Philander my neighbours example doth not alittle terrifie me hee hath begotten so many dumbe blinde and deformed creatures he is able to furnish a reasonable Hospitall I will not be bound to loue Monsters because they are mine and were I assured not to be defectiue in this kind I could well forbeare hauing children who if they be wicked will desire my death if wise expect it if the honestest liuing yet will they now and then reflect vpon it But it may bee you will say if my resolution were generally receiued the Sea should bee no longer charged with ships and the Land would become desert To this Philander J answer that since the World is not alwayes to endure it were farre better to haue vertue become its Catastrophe then any thing else since it cannot finde a more faire and honest conclusion then a generall abstinence in this kind BALZAC The 7 of Aprill 1625. To Philander from Balzac LETTER XIII SIR SInce these be the particular dayes appointed for Deuotion we being now in the season of publick Ecclesiastical mourning and it importing euery man to apply himselfe in the affaires of his conscience you must excuse me if I be short in my conuersation with you in this kind and keepe all my discourse for my Confessor It were strange wee should herein doe lesse then the Bells who are now all dumbe or trouble the commerce contracted betweene God and man onely to tell idle Stories Let vs therefore I pray you surcease all sorts of newes and not mingle any prophane matter with this holy Weeke which desireth to be as pure as a Virgin The high Feast wee are falling vpon will set vs at liberty after which instead of three Letters you haue written vnto me I am contented to returne you sixe answers On Goodfriday BALZAC To the same from Balzac LETTER XIIII YOur plaints are both right eloquent and very vniust I can at least well assure you my thoughts are not so often here as where you are and if my Letters come not so farre it is because they can finde none to carry them But by these presents I purpose rather to reioyce with you for the recouery of your health then to afflict my selfe vnseasonably Things past are to be reckoned as nothing and what happened yeasterday is as farre from vs as the life of Charlemaine Wherefore I who haue a perfect experience of worldly affaires would as soone comfort you for the losse you receiued by the death of your great Grandfather so many yeares dead before you were borne as for the late danger of your Feauer since it is now gone The best is the Phisitians haue not so farre exhausted you but there yet remaines bloud sufficient to bestow part thereof in your Mistresses seruice and to fill the world with your offences so long as the ruines of your head may be repaired and your beauty budde againe with the next Roses there is nothing lost hitherto but indeede if instead of your former head you carryed the figure of a rusty Murrion or rotten Pumpian I should much pitty you in such a plight and would presently adde you to the number of decayed buildings Now when all is done Philander it is but a little water and earth mingled together wee study to conserue with all the maximes of wisedome and all the rules of Phisicke Let vs reflect I pray you vpon our better part and
from a man who could neuer be procured to approue euill and of whose disfauour one can hardly finde other cause then the onely truth he hath declared Howsoeuer it be since you are now in Lymosin and take not any iourney in those parts without hauing a thousand old debates to reconcile and as many new ones to preuent it is very probable that after so painefull an imployment and so great disquiet of mind my booke will fall into your hands iust at such time as you cannot find any thing more tedious vnto you then what you come from treating of For should I presume that in your pleasant walkes of Duretal where all your minutes are pleasing and all your houres precious there could be any time spare for me and my works it were as much as to be ignorant of the diuersions there attending you or not to be acquainted with the great affluence of noble company dayly repairing thither to visite you But were it so that you had none with you saue onely the memory of your fore-passed actions your solitarinesse hath no neede of bookes to make it more pleasing nay if all this were not yet if you desire to seeke contentment out of your selfe you cannot finde any more pleasing then in the presence of your Children and particularly of that diuine Daughter of yours from whom I dayly learne some miracle It is therefore in her absence and in solitary walkes where I haue the ambition to finde entertainement and to receiue gracious acceptance In all other places without presuming either to passe for Oratour or Poet it shall highly suffice me in being honoured with the assurance that I am My Lord Your most humble Seruant BALZAC The 25 of May 1624. A Letter from the Count of Schomberg to Mounsieur de Balzac LETTER XXV SIR THe stile you trauaile in causeth the Pennes of all such who attempt an answere to fall out of their hands and Eloquence may so properly be called yours that it is no maruell though others haue but a small share therein I would therefore haue you know that if I vnderstand any thing in Letters yours doe obscure whatsoeuer hath hitherto bin esteemed of in our Language and that without flattering you there can be no diuersion so pleasing which ought not to giue place to the perusing of those Lines you sent mee This occupation is worthy the Cabinets of Kings and of the richest Eare curtins of France and not as you would haue it of my solitary retirements in Lymosin from whence I am ready to be gone with resolution neuer to retire from the affection I haue promised you whence you shall at all times draw effectuall proofes whensoeuer you please to imploy them for your seruice Sir Your most affectionate seruant SCHOMBERG The 1. of Iune 1624. THE LETTERS OF MOVNSIEVR DE BALZAC To my Lord Mashall of Schomberg THE FOVRTH BOOKE LETTER I. My LORD I Should be insensible of Publique good and an enemy to France had I not as I ought a true taste of the good newes your Foot-man brought me I will not mention the obligations I owe you being no small ones if that be not a slight matter to be esteemed by you But since I make profession to honour vertue euen in the person of one departed or an enemy and at all times to side with the right were there onely my selfe and Iustice for it you may please to beleeue I complaine in your behalfe for the miseries of our times and that I am most ioyfull to see you at this present where all the world mist you Certainely your retirement from Court hath beene one of the fairest peeces of your life during which you haue made it apparent you are the same in both fortunes since I can witnesse that no one word then passed from you vnsutable to your resolution Yet this rare vertue being there hidden in one of the remote corners of the world hauing but a very small circuite to dilate it selfe must necessarily be contented with the satisfaction of your conscience and slender testimonies In the meane time the authority of your enemies hath beene obnoxious to all honest eyes There was no meanes to conceale from strangers the States infirmities or what reason to affoord them for the disgrace of so irreproachable a Minister nor was there any who grieued not that by your absence the King lost so many houres seruices For my part my Lord reflecting vpon you in that estate it seemed to me I saw Phidias or some other of those ancient Artists their hands bound and their costly materials as Marble Gold or luory taken from them But now that better time succeede each thing being againe reduced to its place it is time to reioyce with all good French-men that you shall no more want matter and that the King hath at length found how vnusefull your absence hath beene to his affaires Truely be it that he content himselfeto gouerne his people wisely or that the afflictions of his poore neighbours set neare his heart and that his Iustice extend further then his Iurisdiction No man doubts whatsoeuer he doth but you shall be one of the principall instruments of his designes and that as well Peace as Warre haue equall vse of your Conduct All men haue wel perceiued you haue not contributed any thing to the administration of the Kings treasure saue onely your pure spirit to wit that part of the soule separated from the terrestriall part being free from passions which reasoneth without either louing or desiring and that you haue managed the Riches of the State with as great fidelity as one ought to gouerne another mans goods with as much care as you conserue your owne and with as great scruple as wee ought to touch sacred things But in truth it is no great glory for that man to haue beene faithfull to his Master who knowes not how to deceiue any And did I beleeue you were onely able to abstaine from ill I would barely commend in you the Commencements of Vertue I therefore passe further and am assured that neither the feare of death which you haue slighted in all shapes and vnder the most dreadfull aspects it could possibly appeare nor complacency which often ouer passeth the best Counsels to transport it selfe to the most pleasing ones nor any priuate interest which makes vs rather regard our selues then the Publique shall at all hinder you either from purposing vndertaking or executing eminent matters Posterity which will peraduenture iudge of our age vpon the report I shall make will see more elsewhere then I can here relate and I shall rest sufficiently satisfied if you please to doe mee the honour as to remember that mine affection is no Child of your prosperity and how in two contrary seasons I haue beene equally My Lord Your most humble and most faithfull seruant BALZAC To the Bishop of Angoulesme LETTER II. SIR I Will no longer complaine of my pouerty since you haue sent me
that I neuer had one single temptation against my duty and that my fidelity is spottlesse as if you so pleased it might be without suspicion I must confesse that you hauing declared your selfe no way desirous to trench vpon my liberty and that you left it wholy to my selfe I haue sometimes made vse thereof imagining that without wronging that first resolution I vowed to your seruice it might be lawfull for me to haue second affections I will not expect the racke to force me to confesse it I haue loued a man whom the misfortunes of Court and the diuers accidents happening in worldly affaires haue separated from some friends of yours and haue cast him into other interests then theirs But besides that he was extracted from a Father who did not more desire his owne good then your contentment and since I am most assured how amidst all the fore-passed broiles he at all times conserued his inclinations for you I must needs tell you I was in such sort obliged vnto him as had he declared Warre against my King and against my Country J could not haue chosen any side which had not bin vniust J therefore at this day bewaile him with warme teares and if euer I take comfort in the losse I haue sustained I shall esteeme my selfe the most vnworthy and in gratefull person liuing Your selfe my Lord knowing as you do how much I owe vnto his amity would sooner adiudge me to die with him then blame my resentments I assure my selfe all my actions are disguised vnto you on purpose to cause you to dislike them Howsoeuer I will not dispaire but the time to come wil right me for what is past You will on day see the wrong you ofter to my innocency in admitting false witnesses in prciudicethereof and what you now tearme my fault you will then be pleased to say it was my vnhappy fate or my hard fortune in the interim I am resolued to continue in well doing and though there were no other but my conscience to acknowledge my fidelity yet inuiolably to remaine Your most humble and most faithfull seruant BALZAC The 30. of December 1626. To the Lord Bishop of Nantes LETTER VI. SIR AS the bearer hereof can testifie the obligations I owe you so may he beare witnesse of my perpetuall resentments and will tell you that were I borne your sonne or subiect you could haue but the same power ouer mee you now possesse nay I am perswaded I yet owe somewhat more to your vertue then to the right of Nations or Nature If power hath made Princes and chance Parents reason well deserues a further kinde of Obedience It was that which ouercome me vpon the first conference I had with you causing me to prostrate all my presumption at your feete after hauing rightly represented to my thoughts how impossible it is to esteeme my selfe and know you I am sure this Language is no way pleasing to you and that you will looke awry at my Letter but doe what you please I am more a friend to truth then to your humour and my spirits are so replenished with what I haue seene and heard as I can no longer conceale my thoughts I must tell you Sir you are the greatest Tyrant this day liuing your authority becomes awfull to all soules and when you speake there is no further meanes to retaine priuate opinions if they be not conformable to yours I speake this seriously and with my best sence you haue often reduced me to such extreamities that comming from you without knowing what to answer you I haue beene ready to exclaime and say in the rapture wherein I was Restore me my opinion which you haue violently forced from me and take not from mee the liberty of Conscience the King hath giuen mee But truely it is no small pleasure to be constrained to be happy and to fall into his hands who vseth no violence but to their auaile who suffer For my part I haue at all times departed your presence fully perswaded in what I ought to beleeue I neuer gaue you a visite which cured me not of some passion I neuer came into your Chamber so honest a man as I went foorch How often with one short speech haue you eleuated me aboue my selfe and bereaued me of whatsoeuer was fleshly and prophane in me How often hearing you discourse of the World to come and of true felicity haue I longed after it and would willingly haue purchased it at the price of my life How often could I haue followed you would you haue conducted me to a higher pitch of perfection then all ancient Philosophers euer attained So it is that you onely haue bestowed the loue of inuisible things vpon me causing me to distaste my first and most violent affections I should still haue beene buried in flesh had not you drawne me forth nor had my spirit beene other then a part of my body had not you taken the paines to vnloose it from sensuall obiects and to seuer the eternall from the perishable part You caused mee at the first encounter to become suspicious to the wicked and to fauour the better side before I was of it you haue made those remedies pleasing which all others affrighted me with and in the midst of vice you haue constrained me to confesse Vertue to be the most beautifull thing on Earth Thinke not therefore that either the pompe of the Roman Court or the glitter of that of France can dazell those eyes of my soule where to you haue shewed so many excellent things It is the beames and lightning of those eminent Vertues you haue discouered vnto me which cast so forceable reflections vpon the eyes of my soule and which cause mee though I formerly resolued to slight all things yet at least now to admire something But yet Sir assure your selfe it is not the world I admire for I rather reflect vpon it as on that which hath deceiued me these eight and twenty yeares I haue bin in it and wherein I fearce euer saw any thing but how to doe euill and counterfeit to be good In all places on Earth whether my curiosity hath transported me beyond Seas or on the other side the Alpes in free States or in Kingdomes of Conquest I haue obserued among men onely a fare of flatteries fooles and Cheaters of Oldmen corrupted by their Ancestors and who corrupt their Children Of slaues who cannot liue out of Seruitude of pouerty among vertuous persons and Ambitious Couetousnesse in the soules of great persons But now that you haue broken the barres through which I could onely receiue some light impression of truth I distinctly see this generall corruption and doe humbly acknowledge the iniury I offered to my Creator when I made Gods of his Creatures and what glory I fought to bereaue him of c. BALZAC The 12. of Ianuary 1626. To Mounsieur de la Marque LETTER VII I Know not what right vse to make of your praises if
words or aspect and though I haue alwayes vsed to be diffident of my first opinion nor euer to iudge without long deliberation I haue notwithstanding herein sinned against my owne rules and was not ashamed to say that a wit of twenty yeares had amazed mine But the Sermon bell rings which calls and forceably drawes me from you my contentment therefore must giue place to my duty which commands mee to make an end after I haue required newes from you concerning a woman to whom I am extraordinarily and particularly obliged of a woman I say who is more worth then all our bookes and in whose conuersation there is sufficient to make one an honest man without either the helpe of Greekes or Romans How old a Courtier soeuer you are you vnderstand not French if you vnderstand not Madame de Desloges On Christmas day 1625. To the same LETTER XXIII I Hope very shortly to follow these few lines and to come to court you with as much assiduity and subiection as though you were to be the founder of my fortunes I haue no other businesse at Paris but this though I frame many pretexts for that voyage but I sweare seriously you are the onely cause My melancholy is of late become so blacke and my spirits are so beclouded as I must of necessity see you to dissipate them It is to small purpose to speake well of me in the place where you are they doe me no good though this is as much as to cast incense vpon a dead body and to strow flowers vpon his graue but this is no reuiuing of him I no longer receiue any comfort in the newes you send me and I am well assured my misfortune is constant what alteration so euer happen in the World it remayneth then that I seeke for my consolation in your presence and powre forth all my complaynts into your bosome this I will do at the first sight of the Sun-beames beseeching you to beleeue that as in the middest of felicity I should haue neede of you to make me happy so also hauing such a friend as your selfe I shall neuer esteeme my selfe absolutely miserable The 20. of Nouember 1625. BALZAC Balzac his Letter to Hidaspe LETTER XXIIII I Doe far more esteeme the Carthusians silence then the Eloquence of such Writers and am perswaded excepting in Church Seruice and for the necessity of Commerce the Pope and the King should do well to forbid them Lattin and French whereof they seeke to make two barbarous languages I know well that French spirits are sworne Enemies to all sorts of bondage and that twelue hundred yeares of Monarchy hath not beene of power to make them lose their liberty it being as naturall to them as life it selfe Whatsoeuer vgly face they frame to the Inquisition and how full of Tygers and Serpents soeuer they paint the same yet do I finde it right necessary in this Kingdome For besides that it would cause as in Spaine and Italy euen the wicked in some sort to resemble the Vpright and vice not at all to offend the publicke Eye it would besides hinder Fooles from filling the World with their bastardly Bookes and the faults of Schoole maisters from being as frequent as those are of Magistrates and Generals of Armies Truly it is a shame there are Lawes against those who counterfeite Coynes and falsifie Merchandizes yet that such are freely permitted who corrupt Phylosophy and Eloquence and who violate those things the Vulgar ought no more to meddle with then with State gouernment or Religious Mysteries The late great Plague was of small consideration in comparison of this which checkes all the World and surely if speedy order be not taken the multiplicity of our Authors will make a Lybrary as big as Paris wherein there shall scarcely be found one good word or reasonable conceit These be the fruites arising out of inordinate idlenesse and the third scourge caused by Peace sent to afflict this poore Realme after Duels and Law-suites There are hardly any to be found who are contented to keep their faults and follies to themselues or to sin in secret but are also doting vpon their owne follies as they desire to engraue them in Marble and Brasse thereby to Eternize their memory and to make them past retracting Now to returne to the party of whom you particularly required my opinion and who indeede is the first subiect of this Letter I must ingeniously confesse vnto you that next to Beere and Pbysicke I neuer found any thing so distastefull as his works he wanteth almost throughout euen naturall Logicke yea that part thereof which prooueth men to be reasonable creatures In three words hee speakes foure bad ones and as he alwayes strayeth from the subiect whereof he treateth so doth he ordinarily talke in an vnknowne language though he intend to speake French Besides yce it selfe is not more cold then his conceites and when he desires to be facetious as at euery turne hee faine would he had neede to be in fee with his Reader to make him laugh as at Funerals in Paris weepers are vsually hired for money There is no question but truth were of far more force and disarmed then it can be with the assistance this simple Fellow would striue to affoord her Now supposing such men were ingaged in the right without any treacherous designe yet is it as much as to abandon Gods cause to suffer it to be supported by so weake and vnworthy Pennes The Renegadoes haue not so much wronged Christianity as those who haue not valiantly defended themselues against the Turkes and such who through defect of conduct and skill though they wanted neither zeale nor affection suffer themselues to be surprised by the same aduantages they otherwise might haue had ouer their enemies Truely the Empire of the wicked doth much more maintaine it selfe by our pusillanimity then by its owne power or forces nor doth any thing cause Vertue to be so badly followed as doth the weake and vnskilfull teaching and explanation thereof It were therefore requisite some wise man who had beene in this Countrey where there is continuall debate and where there is neuer eyther peace or truce called the Colledge of Sarbow and who besides had the art to make good things gratefull and could bring matters to attonement by a sweete hand should come to cleanse the Court from those opinions lately introduced and cure Soules instead of wounding them with iniuries It was that great Cardinall who triumphed ouer all humane spirits and whose memory shall euer be sacred so long as there remaine any Alltars or that oblarion is offered on Earth It was I say the Cardinall of Perron who was able to shew Epiourus himselfe something more sublime and transcendent then this life and cause his fleshy soule to be capeable of the greatest secrets of Christian Religion Though this man had a dignity equall in hight to the greatest Conquerors and Monarchs Yet had he in what concerned Religion
all the morning and that I am weary of their company I spend some part of the after-noone with him partly to diuert my thoughts from serious things which doe but nourish my Melancholy Euer since I came into this world I haue bin perpetually troublesome to my selfe I haue found all the houres of my life tedious vnto mee I haue done nothing all day but seeke for night Wherefore if I desire to be merry I must necessarily deceiue my selfe and my felicity is so dependant vpon exterior things that without Painting Musicke and diuers other diuertisments how great a Muser soeuer I am I haue not sufficient wherewith to entertaine my selfe or to bee pleased Thinke not therefore that either my foole or my bookes are sufficient to settle my contentment nay rather if you haue any care of mee or if you desire I should haue no leasure to be sad make me partaker of all the newes happning in the place where you are let me fee the whole Court by your eyes cause me to assist at all Sermons by your eares giue me accompt of the good and bad passages happening this Winter and that there part not a post vncharged with a Gazetto of your stile as there shall not any goe hence who shall not bring you some vision of my retirednesse There runnes a rumour in these parts that Mounsieur de Boudeuille is slaine but since there are not many more hard atchieuements to be wrought then that it is too great a death to be beleeued vpon the first report The 1. of November 162â— LETTER XXVI WEre I not confined to my bed I should my selfe haue sollicited the businesse I haue recommended vnto you nor should I haue suffered you thus farre to oblige me in my absence But since I cannot possibly part hence and am here constrayned to take ill rest being farre more grieuous vnto me then agitation I humbly beseech you to suffer these Lines to salute you in my stead and to put you in remembrance of the request I made vnto you Sir I am resolued not to be beholding to any but your selfe for the happy successe wherof the goodnes of our cause assureth vs and in case your Integrity should be interessed I would owe the whole to your fauor For besides that you are borne perfectly generous I doe not at all doubt but the commerce you haue with good bookes and particularly with Seneca hath taught you the Art To doe good to all men But to the end the obligation I desire to owe you may be wholy mine owne instead of referring it to the study of Morality to your bountifull inclination or to the Iustice of my request I will rather imagine I shall be the sole cause of this effect and that you will act without any other assistance out of the loue you beare mee who am passionately Your most humble and most faithfull seruant BALZAC Paris the 2. of May 1627. LETTER XXVII GX X. is resolued to leaue all worldly affaires in the state he found them and these great cares which should haue extended themselues ouer the most remote parts of Christendome haue not as yet passed the limits of his house He preserues his old age and prolongs his life by all the possible meanes he can imagine But it is thought he will not long make his successor attend and that his Death will be the first newes in the Gazetto Phisitians and Astrologers haue concluded vpon this point that he shall not see the end of Autumne For my part I neuer made any great difference betweene a dead person and an vnprofitable one and if things lesle perfect ought to be post posed to more excellent ones it were a mockery to make choyce of sicke folkes and cause them to be adored by those who are in health or to put soueraigne power into their hands to the end onely to haue them leaue it to others But it is not my part to reforme all things displeasing me in this World and I should be very vngratefull if I blamed that forme of gouernment wherein I finde my selfe very well In effect Sir speake no more to me of the North nor its neighbours I declare my selfe for Rome against Paris nor can I any longer imagine how a man can liue happily vnder your Climate where Winter takes vp nine Moneths of the Yeere and after that the Sunne appeareth onely to cause the Plague and weake as it is forbeares not to kill men There is not any place Rome excepted where life is agreeable where the body findes its pleasures and the spirit his where men are at the source of singular things Rome is the cause you are neither Barbarian nor Pagan since she hath taught you the ciuility of Religion She hath giuen you those Laves which arme you against errour and those Examples whereto you owe the good actions you performe It is from hence Inuentions and Arts are come to you and where you haue receiued the Science of Peace and Warre Painting Musicke and Come dies are strangers in France but naturall in Italy that great Vertue it selfe you so much admire in your Court is shee not Roman That Martchionesse of whom so many maruells are related is shee not Countrey-woman to the Mother of the Graches and to the Wife of Bratus and in truth to possesse all those perfections the World acknowledgeth in her was it not fitting shee should be borne in a place whereon Heauen defuseth all its Graces Truely I neuer ascend Mount Palatin or the Capitole but I change spirit and others then my ordinary cogitations seaze vpon me This Ayre inspireth me with some great and generous thing I formerly had not and if I muse but two houres vpon the bankes of of Tyber I am as vnderstanding as if I had studied eight dayes It is a thing I wonder at that being so farre off you make so excellent Verses and so neare the Maiesty of Virgils I suppose therefore none will blame me for hauing chosen Rome for the place of my abode or for preferring flowers before snow and yce If men choose Popes of threescore and ten yeeres old and not of fiue and twenty the dayes are therefore neither sadder nor shorter nor haue wee any subiect to complaine of our Masters debility since we are thereto obliged for our quiet From Rome the 25. of March 1621. LETTER XXVIII IT is not to answer your excellent Letter I write you this but onely to let you know you haue so absolutely acquired me to your seruice as you haue left me no liberty to doe what I desire when there is any question of performing your pleasure Since therefore you and your Printers haue conspired against my quiet and that you determine to make my infirmities as publicke as though you meant to leade me to the Hospitals or Church-porches J am co ntented with closed eyes to obey you and to put my reputation to aduenture rather then seeme to refuse you a thing you haue demanded