bestow on me but I had only one heart to give you the propriety of which I offered to you eighteen years ago and you had gain'd it sometime before It is true the present was but trivial I am ashamed to put you in mind now that great hearts are so necessary in great enterprizes and unless you reckon a great deal of passion and zeal for something I should not in time of War have mention'd a toy of so little use as that Yet my Lord is there no place for a violent passion in your service Cannot a zealous spirit produce some thoughts couragious enough to venter beyond the prospect of our present age and more Noble then to injure the glory of your great Name There are some persons over-credulons in my favour as to imagine so and I were very happy if their perswasions were not upon bad grounds As it is the most ambitious of all my designes so it is also the most ardent of all my desires But herein I must confess I can but little satisfie my self For what ever indulgent friends say I have little encouragement to believe from the view of my sufficiencies I discover neither a Mine nor a Bank in my brain to suffice for the recompence of supream vertue for requitall of heroicke actions and for the price of that which is inestimable On the other side I want that other facultie which descends from above and is called Enthusiasme The muses do not answer me at all times when I call them and I have often times begun Poems that ended at the Invocation It is possible I shall be better inspired for the future The excellencies of invention may at length be infused into me from Heaven and I may have my part of those illuminations it sends down to our brethren of the Academy I attend this happy hour of inspiration with impatience that I may employ it well and I cannot live contented till I have testified by some eminent act of gratitude pardon that eminent upon this occasion that I am as I ought to be My LORD Your c. Feb. 25. 1645. LETTER VIII To my Lord the Arch-Bishop of Thoulose My Lord THE successes of which I receiv'd information from your Letter redoun'd so much to your glory that Honouring you perfectly as I do I could not receive them with a moderate joy You have had justice at length of the Senate but it was the same Senate that did it you You do not only receive the just Honours that are due to you but even with the consent of them who disputed them with you by one and the same victory you have gain'd both your cause and your adversaries affection So though the conquest be desireable but the peace far better nothing should be wanting to your satisfaction who have obtained at once both the Good and the Better It remaines now my Lord that you enjoy this faire calme and these dayes of Serenity you have made such that is employ them all in that harvest that respects you and in the conduct of that flock which Jesus CHRIST hath entrusted to your care If you would you might have climb'd to Glory by other steps But all things being considered this is the surest and shortest for him that aimes at nothing but Heaven Could you exceed Cardinal Baronio in the solidity of your learning yet it is better to follow Cardinal Borromeo in the Sanctity of your Life and be the subject of others writings then the Historian of their actions How happy do I esteem the meanest labourers that you use in your great work and I cannot express how it troubles me to be perpetually desirous of being with you and yet to stick fast here and to be able to profess to you only with wishes and idle passions I know not when that I am more then any person in the World My Lord Your c. Jul. 25. 1633. LETTER IX To the same My Lord I Perceive there is no possibility for me to execute my grand enterprize or to effect what I have had in designe these ten yeares My journey to Languedoc is likely to become the exercise of a man that stirs not or the dreame of one awake If Heaven will have it so I shall at least have this happiness nothing can hinder me the enjoying in my mind the contentment which I fancy My imagination that hath power to bring me neer to places where I desire to be walks me continually round about this distant happiness and puts me into possession of one of the apartments of your Palace and soon after lodges me even in your Library O how I contemne the Jasper and guildings of the Escuriall when I am in that Cabinet This indeed is to inhabite a more Noble and stately Court to be the guest of an infinite number of rare souls and blessed intelligences where after a repast of Tanzies and Mellons the entertainment might be with light and truth I do not seek out high words to abuse them I employ them in their proper and naturall signification for what is there My Lord which the desire of knowledge and ambition of learning can imagine exquisite and rare but is to be found either in your books or conversation those three or four hours I had the honour to pass with you presented to me the riches of ages and antiquity you taught me things which not only the commonalty of the learned are ignorant of but such as it may be the Princes of the Schools understand not The severall manuscripts your goodness daign'd to shew me left so faire an impression of Christianity upon my soul that immediately I divorced my self from my old Loves and bad adieu to all the muses that are not holy Since that time I speak nothing but of the Primitive Church and the Oecumenicall Councells and you have so alienated me from Pagan-Rome that in those places of History where I meet with Aquilae I am sometimes ready to change it into Labarum A communication of such advantage deserves to be sought though it were at the end of the World and a thousand leagues are nothing to be travelled for it To confess freely the voyages of the Graecian Philosophers into Aegypt do very much reproach my immobilitie It is necessary that I rouze up this Lethargy or to speak more humanely that I prop up this weakness and provide redress to this infirmity and since it is impossible it should endure a Coach unless in a Downe or a Meadow I am at this instant going to purchase a Litter to make it more capable of the journey and transport me without disturbance to the feet of a greater Master then Gamaliel The ambition of a spirit cured of the Court may well be terminated there where I shall receive your answers to my Questions after I have rendred you my respects and sworne to you in the presence of Eusebius Theodoret and such like kind of witnesses that I am ever perfectly My Lord Your
an affront to Philosophy and a doubting the profession you make of it to treat you like vulgar men I remember Seneca sometimes comforted women and a servant but I do not observe that any body undertook ever to comfort Seneca I assent to you concerning whatsoever they speak most highly and magnificently of your friend and if you will allow me to make use in French of a sentence borrowed from Greece I adde that we have lost in that rare person a piece of the wracks of Antiquity and a relique of the Golden Age. All the vertues of Heroick times were retired into this lovely soul The universall corruption had no power over the goodnesse of his Temper and the evill that touch'd him could not defile him His generosity was not bounded by the sea nor confin'd to this side the Alpes He sowed his favours and civilities on all sides and had remerciments sent him from the remotest corners of Syria and the top of Mount Libanus In an indifferent fortune he had the thoughts of a great Lord and never ceas'd to be a Mecaenas although not supported by the amity of Augustus So that in this regard I shall not scruple to averre that he maintain'd the primitive splendour of gallantry in France and the good esteem that forreine nations do yet retaine of her I am of as certaine beliefe as you Sir that he will be lamented of what ever is great and illustrious reasonable and intelligent both within and without the Kingdome I am confident Italy will celebrate his memory in all her learned assemblies and that in the Ages of the Princes Barberini Rome cannot be indifferent to the memory of one so deare to the Muses and I make no question but the Holy Faâ—â—er who vaâ—ewed him so highly cannot forbeare to bewaile him for in the midst of that serenity which above us environnes him this cloud of sadnesse reaches his height But concerning all these things which you write to me far more eloquently then I am able to repeat your discretion without doubt can afford your self greater Consolation then what you seeme to desire from your friends If your losse were not common to you with the noble Multitude if both soveraignes and people were not interested in your griefe it might be thought almost insupportable but since there 's no body but beares his part with you certainly there is a great deal of sweetnesse in an affliction that makes all the world on your side nay should you esteem your selfe unhappy in this respect it could not but be with some kind of Contentation There is in earnest I know not what that pleases in the very wounds of this nature when Princes are equally concern'd with private persons and Paris joynes with the Country in the same fellowship of sadnesse why should we nitty or lament It is a funerall little lesse splendid then a Triumph the praises and acclamations abroad take away all the bitternesse of domestique Complaints and me-thinks the possession of that Glory which cannot be ascertain'd but by death is very well worth three or four scurvy yeares that might have been annexed to old age To this glory if I could contribute any thing I should esteem my selfe happy and towards this I offer you my hands and labour though I cannot erect either Colossus'es or Pyramides yet Sir without offence to those who have a larger and more sublime fancy who would set whole Forests and Mountaines on work I have heard that some Artists have wrought in little with much commendation It is possible to be famous for ones Art and not be prodigall of the Materialls a great deale of matter may be comprehended in a few words which by a long discourse is enervated There are bad Preachers and scurvy funerall Orations enough in the world already I beseech you let not me increase the number and be one of those officious enemies who thus with a good intention injure the patience of the Living and memory of the dead I have too great an Ambition of pleasing you to give my selfe the trouble or runne the hazzard of disturbing your quiet And if you were indispos'd I do not set so high a rate on my medicines to make experiments on such a soul as yours Take it not ill then I beseech you that I obey you after another fashion then you commanded me and that I go whither you desire me but by a way that to my selfe seemes most convenient Procure Messieurs de Pâ—i to approve of it too for in my judgment they are no lesse inveterate enemies then my selfe to these ridiculous Alasses and tiresome lamentations for if I be not deceived they preferre the shorâ—est Eulogy in Livy before the great volume of discourses printed after the death of the late King though Legitimate Apothâ—osies are not made any where but in their studies and that from thence credit and esteem are dispenced and men are declared Illustrious I will not omit since they will have it so to do my devotions apart nor will I scrupulously refuse room in my Workes to a vertue which they have already listed up to Heaven The Contentment of my friends shall ever be dearer to me then my own reputation The least beck from you shall have a greater power over me then that Lethargy of Spirit you so handsomely reproach me with And therefore though I should spoile the businesse that you Imagine I shall give lustre to doubt not but I am very glad to evince to you on this opportunity that I am SIR Your c. Aug. 15. 1640. MEntion is made of this Letter in the life of Monsieur de Peiresk at the end of the sixth Book and not to speak any thing concerning the excellency of it let it suffice to know it was desired in Rome before it was written in France as appeares by a Latine Epistle of the Abbot Bouchard printed at Venice after the funerall Oration spoken in the Academy of Humorists Here are subjoyn'd the two places of the History and the Epistle Alias etiam praetereo quibus amici eruditique in quorum pectoribus Candor et Gratitudo inhabitat ut dolorem testati sunt sic consolationem mutuam adhibuerunt Pervenêre ad me complures sed principem locum eae tenent quibus Jo. Ludovicus Guezius Balzacius celebris ille scilicet cui nemo non Gallice modò sed Latine etiam scribentium elegantiae palmam non facile cedat singulariter parentavit Lib. 6. de vita Peireskii per Petrum Gassendum Tu vero interea Nicolaï Claudii Fabricii Peirescii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 memoriam qua soles pietate colere perge et Petrum Gassendum etiam atque etiam urge ut suos de ejus vitâ Commentarios quà m maximé copiosos ocyùs dimittat sed in primis a Rigaltio et Balzacio hominibus in literis quibus dediti sunt summis atque perfectis omni studio contende ut aeternis elegantissimorum scriptorum suorum monumentis Heroem nostrum velint
observed you I did not think it any miracle that you should become fortunate or that the choice of a goddess hath crowned the Graces of Heaven All that has been attempted to trouble the successe of this envied election hath done nothing but bred occasion for you to triumph over envy and you draw this advantage from your paines and contests that in a possession which was too peaceable for so desired a good there is now neer as much splendor as sweetness and something that resembles conquest after your victory in Parliament It was such a one my Lord that it will seem to some that the envy which assailed you held correspondence with you since she only made the onset that she might yield and set up an Incognito in competition with you to give you occasion to interess in your cause and discover in your Race and Alliances more Heroes and great Lords than came out of the Trojan Horse When I consider that brave throng of Illustrious names that Triumph rather then that Audience that day of your glory after those of your good fortune so much Grandeur and lustre at an hundred leagues distance from me I confess I am somewhat ashamed of my solitude and obscurity But I must tell you further and Monsieur Gautier shall pardon me if he please that I have a little season of jealousie against him and his Eloquence and I wish if it had been possible for me to have been your advocate that day being to that degree as I am My Lord Your c. Apr. 17. 1646. LETTER XXIX To Monsieur de Couppeau ville Abbot of La Victoire SIR THat you may know your reputation hath no limits and that you are esteemed both within and without the World I advertise you that Monsieur de la is to come to preach you in our desart and that in a weeks conversation we have had together he hath told me more things of you then a dozen mistresses that he left at Paris The charmes of your tongue are sufficiently known and you have made great experiments of them but be assured they never wrought more powerfully â—hen on the spirit of this Gentleman you never spoke with more success then when he heard you and never dismiss'd an auditour better edified Salust was his first beloved Quintilian â—ath since taken Salusts place and you have succeeded Quintilian I saw the beginning of a book he is writing of your â—pophthegms he hath learnt you by heart and understands you throughly so that if by any mischance you should be lost you might be retriv'd in his â—emory I leave you Sir to imagine the pleasure he did me to concurre so exactly with my resentments and chuse my inclinations for the subject of his discourse It lyes upon him to give you a further account when he sees you and informe you of the first motions your name excited in a languishing soul and the continuance of my joy in the sequell of his relations He told me nothing concerning you but I desired him to repeate it and mentioned nothing of vows but what deserved this complement of the Academy Italian Di gratia Signor un altra Volta But particularly the description of the feast you made Monsieur Chavigny was acted over more then once at my most humble supplication I found in it I know not what of learned Antiquity But on your conscience Sir was that Terence which was served in for one of your sweet-meats so stuck with perfumes and covered with flowers absolutely of your owne invention Is it not an Originall of Maecenos or at least that gallant man of the following Century qui deliciarum arbiter cujus eruditus luxus à nostro Cornelio celebratur How ever it be we never heard of such cates before and you wanted nothing that day but Dionysius Lambinus for cook and Adrian Turnebus for Steward The piece is throughly ingenious and much more humane and rationall then the desire of that Barbarous Graecian who at Alexanders table wished for a Satrapa's head in a dish This was a resemblance of the haughtiness of Turky before there were any Turks in the world and it is an example only fit for Machiavell's imitation if he had invited Caesar Borgia to dinner But you are to deal with a man who hath the palat of Roman Consuls and not Asian Princes and you have accordingly treated him after the Roman fashion for it must be confessed that the appetite of his mind could not be better represented by an embleme more spirituall nor more gallant then that you had devised When if you make him a second Entertainment I have entreated our friends to give you a present from me and deliver you some Latine verses of the last inspiration of my Muses they are neither the Ragousts of Scipio nor the delicacies of Mecaenas yet they are fruits transplanted from the nursery of those happy Ages and I have inserted my grafts upon their Stocks You may please to judge of them when you have tasted them and continue ever to love me a little since I will never cease to be infinitely SIR Your c. Sep. 3. 1642. LETTER XXX To Monsieur de Bourzeys Abbot of Cores SIR IF I did not know that Generosity takes delight in speaking improperly and thinks it owes that which it gives I should not understand the intentions of Monsieur your brother His conversation hath dispelled the clouds of my melancholly his quittance hath melted the stubbornnesse of my soul he hath been my intercessour to the Commissary he hath shewed me one of your Sermons and after all this he thanks me for all the good turnes he has done me and will not make me happy without being obliged to me for it And yet more Sir he would have this conceit of obligation extend even to you and disturbe you in the middle of your conflicts that I might receive a complement from that hand which strikes dead Heresie Here is enough to satisfie the most ambitious spirit in the world One graine of your incense is worth a masse of anothers and nothing is so sweet even in the sense of wise Antiquity as the praises that come from a person that is universally commended They that contemne the acclamations of the people should yet be sensible of these which cannot be indifferent to any but such as honour their sullen humour with the Title of Stoick Philosophy For my part Sir I declare my selfe to be none of that sect every kind of allurement would not be apt to tempt me but how is it possible to abstaine from a meat which you have dressed or resist a passion that workes its effect by your Language So that I must needs tell you freely I never received more joy then when I received your Letter Monsieur de la Thibaudiere was a witnesse of my traunce Monsieur Chaplain had notice of my good newes if it were possible I would have divulged it to all the Earth and have printed it
shall in future ages be renowned for the retreat of those illustrious Guests But you must remember that in that case you cannot oblige any other then my selfe without doing me injurie and if there be one glance of Peace on this side the River Loire you will find it more serene in our Village then amongst our Neighbours I conjure you therefore in all affection to grant me this favour which I demand of you and come take full possession of a small Seigneurie The Pucelle shall enjoy her intire liberty and be absolute Mistress of the House I am ready to meet you as farre as Tours unless you had rather I should send the Seigneur Totila with my Caroach for the more convenience of your journey I expect your answer and remain SIR Yours c. Balzac July 1636. LET. XXIV SIR I must know my selfe better I have not so well deserv'd of fortune as to hope the happinesse of seeing you here and I confess it no small presumption to have flatter'd my selfe with such a thought but you know that great passions are sometimes inconsiderate and alwaies credulous They that have forward desires fall into dreams although they do not sleep Pardon me therefore what I have transgress'd and live still at Paris with more quiet and sweetness then the state of the times and the face of affairs seem to promise you a month longer For the Marotte or trifle you speak of so you are pleas'd to term the design of your Poem I have a greater esteem of it then of any Scepter whatsoever I am farre from advising you to abandon that enterprise which you have attempted with the vowes and applause of all France Nor will I be so cruell an enemy to Posterity as to stifle Heroes and Heroesses in their Cradle Seek another Counsellour of your Parricides and do not believe that I approve what hath been inspir'd you by your evill Angell I am SIR Your c. Balzac 30. Aug. 1636. LET. XXV SIR Two dayes since I receiv'd the Book of Monsieur Hensius which was Printed by the Elzevirs It is bigger by a third part then the Manuscript that was shown you Notwithstanding it contains nothing in all that bulk to our purpose nothing which I could not defeat with advantage if I were a person inclinable to quarrel and did not preferre my repose above my reputation But I do not resent matters so deeply and have less thirst after glory then some have imagined It is not my design to assemble the people and make pastime to the spectators And though I may pass for a Craven in the Country of Latin I shall not be accounted a less honest man at the House of Ramboüillet You have goodness enough to conserve that happiness you gain'd for me there I mean the esteem of the two divine Persons And remember them upon opportunity that in the quality of one sick and afflicted I do at least deserve so much friendship as to be pittied I am SIR Your c. Balzac 4 Novemb. 1636. LETTER XXVI SIR I Had not so great apprehensions of fear for my Paquet as for you It was a long time before I heard any tidings of it and I began to be jealous of your welfare We drink your health here solemnly with the Marquiss of Montaufier And there wanted nothing either in our Cups or our Wishes that might make you as sound and flourishing as Marc Anthony and Dolabella It must be acknowledg'd that this Marquiss is a Cavalier of great worth and very deserving of your affection and esteem As for me I expect extraordinary performances from him and that which was told me a while since of the late Monsieur his Brother seems of good conceit That Madam his Mother did not begin her teeming but with a Hero that she might at length content her selfe with bringing forth a Man But I adjoyn thereto That she hath been very happy to succeed twice in so high and difficult an enterprise I have lost the Sonnet that consecrates the memory of the deceased and which you bestowed on me at Paris Be pleased to oblige me with a Copy and make me partaker of some of your other rarities I am SIR Your c. Angoulesme 18 Novemb. 1636. LETTER XXVII SIR SInce you will have it so that I must be indebted to the honest Camusat for the Present you sent me you must do me the favour to return him many thanks It is fitting that good man be admitted of our Society and become our Flantin for it would be somewhat too much to term him Manucio That Plantin so famous for his understanding in his Profession and the impression of the great Bible was otherwise wholly ignorant of the Latine Tongue He did indeed make semblance of skill in it and his friend Justus Lipsius concealed that secret very faithfully till his death He writ him Letters in Latin but in the same Paquet he sent him the interpretation in Dutch Martial makes frequent mention of a Bookseller Triphon and Quintilian intreates his care in the Edition of his Book by an express for that purpose Perhaps ours is not inferiour to theirs and your testimony is sufficient to perswade me to all good opinions of him Be pleas'd to send me the name that Cavalier Marin bestowed on him for I am so unhappy as to have forgot it and as I remember it afforded no small pleasure to my fancy I am SIR Your c. Balzac 29 Novemb. 1636. LET. XXVIII SIR THe Princess Julia is doubly admirable both in her person and in your Verse But I am much afraid she should induce you to prove inconstant to the Virgin of Orleans and that the living will cause the dead to be forgotten You must take heed of drawing the reproach of so great infidelity upon you and remember that there lies a vow upon your design and by consequence his Holiness himselfe according to the opinion of most Divines is not able to discharge you from it As for my selfe I spend my leasure after my ordinary custome I meditate all day and would believe not without success because you are satisfied therewith If Heaven would bless me with that great benefit of health I should endeavour to content you after another manner and my spirit being at liberty its elevations would be farre more strong and vigorous notwithstanding you bestow the term of Sublimitie upon the last composition of mine you receiv'd But in conclusion behold a passage not unpleasant You request my permission to dispose of a sheet of Paper in your hands and will not touch my Trifles without solemn licence you that have soveraign power to dispose of my life and fortunes Either you are ignorant of that power or dissemble it in plain terms you are too ceremonious and too great a formalist for a man on this side the Mountaines A Florentine bred up in the Court of Rome could have done no more Without question saying to me con licâ—nza you would have the
recommended to him But I fear in a little while it will be necessary to recommend my self and that Orators and Poets will not be esteem'd as priviledged persons You well remember the field that was taken away from poor Virgil and the complaints that he makes thereupon in his Eclogues If one that I know had foreseen this imposition six years ago his Letters should have been dated from beyond sea and he would have provided for the security of his Peculium However things go I exhort all the world to patience but I find every man in the depth of dispair and cannot imagine any remedy to our present sufferings unlesse Heaven appear by miracles for our succour to accomplish the good intentions of the King I am SIR Your c. Balzac 20 June 1639. LET. XIV SIR I Am not minded to enter the Lists in the quarrell of the Rabbins especially when I must encounter with you for my adversary They are peeple with whom I have no acquaintance and such as if you please I shall believe more fools then your Letters represent them But Sir if I remember it was not upon this empty and trifling reading that I chiefly grounded the learning of Monsieur Heinsius Besides the Orientall Languages which they report him skill'd in he is of great naturall endowments and has exact knowledge in solid Antiquity and the Philosophies of old and yet further such sagacity in matters of Criticism that his conjectures seem sometimes to approach near divination Notwithstanding it is possible he may decline in his old daies And 't is a common word amongst his Orientalls that Vinegar is the son of Wine and that Time begins to prey upon things as soon as it has brought them to their perfection But let us relinquish those Gentlemen the Rabbins and give me leave to desire some knowledge of the affairs of our friends Be pleased to make me understand how Monsieur d'Ablancourt is at this present employ'd and if he intend not a Panegyrick in honour of his eminency having caused others to display all their eloquence upon that subject He is a person of sufficiency for whatever he will undertake on whom I have bestow'd my heart and my esteem and who must not be forgotten in my Entertainments Let me also know if Monsieur has finished his Treatise of Counsells for War whereof you gave me notice There being at this day a Prince of Orange and a Duke of Weymar in the world does he not fear the misadventure of that Doctor that discours'd of the same matter in the presence of Hannibal and employ'd all his Rhetorick to make himself ridiculous These Princes are indeed more polite then that Barbarian was and our friend more expert then the Sophister and therefore I consent to the continuation of his work I most humbly kisse your hands and am SIR Your c. Balzac 6 July 1639. LETTER XV. SIR IT is infinite pleasure unto me to see you Philosophize upon the argument of friendship all your subtleties are not less solid then delicate and agreeable You have discovered the most secret recesses of your soul and it must necessarily be that you have throughly studied your inclinations since you are so perfect in the knowledge of your selfe Certainly you know an excellent person And what unhappinesse have I to be separated from you by so many Towns and Champians Is it the will of Destiny to keep us alwaies apart Nec dâ—bitur veras audire reddere voces These violent desires do frequently transport me and I should undoubtedly content them if it were possible to see Paris without approaching the Court But I acknowledge my weaknesse the obstacle The great light blinds me and I lose my breath in the croud of the World I forbear to describe you the desolation of our Village which has lately been almost devoured by the Regiment of the Lord Monsieur the Abbot of Bois-Robert will perhaps give you some relation of it I shall onely tell you that this injury committed against the Muses might well deserve an Eclogue in the strain of our friend Colletet If you please to offer him the subject I do not question but he will manage it answerably and readily lend me his resentments He has oblig'd me in many other matters and I conceive there is nothing which I may not expect from his friendship I am SIR Your c. Balzac 4 August 1639. LETTER XVI SIR SInce the return of the last Post I have receiv'd that which you were pleas'd to deliver to the Messenger and shall account it to the number of my former engagements I cannot sufficiently admire your Jesuite his daring wit and the magnificence of his expression What Enthusiasm has possest him Without dispute he is one of your great friends or at least one that has propounded you for his pattern and I am confident your Ode for Monsieur the Cardinall was his first inspiration I shall say nothing where I have met with most strength or weakness in his Poem but forbear at this time to exercise my skill in Censure Onely I assure you I never yet saw a more happy imitation and yet further which I would have pass for Oraculous that if Monsieur Chapelain be the instructor of the Father le Moine the Father le Moine will prove one of the great Personages of these later Ages I mention'd to you a few days since the Letter which I writ to Monsieur the Abbot of Bois-Robert concerning Monsieur de I send you a Copy of it inclos'd because I deem it expedient that you should know the whole History of Balzac wherein I do not doubt but your affection has made you somewhat concern'd I am likewise more perfectly then any person in the world SIR Your c. Balzac 18 August 1639. In closing of my Letter I am told that Monsieur did prohibit his Troops to quarter at Balzac But either his commands had not Authority enough or his Captains were unmindfull of his orders For our Village was wholly sack'd before ever the Party approach't it But this injury must be forgotten as well as many more and we must rest satisfied with the little subsistence they have left us to be so LETTER XVII SIR I Have read with very great consolation the two Letters of our dear and incomparable friends I should have said with very great joy if in the condition wherein I am I could be sensible of that delightfull motion of the soul But I find such drooping and languour upon my spirit and my body so infeebled with the restlesse nights I have lately pass'd that there is no news of goodnesse enough to awaken and divert my melancholly You may well perceive that if this were not the obstacle I should dispense with my vow for this time and not borrow your words though more eloquent then mine to testifie to those worthy friends that I esteem their Amity amongst the dearest blessings of my life The prudence and matter of that of Monsieur
sutable companions For besides the great Poet which I acknowledge you to be I account you also an eminent Counsellor of State Secretary and Ambassadour in a word a person most accomplished in all things And I never give any other Character of you to those that demand of me who that perfect friend is I have at Court and of whom I make all my glory Et haec non animo adulatorio ad aulicas artes composito dicta sint Jure tuo habes testem qui si sciens fallat c. The rest another time for at present I am able to proceed no further but remain SIR Your c. Balzac 1 Decemb. 1639. LETTER XXVII SIR I Am but ill affected with the deportment of the Italian Paricide and the Muses Balzacides doe no lesse distaste it then the Putean's The pious offices which he renders to the memory of his friend gave me infinite contentment and I have testified as much But I cannot endure that he should drive a Trade with them It must needs be that he has little knowledge of our Court since he addresses himselfe to Schollars to be his Soliciters and to gaine him kindnesse from a man they never see He is yet more strangely mistaken in the choise of his subject For you may believe that if he escape being derided for his Panglossie he will at least receive but little thanks for this Monsieur the Cardinall may willingly bear with his Panegyricks and pay him for some of them but he is not concerned in a Funerall Oration for people that he never heard of It seems the famous Tâ—pler is come back to drink at Paris and that he could not be long absent from the center of his Luxury I beseech you Sir let me know from him where Monsieur Maynard is for whom my curiosity is uncessant If you also happen into the company of Monsieur de la Pigeonnier you will infinitely oblige me by desiring of him the Manuscript Works of the late du Vivier which are in his hands I think he will not refuse you and if you will do me the pleasure to send them hither I shall return them with speed and before he can imagine they are gone so long a journey This du Vivier had a pretty way of raillerie and because it may be thought I had some share in his death I believe my selfe obliged to perform some duty to his memory He writ me word by the Messenger from Blois to Paris that he had lost his Father and that himselfe should infallibly follow unlesse I comforted him for that affliction I was negligent after my custome and rendred him not the office he required at the time appointed As for him he made good his word and the following Messenger by whom I intended my answer told me the person to whom I addressed it was no longer of this World Behold a fatall sloathfulnesse and which may give warning to all people that write to me in that manner for I know at length I shall become incorrigible I am SIR Your c. Balzac 15. Decemb. 1639. LETTER XXIX SIR YOu may be assur'd by my former Letters that I have received yours and that the Elogium of your Marchionesse is not lost if it were she that sent you so many Notes they might be tolerated with patience But the persecution of the other is insupportable and I swear unto you I would never have said a good word of her if I had known she did so perpetually assassinate you with her Writings I should have begun long since to deplore your fortune The would needs heretofore play with me at that sport but I was more valiant then you and acquitted my selfe of her couragiously She made a thousand false thrusts and I received a whole Bushell of Tickets but without losing one jot of my dumbe gravity This is the way to treat Ladies of that kind whether they be Muses or Fairies or which you love better Sybils You see my old practice I am ready to do worse in case of necessity 'T is not because I am full of imployment but for that I am so discontented and weary with the continued torture of my maladies that I know not on which side to turn my self I am in great fear for Piedmont that is for you and a little Nephew I have there who may possibly be troden down in the croud Our friends are of great worth but the Princes of Savoy must not be neglected and there being brave spirits on both sides I apprehend a terrible slaughter unlesse Heaven avert it I am proud of the good opinion that Monsieur Spanheim has of me for he is a person whom I infinitely esteem If there be any thing of his abroad besides the two Books which I have already seen I beseech you inform my Stationer of it and let him send them Otherwise I never make any uncivill request nor desire to see that which is kept secret Hence it is that I mortifie my curiosity with my discretion and am contented to know that Monsieur le Maistre can make nothing but what is rare and excellent You are wholly silent concerning my affections I meane Monsieur Conrart and Monsieur Menage Be pleâ—s'd to let tâ—em know I have still the same passion for them and be confidâ—ntly assur'd that I am more perfectly then any other in the world I am SIR Your c. Balzac 20 Decemb. 1639. The End of the Fourth Book FAMILIAR LETTERS OF M. de BALZAC To M. CHAPELAIN The Fifth Book LETTER I. SIR I Saw yesterday the Duke of Rochefoucaut who told me many things and amongst the rest that your Signora Vittoria takes the little man we know for a little fool It is the more likely to be true because the number of that Order is very great and yet it may not be so because the Court oftentimes condemns a man for a wry mouth or one simple look I understand from the same Author that Moses saved was the delight and passion of Monsieur and Madam of Liancourt Besides I have received the book of Holstenius and the Tyrannique Love of Monsieur de Scudery by the reading of which I must confesse to you I am still warm'd and agitated 'T is true there are some few things in that piece which I could wish he would alter and himself may take notice of them but the rest are in my opinion incomparable which move the passions after a strange manner which make me shed tears in despight of me and are the cause that the Kid and Scipio are no longer my favourits perhaps it is because we ordinarily judge in favour of things and persons that are present and forget what is past However it be I shall not be displeased that Monsieur de Scudery understand he hath done what he would with me and hath taken me down from my altitude of Philosophy to range me amongst the common croud But I beseech you Who is that gallant person whom you
the Pedants in Greek better then the Pedants in French and the knowing youth of this Gentleman ought to be preferr'd before the aged sufficiency of I am SIR Your c. LETTER IV. SIR YOu have made a happy alteration in the Tomb of the Duke de Weymar 't is worth an Aegyptian Pyramid and the Eagle ready to fall under his blowes is not a change of small importance I have sent me the Translation of the Parasite which is barricado'd with such a company of bad Verses that I was in a mind to have arrested my curiosity there without passing farther He is certainly a rare fellow to elect and pick out himself for the Guardian of the French Honour and the abaser of the pride of Italy En Cor Zenodoti en jecur Cratetis I am sufficiently perswaded of the merit of Monsieur de Petrese but I spoke to you of his reputation and you know well that there is a certain donum famae that all learned men do not possesse and which renders those who enjoy it not onely considerable to the Nobility and Gentry but to the common People and Artizans I have not reviewed the book you sent me but neither do I think the first judgment I made of it was precipitated at the least I have a kindnesse for the Author and conceive he is not enough regarded he hath I know not what of grave and noble in him which extreamly pleases me I speak of his person and not of his first writings in which I acknowledge he hath too much played the Captain But who is he that hath not his failings and his tricks of youth There is not that thing in the world we can praise without exception and all men generally have need of grace Shall I see nothing of our dear Monsieur de Silhor's to quicken my appetite and shall I never hear the good newes that fortune at length hath some remorse for ill treating his vertue I expect the relation of this with some impatience as I shall the occasions of letting you know I am passionately SIR Your c. Balzac 16 Feb. 1640. LET. V. SIR I Interest my self very much in the praises Germany bestowes upon you and congratulate the good successe of your Sonnet I am resolved to quote it every syllable in a Chapter I am now studying And that you may know your friend is a Weymarian as well as you I must let you understand that that Hero a little before his death made an enquity after me and my studies with such care as well testified he attended somewhat from them Monsieur Feret his Secretary a person of much worth writ this in a Letter to Monsieur Borstel from whom I heard it I never saw in Italian the conspiracy of Giovan in Ludovico Count of Triesque but assure you the French Translation of it is a piece I do not much admire and the Epistle is but coorse I am now far entred into the quarrel of Annibal Caro but have nothing changed my first sentiment and I still esteem him an honester man then his Antagonist though perhaps the other may be the greater Clerk No Grammarian I ever yet saw hath that addresse and force of this Modenois either in this or in the Commentaries he made upon Aristotle's Poetiques yet it must be acknowledged he sometimes sins through his too much subtlety and that he is an enemy of mankind who cannot bear the merit or reputation of another I am SIR Your c. Balzac 1 March 1640. LET. VI. SIR VVHatever inclination the party you know of hath to slandering I cannot choose but think him a brave boy nay a gallant man since he is now enriched with a beard if I love him not with that sacred friendship I have for you at the least I can afford him such a passion as shall nothing incommode me and yet extreamly satisfie him I will put him in the number of Mountebanks of Perfumers Viollists makers of Ragousts and all those Artificers of pleasure which are virtuosi in Italy and who as you know Delectant Copetane non amantur That generation of people were banished from Sparta but were esteemed amongst the Sybarites and for my particular I regard them because I have need of mirth and am not displeased I have no obligement to love them because I desire to love few They are the cure of my distempers and the cause I suffer not out of my self at the least they spare me those alarums which ordinarily torture true friendship For Monsieur de Voiture he is alwaies himself that is alwaies a most excellent person and if at any time it hath been said Nature was never greater then in little things let us convert that to the advantage of his Tickets and prefer them before Volumes of Asiatique Authors I desire from you the continuation of his favours and intreat you to assure him of my service There are few persons in the world I esteem so much as him but amongst those few you are alwaies to be excepted The Metamorphosis was lately sent me which I read without much attention but in that tumultuary view I had of it I remarked many gallant things and perhaps the obscurity of certain passages in it proceeded onely from my carelessnesse in the perusall I say nothing to you of the invention of the fables but for the manner of expressing them it seems a little too far strained and puts me in mind of that antient Oratour who could not give the good-morrow without a figure But what will you say of the other party who enjoynes me to read a much larger piece but of a far lesser merit he may as soon perswade me to dig in a Mine as oblige me to it you know the rest and I remain SIR Your c. Balzac 15 March 1640. LETTER VIII SIR IN earnest your Sonnet is one of those noble pieces which command attention and which are esteemed more the renth time then the first I was never acquainted with all its excellencies till this day I am very farre from the comparison of the coal with which you are pleased to smut it and much fear I shall want words rich enough to ennammel it yet I shall not fail to enterprise that though I have onely Lead to set it in And be pleased to know without pretending to thanks for it there is no work of mine in which you shall not be seene on the right hand and on the left The Copy you did me the favour to send me is most exquisite and that way of writing pleases me much more then the way of some other Ladies famous for their Letters they preach and declaim a great part of the time and their Letters in folio are no other then grosse bodies ill animated in lieu of which all in this peice is full of spirit and which smels not of the lamp By what I understand our Gentleman of Rome means to change his name into as many shapes as ever Tabarin changed