the interim how short a while soeuer you stay here you shall haue the contentment to see France change some fiue or sixe times At your returne you will hardly find any thing answerable to what you left there they shall not be the same men you formerly saw and all things will appeare vnto you as the affaires of another Kingdome But before the matter be growne to that head it is fitting you reigne here in Soueraignty and become the Supreame Iudge of three or foure Conclaues And truly it might so happen my Lord that I should do you some acceptable seruice in those great occasions if I had my health but to my great griefe it is a happinesse for which I enuy my Grand mother and howsoeuer I haue heretofore beene little or much estimable I confesse that at this present I am but the halfe of what I was It is therefore in vayne to expect workes of any great value from me or that you importune me to take paynes for the Publicke for in Conscience what high defignes can a man haue betweene the affliction of diseases and the apprehension of Death The one whereof doth neuer forsake me and the other daily affrights me or how can you imagine I should conceiue eminent matters who am ready to dye at euery instant True it is that the necessity to obey you which I haue alwaies before mine Eyes is an extraordinary strong motiue but not to dissemble the impossibility of my performance is yet more forcible and so long as I continue in the state I now am I can not promise you so much as the History of the Kingdome of Yuetot nor that of the Papacy of Campora though it continued onely one halfe quarter of an houre From Rome this 27. of February 1622. Another Letter vnto Cardinall de la Valete from Balzac LETTER IIII. My LORD YOur Cash-keeper hath newly brought mee the summe you commanded him to deliuer vnto me I would willingly shew sufficient thankefulnesse for this high fauour but besides that your benefits are boundlesse and that you are so gracious an obliger that it doth euen augment the value of your Bounty I should seeme ouer presumptuous to thinke any words of mine valuable to the least of your actions It shall therefore suffice me to protest vnto you that the bounty wherewith the Letter I receiued from you is so stored being of force to infuse Loue and Fidelity in the hearts of very Barbarians shall worke no lesse effect in the spirit of a person who hath learned both by Nature and Philosophy not to be ingratefull Since I finde my interest within my duty I must necessarily loue you if I hate not my selfe and be an honest man by the very Maxime of the wicked Yet is not this last consideration the cause chiefly obliging me to your seruice For though I acknowledge diuers defects in my selfe yet may I without vanity affirme I was neuer besotted with so base an attraction as that of gaine I therefore reflect vpon your fauours in their naked purity and the esteeme you make of me is to me by so much a more strong obligation then all others in that it regardeth my merit and not my instant pouerty and proceedeth from your iudgement which is farre more excellent then your fortunes are eminent Herein my Lord it is manifest that all your inclinations are magnificent for you knowing me neither to be fit to make the Father of a Family nor to solicite causes at the Counsell-table nor well to ride post you make it appeare you are of the right blood of Kings who are onely rich in superfluous things Truely it were a hard matter to guesse what in this world is the true vse of Pearles and Diamonds or why a Picture should cost more then a Pallace but onely pleasure which to satisfie the inuentions of Art are dayly imployed and Nature to that end produceth whatsoeuer is rare being indeede a thing more noble then necessity shee being contented with small matters euer preferring profit besore pleasure And I will here stop lest I speake too much to my owne aduantage And if I haue already incurred that crime I beseech you to beleeue it hath not beene with purpose to praise my selfe but onely to extoll your liberality Yet will I make bold to acquaint you how I imploy your money and yeelde you a more particular account of the affaires I dispatch for you here at Rome First in this hot Moneth I seeke all possible remedies against the violence of the Sunne I haue a Fanne which wearieth the hands of foure Groomes and raiseth a winde in my Chamber which would cause shipwracke in the maine Sea I neuer die but I dye Snow in the Wine of Naples and make it melt vnder Mellons I spend halfe my time vnder water and the rest on Land I rise twice a day and when I step out of my bed it is onely to enter into a Groue of Orange-trees where I slumber with the pleasant purling of some twelue Fountaines but if occasion be offered to goe further once in a Weeke I crosse not the street but in Carroach passing still in the shade betweene Heauen and Earth I leaue the smell of sweetest flowers vnto the Vulgar as hauing found the inuention to eate and drinke them The Spring time neuer parts with me all the yeare either in variety of distilled Waters or in Conserues I change perfumes according to the diuersity of Seasons some I haue sweeter others stronger And though the Ayre be a thing Nature bestowes for nothing and whereof the poorest haue plenty yet that I breath in my Chamber is as costly vnto mee as my house-rent Besides all this I in quality of my Lord your Agent am almost daily feasted and there whilest others fill themselues with substantiall and most ponderous cates I who haue no great appetite make choice of such Birds as are crammed with Sugar and nourish my selfe with the spirit of Fruites and with a meate called felly My Lord these are all the seruices I yeeld you in this place and all the functions of my residence neare his holinesse and I hold my selfe particularly obliged now the second time to thanke you for this fauour for by your meanes I enioy two things seldome suiting together a Master and Liberty and the great rest you allow mee is not the least present you please out of your Noblenesse to affoord me Your Graces most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC From Rome the 15. of Iuly 1621. To the Lord Cardinall de Valete from BALZAC LETTER V. My Lord VVIthin the Deserts of Arabia nor in the Seas intrailes was there euer so furious a Monster found as is the Scyatica And if Tyrants whose memories are hatefull vnto vs had beenestored with such instruments for effecting their cruelties surely I thinke it had beene the Scyatica the Martyres had indured for Religion and not the fire and biting of wild Beasts At
seriously they are no lesse necessary among excellent discourses and conceits then discipline amongst Souldiers without which courage is of no effect and valour most cōmonly proueth vnprofitable As for me who haue knowne the Author from both our infancies and who better then all others can depose in what fashion he effecteth his labours besides knowing the great aduantage hee hath ouer all those who write at this day I haue euer thought that if any were able to raise our Language to the merit and reputation of such Eloquence wherewith the Ancients were adorned it should bee to him alone to whom our age oweth this glorie Nor doe I doubt but the comparison comming in question at this present betweene these his writings and those of others the difference will bee easily discouered assuring my selfe that all spirits will dispose themselues to be ranged herein to mine opinion and voluntarily to giue way thereunto As for my selfe who read the Ancients with all respect due vnto them and the Moderns without any preiudicate opinion doe notwithstanding confesse that all I can conceiue in others is so farre short of the merit of these Letters that abstracting from the passion I am possessed with both for them and their Authour hardly could I dispose my selfe to frame this Preface for them And who is there will make any difficultie to giue them their due Since hee whose very faults haue beene esteemed so faire that they caused a Sect during his life which yet continues after his death hauing at Meats seene certaine discourses this Author composed in those miserable times and which stood in need of another age to be gratefully regarded was astonished at his beginnings confessing it was with vnwillingnesse that the onely thing hee supposed to possesse by the generall consent of all was rauished from him by one who as yet had liued but twenty yeeres But surely it was in this straine of writing which in that it is not restrayned within so strict limits as that of Letters is capable of all the motions and ornaments of Art and of the same sort as was the other discourse he addresseth to the Pope who now is vpon the like subiect as that of Saint Bernards to Eugenius And as God neuer chose among men any so accomplished with all perfections as this person to command all others so can I not conceiue any thing either more great or extraordinary then what appeareth in this worke nor more sutable to the excellencie of the subiect and to the Maiestie of him to whom he dedicated his discourse But if to returne to the particulars of these Letters it were necessary for the deliuering an vnpartiall iudgment to consider those of the Ancients I should seeme more respectfull then were requisite if putting them all together I should vndertake to make them so much as enter into comparison with these excepting onely those of Seneca yea euen in those which in trueth come not nere these there is so infinite abundance of matter as can hardly bee imagined and since all things therein appeare so confusedly that it seemes they were therein couched without choice and to say trueth as itwere at aduenture some who will yet further tax his stile will happily say they are rather matters then Workes But for my part if there bee any defects therein I hold they ought well to be borne with in regard of so many rarities therein concurring and when wee haue said all what appearance is there to vnderualew any thing we receiue from a man who was worth seuen Millions of Gold And who once in his life had the heart and ambition to aspire to the Empire of the whole world Let vs therefore esteeme all wee receiue from him and from those times yet suffer vs to commend our owne wherein this science which medleth with the commanding of spirits and which was but formerly in it's infancy is now found to be in his full maturitie and as it were of ripe yeeres If therefore you acknowledge any obligation due as in trueth there is to these excellent Letters you shall in short time see so solid and iust a iudgment proceed from this Author that the Parliament it selfe produceth not any more able and his solitarines will be so satisfactorie vnto you that you will make no more difference then I do to prefer the fame before the magnificence of Princely Courts and the Pompe of most statelyest Cities THE TRANSLATOR To the Reader ABout fiue yeeres since I chanced to peruse Mounsieur Balzac's Letters they being then as I suppose but lately come forth in French and as it should seeme without the Authours approbation For of eight Editions in seuerall places since published this onely being the last I was by him auowed Hauing therefore seene this Coppy was so farre from supposing it vnworthy the reading as on the contrary finding his stile right eloquent and altogether vnafected his conceptions high and the whole Booke richly adorned with great varietie of learning appearing almost in euery Page It raised no small desire in mee to try how his way of writing would sute with our language I thought therefore good as my occasions would permit now and then for my priuate recreation to translate certaine of his Letters without any the least intention to put them all into English much lesse to publish them But hauing once begun I found my selfe so taken with the freeedome of his discourse together with the facillitie of his expressions and so surunded with the torrent of his witt that though I had small hopes of wading safely through notwithstanding it seemed euen delightfull vnto mee to bee drenched in so rich so pleasing and so plentifull a flood yet after diuers attempts I at last arriued on drie land resoluing to rest my selfe after these labours and in priuate to inioy the content I tooke in hearing Mounsieur Balzac speake though but broken English But I was not long left in peace with this resolution before certaine my noble friends vnderstanding I had traualled on this subiect did importunately solicite me to put these Letters into Print perswading me I should here in performe no vnacceptable seruice to my Countrey especially to such who are vnacquainted with the French Language Their power therefore ouer-ruling my bashfullnesse though otherwise seconding my willing desire to bee vsefull I held it lesse faultie to incur the hazard of publike censure then to bee taxed of wilfull inciuillitie So as worthy Reader I haue here exposed them to thy view If the coursnesse of the English habit wherein I haue clad them seeme vnsutable to their French attyre or vnfashionable in thy sight Consider I beseech thee that beautifull creatures are not altogether blemished though but plainely attyred If therefore you please so farre to fauour mee as to excuse these my errours I will herafter endeauour to become more seruiceable You will happily not here find all Balzac's Letters Englished yea and diuers clauses left out the onely reason
very prayers shee hath not as yet begun I am here some hundred and fifty Leagues from these fine things where I study to solace my selfe as much as possibly I can and to this end I make my selfe drunke euery day But to free you from any sinister opinion of what I say I assure you it is onely with the water of Pougues which surely would bee Inke were it blacke so that I surfeit without finning against the Rules of Sobriety and my frolickes are as Austeere as the Minimes fastings I haue a great desire to enter couenants with my Phisitians wherby it might be granted that all agreeable things should be wholesome that one might speedily recouer his Health by the sent of Flowers instead of their Medicines which are ordinarily second miseries succeeding the former yet without spending much time or trouble I haue made all impossibilities passable with me and in the case I am I would swallow Fire were it prescribed me for the recouery of my health It is no small aduantage not to be reduced to these tearmes no more then you are and not to know what it is to suffer or complayne So is it for the generall good of the whole World that GOD hath giuen you this vigorous Health to imploy it in the seruice of Kings and in your Vigilancy ouer the conduct of People As for me who should not happily make so good vse thereof as I ought and who am farre more inclinable to Vice then to Vertue I hold it conuenient I be alwayes crazy and that GOD take from me the meanes to offend Him whereof otherwise I should infallibly make but ouer-much vse I write not at this present to M. it is all I can do to finish this Letter in hast and to tell you what you long since knew that I am my Lord Your most humble and passionate Seruant BALZAC October the 15. 1622. To the Lord Bishop of Aire from BALZAC LETTER XI My Lord I Am infinitely glad to vnderstand by your Letters of your safe returne into France and that you haue now no further vse of Cypbers for the expression of your minde to my Lord the Cardinall of Richelieu I shall at your pleasure I hope vnderstand the particulars of your Voyage and what you haue seene at Naples and Venice worthy your content This is not out of any great curiosity I haue for these things or that I admire dumble Marble or Pictures being no way so beautifull as the Persons These trifles are to be left for the Vulgar with whom the same Obiects limit their imagination and sight and who of all times reflect mearely vpon the present and of all things onely vppon the appearance but for my part I am of a contrary opinion There are not in the whole world any Pallaces so sumptuous or of so high a structure which are not farre vnder my thoughts and I conceiue in my spirit a poore hermitage to the foundation whereof many more materials are proiected then were requisite for establishing a Republicke You see here my Lord how in some sort I play the Prince amidst my pouerty and with what insolency I scorne what the world so much admireth I am as haughty as though I were a Minister of State or as if this last change in the Kingdome had beene made for me alone yet you know well that I call not my selfe L. M. D. L. V and how if there had beene none but my selfe to assault my Lord the Comte of Schambergs Vertue it still had continued in the same place where it hath beene reuerenced of all men Each man hath his seuerall censure concerning this great newes but whatsoeuer they can say I assure my selfe there can nothing befall that Lord whereto hee is not at all times prepared and that he hath liued too long not to know that Fortune taketh speciall delight in dallying with the affaires of France and hath from all Ages made choyce of our Court as the Theater of her follies If he had not beene prouided of the gouernment of this Citty and what time the King commanded him to come thence his fall had beene more fearefull then it was but it is Gods will that Augolesme should be the fatall retreate of the afflicted and truely allthings well considered it is no great downe come to light vpon a Mountaine Now truely if the e be any thing amisse in the administration of the Kings Monies hee cannot be taxed for introducing this errour for he found it there and besides the necessity of the times haue euer resisted his good intentions and haue hindred the appearance of what he had in his heart for the reformation of disorders It is now necessary the King vndertake so glorious a Designe and set his hand to that part of the State which hath more neede of redresse then all the rest But he is first to begin by the moderation of his Spirit and hee shall after gaine their loyalty who serue him If those Princes our Elders haue seene had considered that the Coyne comming into their Exchecquers was no lesse then the blood and teares of their poore Subiects whom they haue often forced to flye into Forrests and passe the Seas to saue themselues from taxes and impositions they would haue beene more scrupulous and cautelous how they had touched vpon so dreadfull vndertakings at least they would not haue beene at once both indigent and vniust nor haue amazed all the Princes of Europe who could neuer conceiue why they borrowed their owne moneyes of their Treasurers who receiue their revenewes as they purchase their owne strong places from their Gouernours who command therein Truely it is very strange the Great Turke can intrust his Wiues to the vigilancy of others and assure themselues their Chastity shall therby be conserued yet that Kings know not to whom they may safely encharge their Treasures But the true reason is for that an honest man is by so much more difficultly found then an Eunuch by how much Miracles are more rare then Monsters Great Fortitude is requisite for the attayning of Honesty but the will onely sufficeth to become couetous and the most harmelesse haue hands and may happen to haue temptations Were it my part to play the reformer and to preach before the Prelates I would enlarge my selfe vpon this Subiect but in the condition wherein I stand it is sufficient I approue not the ill and haue a good Opinion of the present State prouided the report be current that there is now no obstacle betweene the King and the Queene his Mother likely to hinder them from meeting and that things are reduced to those tearmes wherein Nature hath placed them Then will the face of the State shortly resume the same beauty the late King bestowed thereon and God will with a full hand powre his Graces vpon so iust a Gouernment Though my Lord the Cardinall of Richlieu were onely neare Publique affaires without touching them there is no question but
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
would it anger mee shrewdly if after hauing passed nine Ports and abidden many backe-casts to get thither to be at last stayed at the Tenth Nay should I chance to get admittance what a hell were it for me to come into a Coūtrey where Hatts are not made to couer heads and where all men grow crooked with extreame cringeing Consider therefore whether this humour of mine would sute with the place where you are or if a man whose points and garters seeme ponderous vnto him and who findes it a difficult matter to obey Gods Commandements and the Kings Edicts can be drawne to bee obliged to new lawes or procure to himselfe a third seruitude In the state wherein I now am all the Princes in the World act Comedies to make me sport I enioy all the riches of Nature from the Heauens to riuer-waters and I easily obtaine of my moderate spirit what I cannot attaine vnto by the liberality of Fortune This being thus will you perswade me to change those benefits none enuy with your feares hopes and suspicions or not thinke it fit I value liberty for which the Hollanders haue made Warre now this fifty yeares against the King of Spaine But since I haue passed my word I am not resolued to reuoke it yet when I must needs bid adieu to my Woods and solitary places which haue taught mee so many good things and quit this inchanted Palace of mine where all my thoughts are reall inspirations I shall haue a great conflict within me to keepe my word with you I will beleeue none but your selfe who best know whether or no I haue reason to loue this prison my Father builded for me or this little spot of Land where there is no defect but a Fountaine of Gold and other vnnecessary things there being else sufficient here to satisfie a sober person I must confesse the last great raines haue blemished all the beauty abroad And Winter which by right should bee condemned neuer to depart from Swedland is already come to crosse the content I formerly enioyed But howsoeuer there are yet pleasing remedies to auoyde these present incommodities The perfumes I burne and whereof I am as prodigall as though I exacted tribute from the Countries from whence they come maketh me the lesse to misse the sweetnesse of the Spring And a great fire resembling the brightest beauty which I tearme the Sunne of the night and darke dayes watcheth at all houres in my Chamber and giueth light to my rest as well as to my Studies Before this witnesse which I neuer loose sight of all Nature is the subiect of my meditation and I conceiue workes which happily may merit a place in your Library and to bee chosen Citizens of that diuine Republique I know not what men doe most esteeme in bookes but I am confident that in this I compose Iustice and Maiesty shall appeare so euenly tempered as none shall therein find any thing either sauoring of cowardize or cruelty I take and make vse of the art of Ancients as they would haue done from me had I beene the first man liuing But I haue no seruile dependancy vpon their conceptions nor am I borne their vassall to follow no other lawes or examples saue theirs To the contrary if I deceiue not my selfe my inuention is farre more happy then my imitation and as there haue beene in our age diuers new Stars discouered till this present vnperceiued so I in matter of Eloquence seeke out singularities hitherto vnknowne to any It is certaine and you know it as well as my selfe you who know good things when you see them and who are the Authour of diuers that there are none so seuere Muses as the Frēch nor any tongue more hating affectation and bare apparances of things then ours All kinde of ornaments therefore are not propper for her and her purity is at such ods with the exorbitant licence of other languages that a French vice in this kind is often made a forraine vertue But in this case we are to take aduice of the vnderstanding and eare and for my part I haue for my patterne herein the Idea of the great Cardinall of Richelieu as though he were present and priuy to my conceptions or as if he at all times receiued or reiected them as they happen to bee either good or otherwise But to tell you the truth I know not well which way I passe by this tedious and vntroden path or what vse I intend to make of these so many impertinent speeches But I am as often out of my way in the allies of my hermitage and I haue many times much vse of a man to let me know whether it be day or night and to order my times and actions yet would I haue you know I doe not vsually fall into such errours but onely before such as I loue and honour as I doe you at all other times be it in my visits or in my Letters I will bee well aduised how I suffer the end to come farre short of the Exordium and from the first word I make all the haste I may to come to Your most humble seruant BALZAC The 11. of February 1624. To Mounsieur Girard Secretary to the Duke of Espernon LETTER XI LEt me intreate you that we may deface out of our intended History whatsoeuer hath passed these last four Months let vs imagine that time to haue hapned in some fabulous age and for our mutuall content let vs herein learne the Art of Obliuion Had I beene constrayned to quit our ancient acquaintance being of equall age to either of vs and whereof I make as great account as of my Fathers inheritance surely J had beene driuen to the like streights as hee who with one hand should be forced to cut off the other It is then the necessity of my inclination which forceth mee to affect Philander though he were mine enemy and this passion doth so please me that should any man cure me thereof I would commense suit with him for my former malady I will not accuse any man for the fault committed Let vs both imagine it to be a Child without a Father and to cleare all men let vs lay it vp among the present miseries and impute it to the power of fortune I will rather suppose it to be the last effect of the Commet then impute it to any act of your spirit or that you contriued the discontent I haue endured I sweare vpon whatsoeuer is August or Sacred amongst men I haue no lesse loued you then my selfe and haue equally shared my selfe betweene my brother and Philander Hence forward I desire to doe the like But let vs leaue all these faire words and petty nicities to poore spirits and hereafter conferre together with such liberty as Philosophy affoordeth vs. But aboue all things J intreate you not to suffer a supposed wisdome to restraine you within particular respects and petty considerations which may hinder you from speaking high in
multitude who flocke to heare you euery morning Are you perswaded that I and the people can neuer be of one minde That I will oppose my selfe to the beleefe of honest men to the approbation of Doctors and to their authority who are eminent aboue others No Father I allow no such liberty to my spirit assure your selfe I esteeme you as I ought I commend your zeale and learning yea were it truer then euer it was that to compose tedious Volumnes is no lesse then to commit great sinnes Yet if you oblige me to iudge of yours by that you sent vnto me I say it is very excellent in its kind and that I will no way hinder you from obtayning a Ranke among the Fathers of these moderne ages But my testimony will not I hope become the onely fruite of your labours I wish with all my heart the conuersion of Turkes and Infidels may crowne your indeauours I am perswaded all the honour this world can affoord ought to be esteemed as nothing by those who only seeke for the aduancement of Gods glory I will therefore no farther dilate my selfe vpon this Subiect nor wrong holy things by profaine praises my intention is onely to let you know J assume not so poore a part in the Churches interest as not to bee extraordinarily well pleased with those who are seruiceable thereto and that I am right glad besides the propension I haue to esteeme your amity so powerfull a perswasion as Religion is doth yet further oblige me Yours BALZAC To the Cardinall of Vallete LETTER IIII. My LORD THe Letter you pleased to send mee from Rome caused me to forget I was sicke and I presumed to solace my selfe after three yeares of sadnesse euer since newes was brought mee of Lucidors death and the successe of that fatall combate wherein you could not but bee a loser on which side soeuer the aduantage happened My Lord I doubt not but your spirit though altogether stoute and couragious to support your proper misfortunes is yet mollified by the relation of their miseries who loue you and where there is question rather of shewing your good nature or your constancy you will quit one vertue to acquire another I know well that in the number of your goods you reckon your friends in the first ranke allowing onely the second place to your dignities and to fifty thousand Crownes rent which accompanies them and consequently I assure my selfe you beleeue you are as it were growne poore by the losse of a man who had relation vnto you But I am likewise most certaine how after the passing certaine vnpleasant dayes out of the loue you bare him and hauing affoorded him sufficient testimonies of your true affection he now expecting no further acknowledgement or seruice you will at length call to minde that it is the Publique to whom you owe your cares and passions and that you are not permitted farther to afflict a spirit which is no longer yours Since the misery of this age is so generall as it leaueth no one house without teares nor any one part of Europe without trouble and since Fortune is not of power to conserue euen her owne workemanships who are many of them fallen to ground it must needes so happen my Lord that being of the world you are to taste of the fruites it produceth and that you purchase at some hard rate the good successes dayly attending you But truely the place where you are and the great designes taking you vp may well furnish you with so strong and solide consolations as they neede leaue no worke for others and my Eloquence would come too late should I imploy it after your reason which hath formerly perswaded you there being now neither precept nor Counsell in all humane wisedome vnproposed to your view and since neither Seneca nor Epictetus can say any thing saue onely your thoughts I had much rather send you diuertisements no way distastefull then to present you any remedies which doubtlesse will proue importunate These writings my Lord here inclosed shall not enter as strangers into your Cabinet they will not talke vnto you of the fiue Pradicables of Perphirie nor of Iustinians Neuelles or the numbers of Algebra But you may there recreate and repose your spirits at your returne from Audiences Congregations and the Consistory I could well haue bestowed vppon them a more eminent title then what they haue I could out of these composures haue framed Apologies Accusations and politique discourses yea had I pleased neuer so little to haue extended some of my Letters they might haue beene called bookes But besides my designe aiming rather to please then importune and that I tend to the highth of conceptions and not at the abundance of words When I treate with you my Lord I suppose my selfe to be before a full assembly and doe propose to my selfe neuer to write any thing vnto you which Posterity ought not to read Now if sometimes from your person I passe to others or if I commend those whom I conceiue are deseruing I assure my selfe I therein performing an act of Iustice and not ofsubiection you will be no way displeased with what I doe and well hope I may conserue your fauours without violating humane Lawes or separating my selfe from ciuill society Your most humble seruant BALZAC The 15. of Iuly 1629. To the Cardinall of Vallete LETTER V. My Lord THough innocency be the Felicity of the afflicted and that I finde in my selfe the satisfaction he can expect who hath not offended yet can I not so easily comfort my selfe And the remedien my Phylosophy affoord me are for meaner misfortunes then the losse of your fauours All I can contribute to my consolation out of the assurance I haue of mine innocency is the liberty I haue taken to tell you so and to complaine of the iniustice you haue done me if you haue so much as suffered any to accuse me I neede not seeke colours to palliate my actions or words it is sufficiently knowne their principall obiects haue euer bin the glory of your name and the desire to please you I befeech you likewise to call to remembrance that hard times haue not hindred me from imbarking my selfe where my inclination called me and that I haue serued my Lord your Father when most of his followers were in danger to become his Martyrs It should seeme perchance I stand in neede of the memory of what is past and that I make my precedent good offices appeare to the end to cause them to ouer way my present offences No my Lord I intend not to make vse of what now is not for the iustification of mine actions nor am I ignorant that neuer any woman was so vicious who hath not heretofore bin a Virgin nor criminal who cannot prescribe some time preceding his bad life I speake of to day as well as of heretofore and doe protest vnto you with all the Oathes able to make truth appeare holy and inuiolable
it hath beene since you haue vouchsafed to enter thereinto But if without offending against Grammaticall rules and those of Decorum J durst take you for my second I assure my selfe if wee were to denounce war against these petty Authours who are ingendered by errour and disclosed out of the corruption of this age you should not haue ouer many in taking halfe a dozen of them to taske for your part At the least you would put those Pedants to silence who bragge they haue taught me to speake Yet will I tell you before I proceede any further and to the end they may know as much if you please that my Mother is not resolued to giue this for granted and how if there be any glory to be gotten in so poore an exploite she is determined to dispute the matter against all these booke-makers I haue euer beene hitherto of opinion that in what concerneth the choice of words I ought to suffer my selfe to be gouerned by the common acceptation thereof without adhering to any one mans single example and that instead of acknowledging the authority of any particular I am to follow the publique consent But howsoeuer it is not the praise of a great Orator to speake our Language well but rather the marke of a true Frenchman Nor doe I pretend applause from any for not being borne in Holland or Germany It is true I attibute much to Elocution and know that high things stand in neede of the helpe of words and that after those haue bin rightly conceiued they are as happily to bee expressed It onely angers me that out of the poorest part of Rhetoricke receiued among the ancients they will needes extract all ours And that to please meane spirits it is sitting as they thinke our workes should resemble those sacrifices whereout they take the heart and where of all the head nothing is left saue only the tongue I would make answer to the other aduertisements you did me the honour to giue me if they had not relation to a matter I reserue my selfe fully to treate of in L. being a worke I am in hand with and which I hope shortly to present vnto you at Paris There it shall be where I will make it appeare vnto you that reason cannot haue an easier taske then to perswade a spirit of the like making mine is and that I equally loue the truth whether I receiue it from any other or that I finde it my selfe BALZAC The 3. of August 1624. To Mounsieur Berniere President in the Parliament of Roan LETTER XIII THe meane compliment I am to offer you is the first effect of the fuming Drinkes I receiued from you I haue no meanes to finde out my right sences to entertaine you they are lost in your excellent liquors and I had neede be more valiant then I am to defend my selfe against Spaine and Normandy with their vnited forces I verily thinke that what should haue beene drunke at Berniere betwixt this and Easter is ouerflowne in my Chamber If my Friends come not to my aide I am in danger to suffer shipwracke or not to become sober againe till next yeare yet will you needes haue mee euen in this plight wherein I am to act a sober mans part and my soule to execute those functions you haue suspended It is impossible not being my selfe I should speake my ordinary Language I cannot giue you two words of thankes without taking one for another and my head is so full of your Spanish Wine and Normandy Cider that my wits giue place I will therefore content my selfe to assure you with this small portion offence yet left mee that supposing your Friendship produced nothing and were as barren as it is fruitfull I would sue for it out of a more noble consideration then that of particular interest and would testifie vnto you that it is your selfe I loue and not your fortunes Beleeue I beseech you the truest of all men you gained my heart the first time I had the honour to see you I then gaue my selfe wholy as yours and said within my selfe what I haue often since reiterated that you being rich enough to purchase a Soueraignty beyond the Alp es if that should euer happen I esteemed you a sufficient worthy person to deserue to haue me liue vnder your Regency and that I was Your most humble seruant and subiect BALZAC At Paris the 5. of March 1627. To Mounsieur de Voiture LETTER XIIII THough the halfe of France diuide vs yet are you as presentto my spirit as the obiects I see and you haue part in all my thoughts and dreames Riuers Plaines and Townes may well oppose them selues to my content they cannot hinder my memory from taking entertainment with you or from the frequent taste of those excellent Discourses wherewith you haue graced me till I be so happy as againe to heare you Though you should grow proud yet must I confesse I conceiue not any thing either great or sublime saue onely those Seedes you haue scattered in my Soule and that your company which at first was right pleasing is now become absolutely necessary for me You may therefore well thinke it is not willingly I leaue you thus long in your Mistresses hands or that I suffer her to enioy my goods without giuing me account Euery moment she obligeth you to allow her are so many vsurpations she makes vpon me all you whisper vnto her are secrets you conceale from me and to haue your conuersation in mine absence is to inrich her selfe by my losses But there is no reason J should malice so faire a Riuall in that both of you are happy or that I frame mine afflictions vpon your mutuall contents prouided at my comming I find foure moneths absence notto haueblotted me out of your remembrance and that Loue hath there reserued some place for friendship I shall still haue for mine aduantage the time passing to attend the houre assigned and you will come to comfort me sometimes concerning the miseries of this Age and the iniustice of men In the interim in the place where now I am as I haue but slender ioyes so haue I not any great discontents I am in equall distance remooued from dis-fauour and good fortune and that vnconstant Goddesse who is euer imploied in depopulating Cities and subuerting States hath no leasure to worke mischiefe in meane places I see Shepheardesses who can only say yea and nay and who are too grosse witted to be deceiued by vnderstanding persons yet is painting as little knowne among them as Eloquence and because I am their Maister they would suffer me to shew them if I so pleased how smal a distance there is betweene power and tyranny instead of the fine words and quaint discourses wherein your Ladies abound there issues from their mouthes a pure and innocent breath which incorporates it selfe with their kisses and giues them a taste you ordinarily finde not among those of the Court. Supposing therefore