Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	action_n	age_n	great_a	95	3	2.0704	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64778	The art of pleasing in conversation written by the famous Abbott Richlieu ; translated out of French.; Art de plaire dans la conversation	Vaumorière, M. de (Pierre Ortigue), 1610-1693.	1691 (1691)	Wing V161A; ESTC R29410	102,997	386

but you expect that I should praise in my turn and instead of excusing my self through modesty I am willing to do it provided my memory furnishes me with the Subject and Expressions It is then the Elogium of a Victorious Prince which I undertake with the assistance of a delicate wit whose Works to my great misfortune you too well know to thank me for what I recite out of ' em This Author writes to the Prince after the winning of a considerable Battel and makes him certain reproaches and forms a kind of Quarrel in a manner infinitely more agreeable than the most regular Congratulation You may judge by several passages which I remember How joyful I am my Lord to be at a distance from your Highness that I may the better say what I have long since thought of you I dared not declare it lest I should fall into the inconveniencies wherein I have beheld Persons who had taken the like Liberties But my Lord you do too much to be past over in silence and you will be unjust if performing the Actions you do it remained there and no mention were made to you of ' em If you knew in what manner all the world talks of you you would be astonish'd to see with how little fear of displeasing you they speak of what you have done In truth my Lord I know not what you have thought of for it was a great boldness in you to have at your Age topt two or three old Captains whom you ought to respect if it were only for their Age. To have taken sixteen pieces of Cannon which belonged to a Prince who is the King's Vncle and the Queen's Brother with whom too you never had any difference To have put into disorder the best Spanish Troops who so kindly let you pass All this is contrary to good manners and matter enough I think for your Confessor I have heard indeed that you were obstinate and that it was not good contending with you but I did not think you would have been transported so far and if you continue you will render your self insupportable to all Europe Neither the Emperour nor King of Spain will have any thing to do with you You know the Letter is longer but the Author speaking openly what he pleases in the rest of it I confess I would not charge my memory with it Cleonice I have the same rellish and I had rather a thousand times know how to praise in this lusory manner than to be able to compose those long and serious Panegyricks which are very laborious to those that make them and very troublesom to those who are oblig'd to hear them Philemon I wonder that Dorante has said nothing yet Does he think to be quit for having given us a Supper Let him not be mistaken we have now praised a valient man let him make an El●●●● of a liberal one 〈◊〉 I shall recount to you the tour of a gallant man whose inclinations you 'll find led him to liberality I doubt not but you have heard that Voiture was a great Gamester and that he lost in one day 1400 Lewis's at the deceased Monsieurs where he had the Office of introducer of Embassadors Being an honest man as well as a man of wit he would send away the next morning the Sum he had lost and finding at home only 1200 Lewis's he sent to demand 200 of Costar his intimate friend Send them to me speedily wrote he to him you know I play no less on your credit than mine own If you have them not borrow 'em If you find no body that will lend 'em you ●ell all that you have even to your good friend Monsieur Vauquet For I must not fail of having 200 Pistols You see with what imperiousness my friendship speaks the reason is because it is vehement Yours would say I entreat you to lend me 200 Lewis's if you can without putting your self to any inconvenience I beg your pardon that I should be so free with you Costar sent the 200 Pistols and answered he never believed he could have so much pleasure for so little money Seeing you play on my credit says he I will always keep a stock to preserve it I can moreover assure you that a near Kinsman of mine has always a 1000 Lewis's as much at my disposal as if they were in your Cosser However I would not hereby expose you to any considerable loss One of my neighbours told one yesterday that his lost Pecunia would have proved the best friend in the world to him could he have kept him by him and I advise you to keep yours I send you back your Note but am surprised you should deal thus with me having taken such a different course with Monsieur Balsac I will add then that Balsac having need of money sent to entreat Voiture to lend him 1200 Livers and charged the Porter to give him a Note for the like Summ Voiture told the Money and took the Note wherein were these words I underwritten confess to owe to Monsieur Voiture the Summ of 400 Crowns which he has lent me for c. Voiture takes the Note and subscribes these words I underwritten confess to owe to Monsieur de Balsac the Summ of 800 Crowns for the pleasure he has done me in borrowing of me 400. After this he gives the Note to Mr. Balsac's Valet de Chambre to carry to his Master The Company was very well satisfied with this Recital and could not but entertain themselves with it all the Supper time Scarce were they risen from Table but Cleonice reassumed the discourse I am charmed said she with the contents of Voiture's Obligation written under that which Balsac sent him Belise I like very well too the manner after which he sent for 200 Pistols grounding this sort of boldness on the firmness of this Friendship Philemon Nothing but a strict familiarity could authorise this liberty without this there had been neither discretion nor civility in this proceeding and you know what would become of Societies without these two so necessary qualities Cleonice They are so necessary that we cannot better spend our time than in treating of them Entertainment X. That to please in Conversation one must be discreet and keep an exact decorum Philemon HAve you not observed that it is not young people who generally please in Conversation whatever agreeableness their youth may give them Dorante I do not wonder at it for besides that they have not a sufficient stock of experiences for Conversation they be commonly too hot in speaking and shew in what they say more impetuosity than reservedness But that which is most considerable is that they seldom consider what they are and before whom they speak Lisidor I beseech you to shew 'em no favour for my sake for I acknowledge they are for the most part little discreet and greatly conceited they speak with a blustering Air interrupt and interrogate after the

the soles of her Feet These are in truth glistering expressions but I think 'em not so well placed in a serious stile as they would be in a light Poem There are also Authors who think they carry not their Exageration far enough if they do not heap Hyperbole upon Hyperbole Now although there are infinite Hyperbolies in the Writings of witty men who are pleased to sport ingeniously with them yet we must not think this Figure ought to be only used in raillery and that it cannot well be seen in the most serious matters One of our Authors praising Cardinal Richlieu addresses himself to him in these Terms in an Epistile Dedicatory But my Lord as there was heretofore a Valiant Man who could not receive any wounds but on the scars of those he had already received so you cannot be praised but by Repetitions seeing that truth which hath its bounds has said for you whatever falshood which knows none has invented for others I may add that Hyperboles make a great impression in a Tragical Subject This Monster having not sufficiently glutted his Cruelty and being not satisfied with the Rivers of Blood which he made run down this desolate City put all to Fire and Sword before him He foam'd with Rage and his Eyes more ardent and dismal than two Comets c. But before we end methinks we should not forget Voiture who is so full of agreeable Hyperboles Have you not observed How many Towns he discovers which are in no Maps How many Mountains which Geographers know nothing of How many Terra's incognita's and how many Rivers and Seas which the World never before heard of He ingenuously confesses in another Letter that he makes use of the Figure we speak of He makes the description of a Feast and says if I be not mistaken That the Skie appeared on Fire that all the places round about shined like Stars and that it seemed as if the whole Vniverse was turning into a flame He afterwards coldly adds that these are 3 Hyperboles which reduced to their just value are just worth nothing I know not Erastus whether what I now said satisfies you You I say to whom the Hyperbole was so familiar before you had espoused Cleonice Perhaps you have not as yet forgot how you set this Figure at work when you came to find me to impart to me your Joy or relate to me your Griess It is not above six Months since That one minute without seeing Cleonice was an Age of Trouble to you and I am certain that if you could entertain her an Age you would look on this Age but as a Moment Erastus I confess in those days I made more often use of the Hyperbole than the Irony but seeing I find my self at present in a calmer condition I should be more disposed to Gaiety than the Figure requires which you would have me speak of You know better than I what a great relish she yields to Raillery and I believe that Lisider is not to be taught that an Irony consists in learning neatly to be understood the contrary of what we say I saw yesterday at a Lady of Quality's a Marquess who this day was to set out for his Province where he goes to confine himself He came to Paris on occasion of a Law-suit and I believe he returns less out of humour for having parted with a great deal of money to Solicitors and Lawyers than to have remain'd three or four Months from his Seat and his Farms He took a great delight in recounting how he busied himself in the Country and being my near Kinsman I could no more suffer what he said than his manner of living A Lady of the Company took notice of the Pain I was in and represented to the Marquess That in France a Person of Quality thought it more becoming him to serve in the Wars than to amuse himself in feeding Ducks and Pigeons Our Country Gentleman smiled and shewed by his answer That he pitied those Persons that serv'd in the Wars I could not then forbear speaking and directing my discourse to this Lady My Lord has reason said I to her a little roughly and I assure you that the Corde's the Turenn's and the Crequi's are to be blamed for not following his Example Their lives would have been Glorious far from Armies whereas they determined to spend them in beating their Enemies gaining Battels and taking Cities I know not what they thought in embracing a profession which so greatly lessens their Memory It 's true they had the mishap of not consulting a Wit so solid as that of my Lord the Marquess I uttered these words with a serious Air the Company smiled and my Kinsman lost his Countenance and could not get it again all the Dinner time I do not doubt but Lisidor knows That we comprehend the sense of an Irony either by a tone of Pronunciation which discovers that we are not in earnest or by the apparent opposition there is between the words and the thing spoken of It was by this last means that I was understood for they saw nothing but what was serious in my Discourse and on my Countenance But seeing that you have cited Authors methinks it is lawful for me to say That an Irony glisters throughout all the Works of Voiture and Sarasin You are not surprised at this but I am in seeing in Malherbe's Letters a Raillery ingeniously turn'd which I may take for a kind of rony I was so content with several passages of this famous Author's Rhime that I dared not read his Prose so greatly was I afraid of losing the Esteem I would preserve for him Lisidor will not be displeased in hearing how ingeniously Malherbe relates the News of the Siege of Veruë The Spaniards are always before Veruë it 's a place that is a little more worth than Chaliot but is far from being so good as Lagny However the Duke de Feria lies starving there with cold notwithstanding the Dog-days The Marshal de Crequi has lodg'd himself between the Besieged and the Besiegers and does wonders according as he is wont If you ask me what I expect I believe that the Spaniards will see the Steeples and Chimneys of this Town but as for the Streets of it they must get their notices of them in the Map I would advise them if they pretend still to the Vniversal Monarchy either that they would proceed more quick in their work or beg of Heaven to put a stop to the end of the World that they may have time enough to finish it c. I shall not expatiate any longer on this matter I find it large and I like it I am afraid lest it should carry me too far Dorante You ought not to have the same fear of the Antithesis I have ever heard you say That you could not endure it However the opposition of words and thoughts may give great lustre to a discourse But I am of your mind that he that