Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	hear_v	speak_v	word_n	7,138	5	4.4441	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02324	A collection of some modern epistles of Monsieur de Balzac. Carefully translated out of French. Being the fourth and last volume; Correspondence. English. Selections	Balzac, Jean-Louis Guez, seigneur de, 1597-1654.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver.; Bowman, Francis.	1639 (1639)	STC 12455; ESTC S103517	67,928	288

For in that case I think you could not have chosen but to have been my Guide and I did already make account to learne to sing that J might chante your Poëme But by the great mercy of God J recovered my eye-sight yesterday and you are freed from the sad office which my distressed Fortune might have requir'd from your good nature Now that I doe speak and doe not rattle in the throat J must give you an account of the voyage that J made and I must tell you with as much ceremony and eloquence as heretofore that I have been to meet the Court as farre as Cadilliac I had the honour there to doe my respects to my Lord But His sicknesse that took him the very day that he arriv'd thither and mine which would waite no longer to attach me did force me to take my way back to my Village where I found your messages and my coffers I render you once more most humble thanks for the care you took to keep them for me and since you are pleased that J make use of you with such familiarity you must permit my thankfull acknowledgement thereof The newes you wrote unto me concerning the sicknesse of was told me at Bordeaux when I was there and J sweare unto you J have not slept a good sleepe since This is as good a man as ever I was acquainted with and I doe mainely esteeme him because I know him to the very heart where without faineing I have found nothing but what was noble and I dare speak it magnanimous J know that his ou side hath been displeasing to many But men must not alwaies be judged by the lineaments of the face and that aversation is unjust which springs only out of deformity J doe much wonder that two words which I have written to my Stationer being halfe a sleepe are floune out of his shop already I assure you I am no nor doe not use to put on severity in reading these kinds of Relations But in-truth this here did give me much content and though I meet with some passages that might be altered without any harme where a decorum was not so exactly observed as it might have been neverthelesse to speak in the generall the invention to my thinking was handsome the narration neat and smooth and the stile all savouring of the Court and Cabinet When you have read it I will think of it as you shall pronounce the sentence in the mean while J use the liberty allowed in points not yet decided and the interim that you are too good to agree with me untill you have made the truth manifest unto me For the Dutch Orator remember at least wise that J spake nothing but touching his phrase for J doe infinitely esteeme his learning and judgement Be pleased therefore to manage this petty secret according to your ordinary prudence since J am so unfortunate that I cannot utter one word but it will straight finde strange Glosses and Commentaries and that there be people so charitable as to stirre up warre against me and create me enimies in all parts of the world J have never received the Letter of Monsieur de neither did I need them to assure me of his love I know that he is good and noble wherefore relying hereupon it sufficeth me to understand that he is well and it is not materiall to me whether J learne this from him or from you J forgot to tell you that J received from Monsieur the Duke of many caresses favours he hath used me like some great Personage or mighty Signor and I have been his Favorite the space of foure daies I desire no more nor doe I labour to promote my good fortune any farther I am content to bound it Sir with the fruition of your good favour and J am most affectionately Sir Your c. Balzac 1. Dec. 1632. LET. LII To the same Sir I Have returned no answere to your Letter in regard J have been cumbred lately with some domestick affaires which would allow me no leasure to write it is your Prerogative to be able to intend severall things at once you injoy a spirit so calme that you can read a Dialogue in Plato and dispatch a dozen businesses too at once with a resolve to dye an houre after For my part one object is enough to imploy me and it is impossible for me to reconcile Recreation and Businesse That which you tell me of Monsieur is true The Letter which he wrote unto me is an abridgement of all his Books and J cannot returne answer to it though J would but by the messenger that goes the next year from Angoulesme But though it hath been told you yet be pleased not to believe it that this Letter offends me or that mine hath given any offence Only upon occasion of one litle word he took a hint to sport it after his ordinary manner and to make a new shew of his old manner of boording We must be indulgent to our friends mirth and give way a litle to their jolly humor Nay a man ought not to doe his enimy all the discourtesies he can and to be very sensible of a wrong is to adde weight and measure to it Satisfy your selfe J pray touching my spirit by these maximes of peace and feare not that any man can raise my passions to an humor of contention A thousand Chartells cannot tempt me to one Duell and J can be more coward then the Hott-spurres of the times are quarrelsome J feare not their strength nor subtlety but J feare my owne trouble and I doe infinitely love my Rest Honour it selfe would seeme unmanerly to me if it came to disquiet it And I would faine passe for an Jncognito even in my owne Province and my owne Village You cannot believe how much J am fallen out with the world and how distastfull J am to my selfe What was wont to tickle and please me hurts me An Almanack and an History I esteeme alike Those simple termes of stile phrase and period are so harsh to my ears that they make my head ake If it were Gods will that I should be sentenced to loose my good or bad Reputation J would resigne it with all my heart to any that would desire it and J have a desire to change my name that J might not any more share in any thing that is spoken of Balzac nor interesse my selfe either in the praises or dispraises that are bestowed on Him Js not this Sir a pretty resolution which J should long since have undertaken This is almost the panoplie of that Philosopher that patiently took a boxe on the eare in a publike place at Corinth He professed he had a helmet to ward future blowes that if any should chance to give him another boxe it might fall on an iron face and not his Apply this how you please As for my part I doe but laugh at Rhetorick and all its Tropes and have nothing to doe with

the later words thereof will call to your mind those three verses of our Hierusalem Amando in te ciò c. By loving that in thee which others feare doth move And envious hate he seemes thy virtues to approve And willingly with thee could make a league of love J beg of you the good favours of that grand Adversary of the Romanists but yours above all since J am with all my soule Balzac 30. Octob. 1636. Sir Your c. LET. II To Monsieur du MOULIN Sir COurtesie never denies respect to any man and thinkes no mans Presents meane but her owne This was it no doubt that made You speake of mee in such a high straine and set so great a price upon my booke which indeed is but the worst part of your Library J see you will not alter your course or forget your ancient civility for the which J am infinitely obliged unto you And if some men would needs perswade me that at other times you handle me something rudely yet I cannot believe you doe it with a hostile hand on the contrary J suppose that in your familiar letters you give a true coppie and character of your selfe but in actions of Ceremony men require another countenance more studied gravity otherwise Sir my nature can beare with my friends and J am not of so delicate a sense as to complaine of pettie wrongs which J suffer Besides that J doe not at all medle with that science of division which teaches to rente our Saviours Coat into 1000 peices to implead and cavill against every word of his Testament This commonly doth rather exasperat mens spirits than compose affaires and multiply doubts insteed of encreasing charity If J were put to my choyce J would take a litle lesse of that which puffeth up and a litle more of that which edifieth Truth is not the purchase of hot blood or of incensed choller or a disturbed imagination The Labyrinthes of Logick are not the easiest way to heaven and oft-times God hides him-selfe from them that search him with over-much curiosity You will avouch J am sure all that J say and this too Sir that the best quarrels prove nought and of bad consequence and that the contentions of Doctors prove the murthers of their Brethrens soules if they tend not to the peace of the Church for my part J can with other vulgar Christians but wish for it but you can with the Worthies of Christian Religion contribute much towards it whensoever you shall preach and teach this J shall ascribe unto you one of the principall parts of that holy work But while we expect that this peace be advanced through the grace of God that we draw neerer every day one to another nothing hinders but that we may maintaine innocent commerce traffick in things lawfull There is no law rightly interpreted that is repugnant to that of Humanity doth not accord with the law of Nations If our opinions differ it is not necessary that our affections should disagree the head and the heart have their severall motions and actions distinct and morall vertue can reconcile unite what the intellectuall might separate Love mee therefore still if you please since you may doe it lawfully and J believe also that J may be without scruple while J live Sir Your c. Balzac March 30. 1636. LET. III. To Monsieur L' HUILLIER Counsellour to the King and Ordinary M r of his Accounts Sir YOU can make men happy and procure them Sun-shine daies where when you please Let us speake no more of misfortunes there is nothing here within but prosperity since the Ordinary hath arriv'd and J must recall a language which J have forgotten since you doe restore a passion to me which J had lost J thought there was no disposition to any joy left in me yet notwithstanding from a litle sparke rak'd up in my bosome you have kindled such an excesse that J never felt the like such inebriations of the spirit and sober transportments Philosophy hath observ'd in extraordinary successes There is no way Sir to suppresse or keep this joy conceal'd if it be lawfull for me to speake it my heart is so full and high that it mounts up to my face J am like to loose by it all the gravity and demurenes which J have these many yeares contracted by my melancholy life And since there is no apparēt cause that might stirre such a passion in such a languishing spirit as mine men may imagine that I paid some Arreres and that I have received an acquittance patent but that I call it your letter They still deceive themselves and take me for another mā than I am for my Interests touch me not so sensibly as my passions doe and Fortune is not so rich as to present me with any thing that might countervaile the least pledges of your Amity The world and I doe not agree in the rate of things that are bestowed received That doth estimate them by an Arithmeticall and I by a Morall proportion according to which Sir all your words to me are weighty and pretious because all true and because Truth cannot be sufficiently estimated in a time when Oracles doe faine whē we have reason to mistrust even Faith it selfe and when the great Cato should not be taken without caution and security I doe infinitely cherish those speeches of yours so full of verity and preserve them as the titles of a possession which I passionatly desired before J went to Paris and which I account for the greatest businesse that I did dureing my abode there Jn lieu of these I will forgive Paris for all the unquiet nights and other mischiefes I suffered there I complaine no more of its impure aire or the jangling of bells or of the justling and dirt of the streets And though I could not carry away thence but the bare Idea of your entertainment yet besides that you defrayed the charges of my journey in it J can live here yet awhile upon your charges feed my thoughts a long time with what I have received from your mouth Yet J know not whether a provident managing of remnants may make them last alwaies or whether old Ideas doe not at the last fade and vanish out of the memory or whether an expired felicity may denominate a man still happy What ever joy your letter sprang in me yet being a marke of your absence it doth but advertise me that I am six-score leagues distant from the Author of my wellfare and that therefore I can receive but imaginary painted satisfaction and enjoy but forraine pleasures You cannot represente unto me the happy houers that I have spent in the closet of Messieurs de Puy and the fine things that I have heard there without tacitely upbraiding me with the pensive howers of my solitude and the gibbrish of my Neighbourhood In truth Sir if you know it not J must tell you that

Balzac is the frontier of Barbary But one daies journey from hence Monsieur des Cordes can tell you the honest Swaines doe not eat bread or speak French but upon sundaies The most understanding men there believe that Prester-Iohn saith Masse and that the snow in the country of the Moores is black the most gentle and affable find in an innocent word the tenth part of a lye and are offended with the very aspect and silence of a man that passeth by Are not these the right Antipodes to the lodgings of Monsieur de Thou and especially of the Gallery which is not only full of the noblest spoiles of Antiquity and and of Greek and Romane Treasures but which is otherwise inhabited by all the Graces of the present Age and all the sociable and civill Virtues Yet notwithstanding these it might deserve the curiosity of the remotest Nations of the Earth and invite the inhabitants of Cadiz and those beyond them for to see there the great President of Counsels and humane actions and the grand Doctor of Kings and Common-wealths But although this famous and learned Head appears not there but by the benefit of paint yet his memory still keeps its place and presides in all the Assemblies that happen there Me thinks that of Master of the house He is become the Genius of the place and inspires all those that speak there that so they might not speak any thing unworthy of his presence Indeed this is the cause of my happinesse here that my poore conceptions give you some content as you would make me believe and that my adventures in print have the allowance and approbation of those excellent Brothers my deare and loving Friends Now Sir that I begin to grow sober againe and to recover my selfe from that extasie which you have cast me into take good heed that you make no doubt of the seriousnesse of my speeches assure them therefore if you please that the favours that I have receiv'd from them are not let fall into a barren and ungratefull soule and that it is impossible to honour Them more perfectly then I doe You shall doe me the favour also as to believe that you never lov'd a man that could set a higher rate upon your amity or would be more then I am Sir Your c. Balzac Nov. 23. 1636. LET. IV. To Monsieur the Abbat of BOIS-ROBERT Sir SInce my departure from Paris I have received two Letters of yours that is to say two singular Emblemes or tokens of your goodnesse for it is certain if you be not expos'd to the danger of warre you are at least wise obnoxious to the cumbrances molestations of it and in this plight to have found the leasure to remember me and to send from the farthest skirts of Piccardy but a thought as farre as Guyen is a thing that could not be expected but from a friend that is extremely sollicitous of those things that he loves According to your order I communicated the newes unto my Father who doth professe himselfe much obliged unto you for it We doe daily groane for that of peace and if you send us intelligence of this before Easter I will answer you with a publike thanksgiving and with the benedictions of all our Arrierban That Virgin which your Authors call Astrea was at other times courted and ador'd by them only of the long gowne now even Gladiators and Pirats think her handsome and comely J doe not see any man of the sword but doth at some time of the day mislike and beshrew his own trade I doe not know whether this be either the Cowardice of the age or the Impatience of the Nation or the feare of poverty and famine presented to their imagination or to speak more favourably of the present occasions a christian tendernesse and common sense of humanity so vehemently doth all the world desire peace that I think Heaven cannot send a better Present to the Earth I think that should be imployed upon such a pious occasion and chosen one of the Agents for Coloigue If he would bring us that excellent Donative of Heaven he deserved to enter the Academy in triumph and that Monsieur the President should make the speech himselfe For my part J should receive him after such a Negotiation with more respect then if he came from commanding an Army And to tell you the truth the pacifique Angels doe please me farre better than the destroying Angels Think it not strange Sir that the desire of glory is not the passion of Villagers and that dreaming sometimes of the Crabbats I pitch upon the same thought with the Poet Impius haec tam culta novalia Miles habebit Barbarus has segetes These are thoughts which are bred in my rurall walke and which spring from lownesse of spirit into which I am apt to fall as soone as I have lost the sight of you Therefore be pleased to take the paines to fortify me from time to time and to send me some preservatives against the bad newes which fly about These would help to entertaine good thoughts while we expect the conclusion of the Treaty and make my Neighbours know that a man cannot be ill inform'd that maintaines intelligence with you and make them beleeve that J am in deed what I professe my selfe to be which is Sir Your c. Balzac 17 Oct. 1616. LET. V. To my Lord the Earle of EXCESTER My Lord HAving not enjoyed my health or at least having had no leasure at all since the time that your Letter was delivered me I could not any sooner render you thanks for the testimonies of your esteeme and affection which you vouchsafed me therein I will not any way seeme to suspect or doubt of a newes that makes for me and I doe readily believe that my works that were sent you from the Queene your Mistresse have been your welcome-home among your friends But herein I doe acknowledge their good fortune farre beyond my deserts and the Influences that descend from the Court beyond all the favours they can receive from a coūtry-village Those hands so great and powerfull that gave you this small Present doe ennoble whatsoever they touch and are able to effect rarer transmutations than those which Alchymy boasts of with their marke a triviall Fable may passe for Authentick History and the Nether-Britton should surpasse the native Frenchman I have therefore my Lord no thought of deserving that Elogy which I owe to so illustrious a circūstance nor doe I mean to glory in the travels which my book as you informe me hath made beyond the Rhine Your name being one of its principall ornaments is that to which J must owe my fame in those climats and it was upon your recommendation and credit that all the Courts in the North and some of their Schooles too have entertain'd my books I doe here solemnely promise you never to abuse this favour at least wise never to write any thing of your Iland that