Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A35784
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The disorders of love truly expressed in the unfortunate amours of Givry with Mademoiselle de Guise / made English from the French.; Désordres de l'amour. English
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Villedieu, Madame de, d. 1683.
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1677
(1677)
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Wing D1188; ESTC R2145
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39,666
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158
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not able to master his Transport but fell on his Knees at her Bed-side and taking one of her hands kissed it with that ardour that he had prest somewhat further if the the Princess had not thrust him back saying to him with an imperious tone You insolent Fellow do you make use of the King's Name to come hither to offend me get you out of my Chamber and presume not to set foot there again till you have learnt better how you ought to demean your self towards a Princess of my Rank These words struck Givry into such astonishment that he stood leaning against a Window like one in a Trance which Mademoiselle de Guise interpreting as a disobedience to her Command she renewed her orders and accompanied them with expressions of so much slight and contempt that Givry could no longer endure them Yes Mademoiselle says he with an accent suitable to his despair you shall be obey'd the presumptuous Givry shall never more enter your Chamber and since he cannot live without seeing you his blood shall expiate the misfortune of his having displeas'd you With that he went out Had the officious La Mothe been believed he should have been staid but Mademoiselle de Guise for reasons known to her self would not credit her so that her Prayers and Remonstrances were all in vain and all she could obtain was that she might seek him out and say from her self what she thought proper to comfort him She found him in the Garden at the Hostel de Guise walking as one distracted and making up to him What did you think on says she when you us'd towards Mademoiselle de Guise liberties so condemnable and altogether unfit was that your way to obtain the favour of a Princess so vertuous and haughty or did you look upon her as a Town you were resolv'd to take by assault It was not well answers Givry faintly I confess my transport consulted neither my respect nor my reason but one look of Mademoiselle de Guise would have minded me of my duty without adding that torrent of slighting expressions A passionate action in a Man desperately in Love is not perhaps a Crime so unpardonable as Mademoiselle de Guise hath judged it but the reason is that every thing is offensive that is done by a Lover dislik'd 'T is my Person not my Love displeases Mademoiselle de Guise and the attempt I committed would not have been punished so severely in the Duke de Bellegard as in me You know it well enough and cannot forget what Mademoiselle de Guise said to you on that account in the Garden at the Castle of Nemours That discourse was repeated to me word by word and I look on it as the source of all the rigor I have since met with I will never speak of it to any but you and shall turn all my resentment against my self and never expect but from death any ease of my misfortunes but do me the favour to tell Mademoiselle de Guise I am perfectly informed of all my disasters and that this which reduced me to the despair I am in could not have been so great had not others preceded it La Mothe had a particular esteem for Givry and was really concerned for the condition he appear'd in she did all she could to give him some comfort Sometimes denying and sometimes qualifying what was said concerning Bellegard so that it was not her fault he was not at better ease but he was now become utterly incapable of any The thought of Mademoiselle de Guise slighting angry and prepossest in favor of a Rival inspir'd him with a thousand desperate resolutions He had much ado to force himself to speak to Madam de Guise and Madam de Nemours but was so far Master of Passion that they observed not in him any alteration Yet that moment of constraint did but render his fury after more violent he returned to the King whom he found encamped before Laon and gave him a thousand thanks from the Princesses for the complement he had vouchsafed to send them They would have made their advantage of it had their advice been taken but the Duke of Mayenne was so accustomed to Command in Chief he resolved not to quit the Helm but upon utmost extremity The Town of Laon was taken and the desperate Givry sought out so many occasions to be killed that he succeeded in his design he was wounded upon a breach and died of it three or four days after He knew this service would be hot and being seriously resolved to dye writ to Mademoiselle de Guise before he went to the assault a Letter the Original whereof I have seen and give you here the Copy verbatim YOu shall see when you hear of my death that I am a Man of my word and that it was true I would live no longer than while I had the honor of your favor for finding you chang'd I have recourse to the sole remedy I can apply in the case going to dye unavoidably Since heaven loves you too well to save those you would destroy and must be at the expence of a Miracle to preserve me from the danger I am running into that death I seek and know waits for me makes me put an end to this Letter Farewell then fair Princess and by the despair my respect to you hath reduced me to Judge of the power of your slights and whether I deserved them This Letter was not delivered to Mademoiselle de Guise the man who had it to carry having been taken prisoner by a Party of the Enemies which is doubtless the reason it came to our hands But the Princess needed not a sight of it to inform her what death the unfortunate Givry died The King who was grieved at the heart for the accident and scarce stirr'd from his Pillow those two or three days Givry lived after he was wounded drew from his own mouth the Confession of his despair and being returned to Paris complain'd grievously of it to Mademoiselle de Guise You have kill'd me Givry Mademoiselle says he to her and have more weakned my Troops by that piece of your cruelty than the Duke of Mayenne with all the strength of his Arms. Had the favours I endeavor'd to do your House made any impression of acknowledgement upon you you would have had more regard for a man so dear and so necessary to me but you are sufficiently punish'd by the loss you have of him Nature produces not every day men of Givry's character and what beauty soever you may boast of you will hardly ever see at your devotion a person so considerable as he was Mademoiselle de Guise who for some time past had not look'd with any favourable aspect on Givry made not so much account of the loss of him She did but smile at his Majesty's reproaches and endeavouring to make him understand he was partly concerned in the exercise of that cruelty he blam'd her obliging Confessions insensibly wip'd away the thoughts of Givry's death out of his Majesty's mind But nothing could have that power over the spirits of the too constant Madam Maugiron who fell sick upon the News and while Paris rung with joy for the absolution of the King and union of the Parties this Lady dyed with the Name of Givry in her Mouth Givry no less amiable than inconstant and unfortunate What Example more proper to make out the malignity of Love and inspire into us that horrour against it it deserves Givry was the most accomplisht Person of his time saw himself loaded with honour at six and twenty years of age highly in favour with a great Monarch his King and in a fair way to obtain all the Dignities a Gentleman is capable of An amorous despair destroy'd all his hopes and robb'd the Kingdom of one of its Noblest Ornaments The same Passion disorder'd and at last destroyed a Lady whose constancy and sincerity deserved better fortune The like end commonly make all those who absolutely abandon themselves to this fatal folly if it makes but light impression it is an in exhaustible sourse of perfideousness and ingratitude if it be submitted to in good earnest it leads into an excess of disorder and despair FINIS