fairer fortune to be cast on shore by a storme in a craised Vessell then to be still in the power of Windes and Seawrackes The word of Kings ought not to contradict the functions of Regality nor can they oblige themselues to leaue their Subiects in miserable estate or to doecontrary to what they ought And in conscience since the ruine of Rebellion is written in Heauen in the same sort as is the Day of Judgement and the Worlds dissolution were it not as much as to resist Gods will and to oppugne his prouidence should we so soone grow weary of well-doing or refuse to finish a worke the euent whereof is infalliable There is nothing so easie for a great Prince as either to finde or conceiue faults nor doth any man doubt that dissimulation is iust when it rends to the aduantage and auayle of the deceiued If a mad man were capable of remedies were it not lawfull to cure him without asking his consent were it fit a Father should suffer his Son to be drowned for feare of pulling him out by the haire Are we to suffer the State to perish for that we cannot preferue it by ordinary wayes No my Lord we ought not there is no consideration can cause that thing to change its nature which of it selfe is iust and the Lawes of necessity doe dispence with vs for those of formality Now to returne to my first discourse and to what particularly regardeth your Lordship seeing your absence from Court hath at all times threatned more miseries vnto vs then the apparition of Comets and other irregularities in Nature and since to be miserable it is sufficient to be at odds with you There is not any of your enemies can escape the Diuine iustice nor is there any doubt but you will generally finde all those spirits fauourable vnto you whom you haue formerly conuinced or that your propositions shall not be receiued as assured Conquests The best is there are now no more any vsurpers neare the King who seeke to ingrosse his fauours to their owne aduantages bereaue men of those benefits which ought to be as common to them as the Fire or Ayre His Maiesties heart is open to all his Subiects hee receiues trueth at what hand soeuer it comes vnto him This being so my Lord may wee not rest confident you shall not lose one word and that your Vertue whereof the World is vncapable shall at length be found the onely meanes the King hath to redresse and re-establish his affaires Neither time trauaile nor cost ought diuert him from this designe It is a worke will be nothing so costly as to raise a Fauorite and it being a thing all Christendome exacteth of him as an Hereditary debt the King his Father hath left to be discharged And truely it is most certaine that the face of States hath beene changed and whole Prouinces conquered with lesse cost then diuers Pagan Princes haue imployed in erecting of Idols and causing them to be adored by their people But to leaue this Jtalian seuerity you formerly reprooued in me and lest you should accuse me for warring against the dead I will for your sake pardon their memory nor will I farther dilate my selfe vpon so odious a Subiect Yet is this but halfe of what I intended to speake vnto you at Coignac if in that short abode you made there and the continuall presse hindring the freedome of my Speech vnto you it had beene permitted mee to haue had a longer Audience But my Lord what I could not performe by word of Mouth I will continue by my Letters if you please to doe mee the honour as to command them or if my words which you haue heretofore made choyce of for the conception of your High thoughts in bewayling present miseries and publique ingratitude be as pleasing vnto you as I am perfectly Your most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC The 18 of Nouember 1623. The Duke of Espernon his Letter to the French King penned by BALZAC LETTER XVIII SIR I Vnderstand by the Letter it pleased your Maiesty to doe me the honour to write vnto me that vpon the opinion wherewith some haue possessed you concerning the continuance of the German Warres you iudge it expedient for the good of your seruice I should not as yet leaue this Frontire Whereunto Sir I can giue your Maiesty no other answer but that hauing at all times gathered out of your commands what my duty obliged me vnto and hauing neuer proposed other end to my actions then the good of your state I should be carefull of straying from that designe in an occasion wherein J might imagine your seruice depended on my obedience But at this present Sir the tranquility of France groweth to be so generall your affaires so powerfully established and the Honour of your Amity so precious among all your neighbouring Princes that as there is nothing in this Kingdome which doth not bend vnder your Authority so is there not any Prince abroad who doth not respect your power or who conserueth not himselfe by your Iustice And as concerning the troubles of Bohemia besides that time hath euaporated the first heat of spirits and that they begin to retire from those extreamities wherein formerly they inuolued themselues the imagined danger is so farre remoued hence as we cannot conceiue the least apprehension euen for those who are not our next neighbours that way It is certaine Sir that on this side the Rhine all things seeme to bee at rest vnder the shade of your State and the ancient Allies of this Crowne who are nearest any danger expect the end of Warre with our fearing it should come any further towards them or that out of all this noyse there will arise any more then one Warre These considerations then doe no way oblige me to stay in these parts where things are in so good estate as they may well nigh subsist of themselues besides the residence my Sonne of Valette shall make there in my absence being sufficient to giue order to all occurrents concerning the good of your affaires I assure my selfe your Maiesty will be so impartiall as to be pleased to reflect vpon the necessity of my particular occasions and that suffering me to retire my selfe to my owne house you will at least permit mee to enioy a fauour vsually inflicted on others as a punishment I doubt not Sir but you will condiscend to the desire I haue to vndertake this Voyage and I presume you will be pleased to consider that I being ingaged in two hundred thousand Crownes for your seruice after the sight of your royall bounty in all sorts of hands it were small reason I receiuing nothing should still in this place stand as a meere cypher for the honor of France or that I ruine my selfe with a rich shew only to continue strangers in the opinion they haue of the magnificent greatnesse of your Crowne Yet Sir hauing neuer beleeued J could
ARMANDVS IOANNES DV PLESIS Cardinalis de Richelieu Sic oculis sic Ille manu sic ore decorus Pallada in hoc Martem Mercuriumque Vides P. G. De Vauchelles THE LETTERS OF MOVNSIEVR DE BALZAC Translated into English according to the last Edition By W. T. Esq Lege Collige LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes for Richard Clotterbuck and are to be sold at his shop at the Ball in Little-Brittaine 1634. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE WILLIAM Lord CRAVEN Baron of Hamsted-Marshall c. My LORD NOt to know your Lordship is an ignorance next Barbarisine but to be knowne vnto you is an honour my ambition hath alwayes aymed at but which my want of merit or euill fortune neuer yet attained In making this tender of my truest seruice I offer you the Votes of all who not poysoned by that Viper Enuie iustly extoll courage in youth not forced to action but by the only spurre of glory The vniuersall world among the wonders of our age numbers you and our world hauing the happinesse to boast her selfe your mother cherisheth you as a man shee hath long time laboured to produce This Present is but a Translation which yet may happily as well for the generall benefit as particular choice bee equall to an originall you can best iudge I haue therefore in part vindicated my selfe from those who may accuseme of not knowledge or negligence I submit all to your censure and with this small testimony of my deuotion to true Nobility doe here sue to haue these first fruits of my labours placed vnder the protection of so Honourable a Patron whose vertues as they are worthy to bee admired by all so shall they together with this so noble a fauour bee euer duely acknowledged by My Lord Your humblest seruant William Tirwhyt To the Lord CARDINALL of Richelieu MY LORD I Here present you Mounsieur Balzac's Letters which may well bee tearmed new ones euen after the eighth Edition for though they haue long since beene in possession of publike fauour yet may I iustly say this is the first time their Authour hath auouched them The aduantagious iudgement you haue deliuered of him and the ardor wherewith all France hath followed your approbation well deserueth his best endeauours toward the perfectionating so excellent things I haue beene solicitous to draw him to this labour to the end the world might know that if I bee not worthy the share I haue in his respects yet that I haue at least beene wise enough to make right vse of my good fortune and to cause it to become seruiceable to the glory of my Countrey But truely were hee master of his body or did his maladies afford him liberty of spirit hee would not suffer any but himselfe to speake in this cause and his Pen performing no slight acts would haue consecrated his owne labours and the wonders they haue produced But since euills haue no prefixed time of durance and in that all the good interims which hereafter may befall him are wholly to be imployed in his Booke The Prince I esteemed it to small purpose to attend his health in this businesse and that it was now no longer any time to deferre the purging of these curious Letters from such blemishes as ill impressions had left vpon them They shall therefore now appeare in the parity wherein they were conceiued and with all their naturall ornaments Besides I haue added diuers letters of his not as yet come to light which may serue as a subiect of greater satisfaction to all men and bee as a recompense of the honour wherewith he hath collected the former And truly my Lord had it beene possible to place in the Frontispiece of this Booke a more illustrious name then yours or should Mounsieur de Balzac's incsination and mine haue beene farre from any such intention yet would not the order of things or the law of decency haue permitted any other reflection then what I now make I speake not at this present of that dazeling greatnesse whereunto you are eleuated nor of that so rare and necessary vertue which rightly to recognize the greatest King on earth hath esteemed himselfe not to bee ouer able I will onely say I had reason to submit an eloquence produced in the shade and formed in solitarinesse to this other eloquence quickned both with voyce and action causing you to reigne in soueraignety at all assemblies Certainely my Lord you are more powerfull by this incomparable quality then by the authority wherein the King hath placed you The onely accent of your voyce hath a hidden property to charme all such as hearken vnto you none can bee possessed with any so willfull passions who will not be appeased by the reasons you propound and after you haue spoken you will at all times remaine master of that part of man no way subiect to the worlds order and which hath not any dependency vpon lawfull power or tyrannicall vsurpation This is a trueth my Lord as well knowne as your name and which you so solidly confirmed at the last assembly of the Notables as that in the great diuersity of humours and iudgements whereof it was composed there was peraduenture this onely point well resolued on That you are the most eloquent man liuing This being true I can no way doubt but the perusall of this Booke I offer vnto you will extraordinarily content you and that you will bee well pleased to retire thither sometimes to recreate your spirits after agitation and to suspend those great thoughts who haue for their obiect the good of all Europe It is a Booke my Lord wherein you shall find no common thing but the Title where entertaining some particular person Mounsieur de Balzac reades Lessons to all men and where amidst the beauty of Complements and dexterity of Ieasting he often teacheth of the most sublime points of Philosophy I meane not that wrangling part thereof which reiecteth necessary verities to seeke after vnprofitable ones which cannot exercise the vnder standing without prouoking passions nor speake of moderation without distemper and putting the soule into disorder But of that whereby Pericles heretofore made himselfe master of Athens and wherewith Epaminondas raised himselfe to the prime place of Greece which tempereth the manners of particulars regulateth the obligation of Princes and necessarily bringeth with it the felicity of all States where they command This booke will make it apparent euen to your enemies that your life hath beene at all times equally admirable though not alwayes alike glorious How you haue conserued the opinion of your vertue euen in the time of your hardest fortunes and how in the greatest fury of the tempest and in the most extreame violence of your affaires the integrity of your actions hath neuer beene reduced to the onely testimony of your conscience To conclude It is in this Booke my Lord where I suppose you will bee well pleased to reade the presages of your present greatnesse and what
he would bring a blessing to all France and though he intimated nothing to the King yet that he would at least inspire whatsoeuer were necessary for the good of his Subiects and Dignity of his Crowne I will reserue to speake as I ought of this rare Vertue till my great Worke come to light Where I will render euery man his right and condemne euen those as culpable whom the Parliaments crouch vnto There shall it be where I will canuasse the Court of Rome which I alwayes separate from the Church with as much force and freedome as he vsed from whose mouth we haue seene lightning to issue and Thunder to be throwne out There is not any thing of so faire a semblance whose deformities I vnmaske not There is nothing of eminency from one end of the World to the other I ouer-turne not I will discouer the defects of Princes and States I will expugne Vice wheresoeuer it is hidden and with what Protection soeuer it is palliated To conclude I will passe as seuere a Judgement as was that of the Areopagites in times past or of the Inquisition at this present Yet my Lord in this my common censure I will take a particular care of the Queene Mothers reputation and will let all the World see that what heretofore others haue called Vertue is the naturall habitude of this great Princesse In the place for others appoynted for Afflictions and Calamities She shall together with the King receiue onely Flowers and Crownes and as her innocency had saued her from the generall deluge had she then liued so will it cause her to Tryumph in my Story amidst the tuines of others I haue not the faculty of Flattering but the Art only to speake the Truth in good termes and the Actions you see had need be more eminent then those you haue read of if I equall them not by my Words This being thus my Lord as I hope you doubt not imagine in what tearmes I will iustific the R. D. L. R and in what fort I will intreate her enemies if I haue a minde to it I will make it one day appeard that 〈◊〉 hath beene as cruell a Monster as those who deuourewhole Cities and denounce Warre agaynst all Humane and Dinine things One will imagine by the markes I giue him that R. was a Magician which daily pricked some Image of Waxe with needles and who disturbed the repose of all Princes Courts of his time by the force of his Charmes The truth is I will do great matters prouided my courage quaile not on his part whence I expect it should come and to whom by a kind of strict Obligation I am excited to vndertake this Iudgement which will be no lesse famous then that of Michael Angelo At our next meeting I will more particularly acquaint you with the whole designe of my Worke with its order ornaments and artifice you shall there see whether or no I make good vse of those houres I sometimes obtaine from the tyranny of my Phisisians and lingring maladies In the interim doe me the Honour to loue me still nor thinke I speake the Court-language or that I compliment with you when I assure you I am more then any man liuing My Lord Your most humble seruant BALZAC The 28. of December 1622. Another Letter to the Lord Bishop of Ayre LETTER XII My Lord IT must needes be your Oath of Fealty doth yet continue and that the Ceremony you are imployed in be longer then I imagined since I haue no newes from you for I must freely confesse vnto you I am not so slightly perswaded of my selfe as to haue any thought as that you neglect me Besides I am certaine that publique faith and what hath euer beene sworne vpon Altars and the Gospolls are not more inuiolable then your word and that it will stand good though Heauen and Earth should start Besides I can lesse coniecture that you are hindred by want of Health whereof I hope you enioy so large a treasure as it is like to contine as long as the World lasteth It were a wrong to me should you alledge Sicknesse and no lesse then to wrangle with me for a thing in such manner appropriated to my selfe as I cannot communicate it to any other I will therefore imagine whatsoeuer you will haue me to thinke you may loue me if you please without taking the paines to tell mee so But for my part how importunate soeuer I am herein yet am I resolute to write vnto you till you cut off my hands and to publish so long as I haue a tongue that I am Sir Your most humble and most affectionate seruant BALZAC The 16. of December 1622. To the Lord Bishop of Ayre from BALZAC LETTER XIII My Lord YOu cannot loose me how little care soeuer you take to keepe mee The Heauens must necessarily infuse new affections in me and vtterly alter my inclinations if they intend to inhibite mee to be your Seruant Yet doth it not a little grieue me you doe not testifie what I know you beleeue and that hauing the power to make me happy by the least of your Letters I haue more trouble to impetrate this fauour then I should finde in the obtaining of three Declarations from the King and as many Briefes from his Holinesse But all this notwithstanding I cannot be perswaded you place mee among matters of meere indifferency or that you no longer remember what you haue promised with so large protestations which I hold to be most authenticall I rather for the satisfaction of my thoughts will be confident you haue resolued to loue me in secret thereby to auoide all iealousie and will beleeue there is more cunning then coldnesse in your Silence were it otherwise or had I really lost your Fauours certainely I would not suruiue so deepe a discomfort since there is not any banishment shipwracke or sinister fortune I could not rather require at Gods hands then such a losse But these Discourses are as much as to suppose impossibilities or to inuent Dreames I will therefore leaue them to let you vnderstand some newes from me I can onely say the Ayre of this Countrey is not offensiue vnto me for to assure you that I am in health were too great a boldnesse I confesse I haue now and then some pleasing pauses and I enioy certaine good Houres which make mee remember my former Health But there is great difference betweene this imperfect estate of mine and a constitution comparable to that of yours who haue life sufficient to viuifie thirty such worne bodies as mine which needes but one blast to blow it downe Howsoeuer my Phisitians haue promised to make me a new man and to restore vnto mee what I haue lost I should be well contented they were men of their words and that I might at my ease attend all occasions to testifie how passionately I am The 6. of Ianuary 1623. Your most humble and most affectionate Seruant BALZAC To the
am well satisfied with the affection of my Friends and doe willingly leaue their iudgements free to themselues One Good-night is more worth then all our Eloquence and not to know the miseries of this life is to be more learned then the Sorbonists and lessits For my part despising the world as I doe I cannot much esteeme my selfe who make vp one of the sickliest parts thereof and I haue so poore an opinion of my owne sufficiency as I little esteeme the Talents of others Thinke not then I adore the workemanship of my hands though I take as much paines therein as did the ancient Caruers in counterfeiting their gods Butcontrariwise it is the reason why I dislike them and had I beene a man of ten thousand Crownes rent I would haue giuen the halfe of it to a Secretary onely to hire him not to indite those Letters you haue so much admired The 15. February 1624. THE LETTERS OF MOVNSIEVR DE BALZAC To my Lord Cardinall de la Valete from Mounsieur D'BALZAC THE SECOND BOOKE LETTER I. My LORD VVHilst you imploy your houres in gayning hearts and Votes and happily lay the foundation of some eminent enterprize I here enioy a reposednesse not vnlike that of the dead and which is neuer rouzed but by Clorinda's kisses If the Duke of Ossona be chosen King of Naples as you write the report runneth I finde no strangenesse in it The world is so old and hath seene so much it can hardly spie any new matter nor is there at this day any lawfull authority whose Origin for the most part hath not beene vniust And on the other side the ill successe of reuolts are far more frequent then are the change of States and the same action which hath no lesse then a Diademe for the ayme hath often an ignominious death for its end Howsoeuer this happens it shall not much trouble me since the issue cannot be other then aduantagious to this State For God herein will either make it appeare that he is the protector of Kings or it falling out otherwise yet at least it will weaken the enemies to this Crowne But I hope you will not aduise me to beat my braines vpon those politique considerations for should I doe so it were no lesse then to retract the resolution I haue taken to looke vpon things passing among vs and our neighbours as I doe on the History of Japon or the affaires of another World I ought to surrender this humour to vulgar spirits who interest themselues in all the quarrels of States and Princes and who will alwayes be parties on purpose to put themselues into choler and bee miserable in the misfortunes of others Truely we shall neuer haue done if we will needes take all the affaires of the world to heart and be passionate for the publique whereof wee make but a very small part It may be at this very instant wherein I write the great Indian Fleete suffereth shipwracke within two Leagues of Land happily the great Turke hath surprised some Prouince from the Christians and taken thence some twenty thousand soules to conuey them to their Citty of Constantinople It may be the Sea hath exceeded its limits and drowned some Citty in Zealand If we send for mischiefes so farre off there will not an houre passe wherein some disconsolation or other will not come vpon vs. If we hold all the men in the world to be of our affinity let vs make account to weare Mournings all our life As mine experience is not great so are my yeares not many yet since I came into the world I haue seene so many strange accidents and haue vnderstood from my father such store of incredible occurrents as I suppose there can nothing now happen able to cause admiration in me The Emperour Charles the fist his Grand-child borne to the hopes of so many Kingdomes was condemned to death for hauing ouer-soone desired them The naturall subiects of the King of Spaine doe at this day dispute with him for the Empire of the Sea nor will they rest satisfied with their vsurped liberty Surely wee should hardly bee drawne to beleeue these things vpon the credit of others and those in succeeding ages will with much difficulty bee perswaded to receiue them for truths yet are these the ordinary recreations of Fortune taking pleasure in deceiuing Mankinde by euents farre opposite to all appearance yea and contrary to their iudgements Hath shee not deliuered ouer to the peoples fury the man whom she had formerly raysed aboue the rest to the end we should not presume in greatest Prosperities And hath she not at the same time taken out of the Bastile a Prisoner to make him Generall of a Royall Army thereby to oblige vs not at any time to despaire I do here consider all this with a reposed spirit and as Fables presented on the Stage or Pictures in a Gallery Now since the late Comet had like to haue beene as fatall vnto me as to the Emperour Rodolphus in that my curiosity to see it caused me to rise in my shirt which gaue me a cold all the Winter after I am heereafter resolued not to meddle with any thing aboue my reach but to referre all to GOD and Nature So as Clorinda suffer me to serue her and that I vnderstand from her owne mouth that she loues me I will hearken to no other newes nor search a second Fortune I therefore most humbly beseech your Lordship to excuse me if vpon these occasions lately presented I cannot affoord you my personall attendance or refuse to follow you whither your resolution leades you my Mistresse hauing commanded me to render her an account how I shed my bloud and enioyning me neuer to goe to the Warres but when Muskets are charged with Cypres-powder I am rather contented you should accuse mee of Cowardize then she iustly to charge mee with Disobedience And after all this tell me whether or no you thinke me to be in my right wits and that I haue not lost my reason together with the respect I owe you I herein doe as a delinquent who fearing he should not be soone enough punished puts himselfe into the hands of Justice not staying eyther for the Racke or examination of Iudges for the discouery of a crime whereof he was neuer accused I am well assured that of all passions you haue onely those of Honour and Glory and that your Spirits are so replenished therewith as there is no place left eyther for loue hate or feare Yet doe I withall consider that it is a part of a wise mans felicity to reflect vpon other mens follies howsoeuer if any word hath escaped me which may offend your eyes take it I beseech you as a meanes sent you from God for your farther mortification in causing you to read things so distastefull vnto you You are necessarily to endure farre greater crosses amidst the corruption of this Age if you cannot liue among the wicked you must
continuance thereof yet haue I not lost all hope to see you one day in this Countrey the prescriber of Lawes to inferiours and of examples to Commanders My Lord it may be God reserueth me for your sake that nothing be wanting to your Glory and to the end there might be yet one man in the World able to affoord you the prayses proper to your merits My Lord Your most humble and most faithfull Seruant BALZAC The 23. of Iune 1623. To my Lord Cardinall de la Valete LETTER X. My LORD IT must necessarily be the greatest Affaire at this present in agitation on Earth that could oblige you to leaue Paris nor had you patted thence vpon any slighter condition then to make a Head for all Christendome If you arriue there opportunely to haue your part in this great Election and that the Conclaue attend your Presence on purpose to affoord a more full Reputation and Authority to what shall there be resolued vpon I doe no way doubt but you will maintayne the same aduantage ouer the Italian wits as you haue obtayned ouer ours or that their policies will not be as impertinent in your Presence as the Charmes of Magicians are friuolous being confronted with Diuine matters You haue sufficient of their patience to put off affaires when occasion is offered but you haue a courage they come short of to carry matters by strong hand if necessity require Therefore my Lord to what part soeuer your Opinion shall incline you will carry that with you which gaineth victories and causeth the greater party to side with the sounder yea if matters should passe without contestation yet should you at least take notice that you are intreated to that action wherein God permits you to supply his place and intrusteth to your care the most important matter of all his Workes To speake seriously his prouidence is neuer in so high imployment as when hee is to choose the man who hath power to vse well or abuse all the Riches of Heauen and who is to exercise a power nearest approaching to Diuinity Heretofore God made vse of Thunder and tempests when he purposed to denounce any thing to men declaring his Will by other then ordinary meanes But since hee hath caused Oracles to cease and suffereth the Thunder to worke only naturall effects It is onely by the voyce of Cardinals hee causeth his desires to bee manifested and ordayneth concerning the worlds Conduct When you please my good Lord I shall haue some notice of these inspirations hee hath sent you and of the election you haue made For to force me so soone to informe my selfe thereof in the place where it was performed this Kingdome had neede be ouer hot for me and that I were not so well acquainted as I am with the Sun at Rome That which blackes the Moores and burnes Lybia is not so dangerous at this Season and were you not stored with treasures of Snow and prouided of Halls of Marble to defend you from the scorching Ayre I should as soone chuse to be condemned to the fire as to be forced to reside where you are at this present But your Grace I know can not be affrighted with all these apprehensions of heate you are none of those who will finde fault with the Ayre which all that ancient Republicke breathed or with the Sunne which hath holpen to make so many Conquerours and giuen light to so many glorious Tryumphs Yet for my part I who haue none of these considerations and who haue wholy put my selfe into the power of Phisicke it is requisite I auoide the very shadow of danger and liue with as great apprehension of feare in this world as though I were in an Enemies Countrey or in a Forrest of wilde beasts It is therefore out of pure necessity I attend your commands in this place and a more seasonable time to testifie vnto you without running the hazard of my life that I am with all my soule My Lord Your most humble and most obedient seruant BALZAC The 2. of August 1623. To the Lord Cardinall de Valete from Balzac LETTER XI My LORD I Verily beleeued I could neuer haue bin so vnfortunate as to be forced to search in the Gazettes for what you doe and to heare no other newes from you then what common brute bestoweth in all parts of the World and which the English and Germans may as well know as I. This punishment is by so much the more wounding in that I haue heretofore beene enriched with those benefits whereof you now seeme to bereaue me and in that the time was when you pleased so farre to discend from the ranke whence you are deriued as to lay aside all those lusters which incompasse you to conuerse freely with me But my Lord since one word of your mouth hath often cured my decayed spirits and hath many times made me happy without the helpe of Fortune I freely confesse vnto you I cannot resolue to change condition as knowing the losse of the least of your fauours cannot be liittle Yet being so innocent that I can no way imagine my offence and not acknowledging among men other more assured verity then your word I haue a great reluctation to be diffident of a thing vpon the certainty whereof halfe the Court is ingaged for Warre and the besieged would make small difficulty to surrender themselues My Lord you haue pleased to promise you would loue me alwayes therefore I beseech you not to be offended if I put you in minde that as the ancient gods of the Country where now you are submitted themselues to Destinies after they had once assigned them So you though aboue all other Lawes are yet subiect to your word I am confident it cannot be reuoked so long as the order of sublunary things change not and the Decrees of Gods prouidence remaine immoueable and if you repent any one action in your whole life you therein doe more then your very Enemies who neuer as yet called the least of them in question For my part I am far from thinking I haue totally lost your fauours lest I should wrong your Judgment which conferred them vpon me and blame the best eyes in the World for hauing heretofore beene blind I will rather suppose if you send me no newes it is because you thinke I know what will be done some ten yeares hence and that I am brimfull of the Roman Court and of the Jtalian affaires Truely I know the present Pope and I haue euer belceued there is not any humane wit more capable to carry so ponderous a felicity or to let vs againe behold the Primitiue beauty of Religion and the golden age of Gods Church I know how at Rome idlenes is day and night in action and that the complements and ceremonies there put you to more trouble then you should find in gouerning the whole world if God had left it to your conduct Me thinkes I yet see this great Tyrant with so many
style wherewith they persecute me euen to my poore Village and which is a cause I loath State and publique affaires Tyre not therefore my eares at thine arriuall lest you turne mine aduersary with intention to assault mee with these huge words If you know not that these follies haue not alwayes the same aspect and that there are as well serious follies as slight ones I would admonish thee in this place Now though a man at twenty can haue no great experience of the World yet haue you a sufficient cleare iudgement to keepe your selfe from being deluded by the apparance of good or by the outward luster of euill I had neede of more time then the bearer allowes mee and of more words then a Letter is capeable of sufficiently to instruct thee what thou oughtest to doe and what to auoide or to learne thee a Science wherin my selfe doe study in teaching thee I will therefore onely say since I am hastned to make an end that before all other things thou art to offer thy whole will to God if thou beest not able to giue the rest and to haue at least good designes if it be not as yet in thy power to doe any good deeds I well know it is no slender taske to vndertake to guard our selues from euill where inticements are extraordinary and the danger extreame and where thou wilt tell me that if God will hinder thee from louing beauty he had neede make thee blind I hauing no pleasing answer to make thee hereto my deare Hydaspe I referre thee to thy Confessor intreating thee to consider how if the King in the flower of his age wherein wee see him and in the midst of an infinity of obiects offering themselues to giue him content is yet notwithstanding so firme in the resolution to vertue that he as easily surmounteth all voluptuous irregularities as he doth his most violent rebels and is not any way acquainted with forbidden pleasures nor doth glut himselfe euen with lawfull ones If as I say this truth bee generally auowed I beseech thee tell me why continency may not be placed among things possible But I much feare there is no meanes to gaine this for granted at thy hands since thou beleeuest as others doe that to be chaste were no lesse then to vsurpe vpon the possession of married Wiues Yet at the least Hydaspe if this body of thine being of sufficient ability to send Collonies into each corner of the World and to people the most desart places will needes be imployed I intreate thee to stay there without being transported with the debauches of the mouth which haue no other limits then the losse of reason and ruine of health I should be in vtter despaire were it told me that my brother drinkes as much as though hee were in a continuall Feauer and were as great a purueyer for his panch as if hee were to enter into a besieged City I confesse thy inclination doth of it selfe sufficiently diuert thee from these Germaine vertues and that thou art not much lesse sober then my selfe who haue passed ouer three yeares without suppers and who would willingly feed onely vpon Fennill and picktoothes if I thought I could thereby recouer health Yet truely this doth not hinder me from hauing some apprehension when I consider how the examples of great ones doth often giue authority to vice and that to keepe our selues vpright in the midst of corruption is not an effect of the ordinary force of men Consider then once againe Hydaspe that we are powerfully to resist temptations Haue an eye to the interest thou hast to contayneithy selfe within the limits of an orderly life and be well aduised whether thou couldst be contented to be of the proportion of those good fellowes whose spirits are choaked in their owne grease and who become such comely creatures that if their bodies were pierced there would nothing passe forth of their wounds but Wine and Porridge Besides making profession as thou dost to be a man of thy word be not offended if I summon thee to obserue what thou hast promised mee or that I freely tell thee that if thou fallest againe to the old game I shall haue small subiect to assure my selfe of thy fidelity in other thy former promises Wert thou the King of the Indies or thy life endlesse I would not forbid thee this exercise but since wee haue scarce leasure enough in this world to attayne vertue nor ouer great possessions to secure vs from pouerty beleeue me Hydaspe it is very dangerous to suffer shipwracke on shoare and besides the expence of money which wee esteeme as deare vnto vs as life to lose our sences likewise and our time the last whereof is irrecouerable is both shamefull and sinfull hauing here admonished thee well neere though confusedly and scatteredly of those things thou oughtest to flye it were requisite I should likewise aduise thee of what were fit for thee to follow and to cause if I could good lawes to arise out of euill manners But it is fit to take time to deliberate vpon a matter of such importance and truely to speake herein to purpose all the wit I haue ioyned with that of others were no more then sufficient Yours BALZAC The 1 of Ianuary 1624. To Hydaspe from Balzac LETTER IIII. MY deare Hidaspe if God had conferred a Kingdome vpon me with condition not to haue mee sleepe more then I doe I should prooue the most vigilant Prince liuing nor should I neéde either Guards or Sentinels about my person Surely there is not any my selfe excepted for whom Night was not made since when the windes are calme and all Nature quiet I alone watch with the Starres But I much feare lest God will not be satisfied herewith since I fore-see so many miseries ready to rowle vpon me as I haue no small apprehension to become more wretched tomorrow then I am at this present The onely countenance of Hydaspe would refresh mee and cause my paine to be in some sort pleasing But fince there are now at least a dozen great Cities and a hundred Leagues of Snow betweene vs I haue much adoe to forbeare dying and to support my selfe vpon my weakest part Yet my meaning is not to haue thee returne hither for were it possible for me I had much rather come to thee and continually to gaze on that face whereof I haue drawne so many faire purtraicts It is true there are few men liuing whose loue we should preferre before liberty But assure thy selfe thy Master is of those be not therefore more proud then Henry the third who first obeyed him For my part though I be naturally refractory yet haue I euer had a speciall inclination to his seruice yea when all things went crosse with him and that his best Friends forsooke him I tooke pleasure in perishing on purpose to affoord him some consolation in his calamities Many desire a dependency on him out of their particular ends but me
informe you of some particulars touching the place where I am at this present and of my imployments here First there is no day passeth wherein I see not the rising and setting of the Sunne and how during that time I withdraw my selfe from all other distractions to enioy the purity of that faire light Behold here in this present state wherein I am all the Courtship I vse and the onely subiection I oblige my selfe vnto When I desire to take the Ayre at other houres of the day I must indeede confesse my eyes haue no obiects so vast as the Sea or Appenines nor doe I behold Rome vnder my feete as formerly I haue done Yet doe I on all sides discouer so pleasing a prospect as though it fill not the capacity of my spirit so much as did the other yet doth it farre more content me Painters come forty dayes iourneyes hence to study in my chamber and if Nature cause her greatnesse to appeare euen from the bottome of the deepest Abysses and darkest downefals she hath no lesse placed her rarest perfections vnder my windowes Moreouer I am plunged in abundance vp to the eyes but my Riches are tacked to the twigs and branches of Trees for as Summer hath made mee plentifull so will Winter reduce me to my former puuerty In the meane time I make Feasts of Figges and Mellons yea out of the very Museadine Grapes I eate there issueth liquor enough to make halfe a Kingdome drunke and the thing whereat happily you will wonder is that I put all this into a sicke mans stomacke to whom well-nigh all good things are forbidden yet haue I found a meanes to reconcile my surfets with my phisicall receits and in one and the same day I both enioy pleasure and endure paine for I nourish my Feauer with excellent fruites and purge it with Rubarbe but howsoeuer I cannot hazard my health in more innocent debauches since I performe them without troubling the tranquility either of Earth or Ayre or without bereauing any thing of life The first men the world produced attained to extreame age with such pure cates as mine are for as of all bloudy meates they onely vsed Cherries and Mulberries so was the simplicity of their liues accompanied with a perfect reposednesse Nature as yet being voide of all Monsters There was as then no mention either of Geryon or Minotaure nor of φφφφ The Inquisition and Parliament were onely in the Jdea of things and of the two parts of Iustice there was that onely knowne which gaue merits their due rewards BALZAC From BALZAC 1623. Another Letter from Balzac to Mounsieur de Bois Robert LETTER VIII YOur Letter of the fifteenth of the last Moneth came to my hands as I was ready to seale these Presents You might haue iust cause to taxe me should I let them goe vnanswered or if this dead man appearing in your presence did not giue you thankes for the many excellent words you haue vsed in the adorning his Funerall Oration I should be but too proud if others were of your opinion or were infected with the like errour you are but I much feare you will not for the present herein finde a party equall to that of the League and doe much doubt if all of a contrary conceite should be declared Criminals there would hardly be any acquitted in this Kingdome Howsoeuer I hold my selfe much obliged vnto you in conferring so liberally that vpon me you so well know I want and for bestowing all your colours and mercuriall mixtures to make mee seeme beautifull I will bee well aduised how I fall out with him who flatters me and in the loue I beare my selfe I shall at all times suffer a riuall with much satisfaction Since a certayne Gentleman in Germany pleaseth himselfe in being stiled King of Ierusalem and since those who haue no reall patrimonies tickle themselues with meere Titles and Armes by the like reason may J imagine my selfe to be the man you will needes haue me and receiue from your courtesie the qualities my Natiuity hath not affoorded me But to disblame both of vs I beseech you hereafter to haue more care of my modesty and not to put me in danger either to lose it or not to beleeue you It is no lesse then to wrong the Angels to call other spirits then theirs diuine yea all the Celestiall Court is sensible of suffering that name to fall to ground For my part I am so farre from freeing my selfe of humane defects as I doe absolutely auow there is not any more imperfect then J am no not so much as blinkards and maymed persons I espye faults enough on which side soeuer I see my selfe and my wit is so disfurnished of forraine perfections as I hold no man for learned if he be not adorned with those abilities whereof I am ignorant yea euen in that whereof you suppose me to haue a perfect vnderstanding I haue in truth no more then meere doubts and coniectures so as if there were a man of perfect Eloquence to befound at the worlds end I would goe in pilgrimage on purpose to see one contrary to N N. To speake truely there is great difference betweene filling the care with some pleasing sound and expressing the fancies of Artizans and Clownes according to Grammaticall Rules and in reigning ouer the spirits of men by force of Reason and to share the gouernment of the World with Conquerours and lawfull Kings I haue not the presumption to suppose I am arriued at this point but I likewise thinke few haue attayned thereto and the Philosophers Stone were with more ease to be extracted then the Eloquence I propose to my selfe It is as yet a kind of Terraincognita and which hath not beene discouered together with the Indies The Romans themselues could onely recouer the bare image as they did of those Territories ouer which they triumphed by a false title Yea Greece her selfe how vainely soeuer shee boasted thereof yet seazed shee onely vpon the shadow not seeing the substance So as vpon the matter diuers haue possessed others with that conceite being first deceiued themselues and are obliged to the restitution of an ill acquired reputation Many of our friends haue fallen into the like errours I will not name them fearing to astonish at the first sight all such to whom you shall shew this Letter or lest I should publish odious truthes It shall suffice I tell you by the way that if to attaine perfect Eloquence it sufficed onely to weary our hands with Writing none could therein any way compare with our Practitioners and Pen-clarkes Yet is there not any reason why those who performe poore things should draw their weakenesse to their owne aduantage or imagine I flatter them A man is as well damned for one single deadly sin as for a thousand without repentance nor is it the strength of their iudgement which hinders them from committing many faults but the onely barrennesse of their wits which
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