duty being conformable to his inclination so as the onely meanes then to be rebellious was to beblinde When this young Lord came to Rome at his returne from the battaile of Prague I can well witnesse the iealousie he at once afforded both to men and their wiues and of the great Prognostickes all such gaue of him who presumed to haue any experience in future occurrents either by the aspect of Starres or some more sublime vnderstanding besides to consider how at twenty yeares of age there is scarce any corner of the knowne world he hath not traced to encounter honourable actions nor any sort of combate wherein for the most part he hath not beene Conquerour that he hath borne Armes against Turkes and Jnfidels that he hath appeared both in battailes and sieges of Citties that he hath giuen life to some enemies and taken it from others This to speake truth is a thing God suffereth as rarely to be seene as deluges and other great effects of his power or iustice In a long processe of time the meerest Cowards may become Maisters were it by no other meanes but that by seeing all men dye before them they may inherit the whole world Diuers likewise haue performed great exploits who haue begun their actions either with grosse errours or meane aduentures But as there are very few Riuers nauigable euen from their first fountaines nor Countries where the Sun fendeth forth his full heate from the very day-spring so are such men doubtlesse very rare and singular who haue not any neede either of growth or yeares nor are subiect either to the order of times or rules of Nature But I haue no purpose to folde vp a booke in a Letter for though my griefe doe sometimes permit mee to spend some small time vpon pleasing subiects yet will it not allow me to make thereon any long stay I must therefore leaue off during my short good day lest I fall sicke againe in your presence and once more clogge you with my complaints insteade of thanking you for your kinde remembrance and assuring you of the great desire I haue to remaine so long as I liue Your most humble seruant BALZAC The 4. August 1615. A Letter from Balzac to Mounsieurde Bois Robert LETTER VII THough I receiue no newes from you and howbeit those from Paris are generally naught yet am I so confident of your excellent constitution as I cannot imagine it can be endamaged by that contagious ayre Surely if it be not in such sort infected that birds fall downe dead and that the Springs be not corrupted you haue small cause to feare and I haue heretofore seene you of so perfect a composition and so strong a substance that an ordinary infection I suppose is vnable to seaze vpon you And rather then I will haue any apprehension of your being carryed away with the current of those who dye of this great mortality I shall sooner beleeue that God reserueth you to make the worlds Epitaph and those last Songs appointed for the Catastrophe of all humane ioyes Yet ere it come to this point remember your promise I pray you and send me something to rid me of the Megreme I haue taken in reading the sotteries of these times I cannot counterfeit the matter but must confesse I taste Verses as I doe Mellons so as if these two sorts of Fruites haue not a relish neare approaching to perfection I know not how to commend them though on the Kings Table or in Homers workes Whatsoeuer you doe yet at the least permit nothing to your spirit which may wound your reputation and aboue all let me intreate you not to bee the man who may iustly be taxed of hauing violated the chastity of our Language or for instructing the French in forraigne vices vtterly vnknowne to their Predecessours Poetry which God hath sometimes made choice of for the vttering of Oracles and to vnfold his secrets to Mankinde ought at the least to be imployed in honest vses Nor is it a lesse offence to make vse thereof in vicious matters then to violate a Virgin This I speake vpon the subiect of our Friend whose end I feare will hardly be naturall if hee dye not the sooner of his fourth Poxe This is the second time hee hath issued out of Paris by a breach hauing escaped as furious a flame as that of Troy For my part I cannot conceiue what should be his designe For to warre against Heauen besides that he shall be but slackly accompanied in such an expedition nor hath a hundred hands as it is sayd of Gyants he ought to vnderstand it was an action they could neuer atchieue and how in Cicilia there are Mountaines yet smoaking with their Massacre We come not into this world to prescribe Lawes but to submit our selues to those we find and to content ourselues with the wisdome of our fore-fathers as with their Land and Sunne And truely since in matters indifferent nouelties are euer reprehensible and that our Kings quit not their Lillies to quarter Tulipans in their armes by how much greater right are we obliged to conserue the ancient and fundamentall points of Religion which are by so much the more pure in that by their antiquity they approach nearer to the Origine of things and for that betweene them and the beginning of all good there is the lesse time subiect to corruption To speake plainely there is small appearance that truth hath from the beginning of the world attended this man on purpose to discouer it selfe vnto him in a Brothell or Tauerne and to bee sent forth of a mouth which comes short in sobriety to that of a Suisse I intend not to intermeddle with the Courts of Parliament nor to preuent their Decrees by mine opinion And to thinke to make this man more culpable then he is were as much as to cast Inke on an Ethiopians face I owe so much to to the memory of our fore-past acquaintance as I rather pitty him as a diseased person then pursue him as an enemy I confesse he hath parts in him not absolutely ill nor doe I deny I haue much pleased my selfe with his freedome of speech so long as hee proposed onely men for his obiect and spared to speake of holy things But when I heard say he exceeded the bounds of inferiour matters and banded himselfe euen a gainst what is transcendent to Heauen I instantly quitted all acquaintance with him and thought the onely pleasure I could doe him was to pray to God to restore him to his right sences and to take pitty on him as he did of the Jewes who crucified our Sauiour Hereafter I will be better aduised then to weary you with so long a discourse or to tyre my selfe in troubling you But truely I thought I could doe no lesse after three yeares silence esteeming this not to be ouer much for a man who is so slow a pay-master for so many Letters hee oweth you Yet cannot I conclude before I
remaining some few graines of that faire Gold whereof the first Age was composed In truth when the fire of Warre is flaming in the foure corners of France and that within a hundred paces hence the whole Earth is couered with aduerse Troupes and Armies they with mutuall consent doe alwayes spare our Village The Spring-time in other places producing the besiegings of Forts and Cities with other enterprises of Warre and which for this dozen yeares hath beene lesse looked for in respect of the change of Seasons then for any alteration of Affaires suffers vs to see no other thing but Violets and Roses Our people are not contayned in their primatiue innocency eyther by feare of Lawes or Study of Sciences They to liue vprightly doe simply follow their naturall Bounty and draw more aduantage from their ignorance of Vice then most of vs do out of the knowledg of Vertue so as in this Territory of two miles they know not how to cosen any saue Birds and Beasts and the pleading Language is as vnknowne here as that of America or of other parts of the World which haue escaped the auarice of Ferdinand and the ambition of Isabella Those things which hurt the health of man or offend their eyes are generally banished hence Snakes nor Lizards are neuer seene here and of creping creatures wee know no other but Melions and Strawberries I intend not here to draw you the portraite of a Palace the workemanship wherof hath not bin ordred acording to the rules of architecture nor the matter so precious as Marble and Purphire I will onely tell you that at the Gates there is a Groue wherein at full noone there enters no more day then needes must not to make it night and to cause all colours not to looke blacke so that betweene the Sun and the shade there is a kinde of third temper composed which may well be endured by the weakest eyes and hide the deformities of painted faces The Trees here are greene to the very ground as well with their owne leaues as with Iuy which inuirones them and as for the fruites wherein they are deficient their branches are all beset with Turtle-Doues and Phesants and this at all times in the yeare From thence I march into a Meddow where I treade vpon Tulipans and Anemons hauing caused them to be mingled among other Flowers to confirme my opinion I brought from my Trauailes that French Flowers are not so faire as those of Forraine Countries I sometimes walke downe into that Vallie being the secret part of my Desart and which till now was not knowne to any man It is a Country to be wished for and painted I haue made choise thereof for my most precious occupations there to passe the most pleasing houres of my life The Trees and Water neuer suffer this place to want coulenesse and verdure The Swans which couered the whole Riuer are retired to this place of security liuing in a Channell which causeth the greatest talkers to take a nappe so soone as they come neare on whose Bankes I am alwaies happy be I merry or melancholly How short a time soeuer I stay there I suppose I enter into my first innocency my desires my feares and hopes stop in a trice all the motions of my soule flacken nor haue I any passions remaining or if I haue any I gouerne them as tame Beasts The Sunne conuayes its light thither but neuer its heate The place is so low as it can onely receiue the last points of its beames being therfore the more beautifull in that they are lesse burning and the light thereof altogether pure But as it is my selfe who haue discouered this new found Land so do I possesse it without any partner nor would I share it with my owne brother But in all other quarters vnder my commaund there is not a man who courts not his Mistresse without controule nor seruant of mine who is not master each one satisfying himselfe of what he loues and spending the time at pleasure And on the other side when I see the Grasse trodden downe and on the other the Corne full of Layers I am well assured it is neither Winde nor Haile hath made this worke but only a Shepheard and his sweete-heart At which doore soeuer I goe out of my house or on what side soeuer I turne mine eyes in this pleasant Pathmos I finde the riuer of Charauton wel meriting as much fame as that of Tagus aud wherein when Beasts go to drinke they see the Heauens as cleare as we doe and enioy the same aduantage which elsewhere men haue ouer them Besides this pure water is so in loue with this petty Prouince that it diuides it selfe into a thousand branches and makes an infinite of windings and turnings as loath to leaue and depriue it selfe of so pleasing a lodging and when at any time it ouer-floweth it is only to make the yeare more firtile and to affoord vs meanes to catch Trouts and Pykes leauing them vpon the leuill and which are so great and excellent as they equall the Sea Monsters the Crocadiles of Nile and all the supposed Gold rowling in those feigned Riuers so much spoken of by Poets The great Duke of Espernon comes hether sometimes for change of felicity and to lay aside that austere vertue and splendor which dazeleth the eyes of all men to assume milder qualities and a more accostable Maiesty This Cardinall likewise by whom Heauen intends to act so high designes and of whom you heare me dayly speake after the losse of his brother who was such a one as if he might haue chosen him among all men hee would not haue taken any other after as I say hauing indured that losse well deseruing to draw teares from the Queene he made choice of this place here to exercise his patience and to receiue from Gods hands who loueth silence and who is found in solitary retirements what Philosophy affoordeth not nor is to be practised among the throng of people I would enlarge my selfe vpon other Examples to shew you how my Village hath at all times bin frequented by Heroical Hermits and how the steps of Princes and great Siegniors are as yet newly trodden in my ordinary pathes But the more to inuite you to come hither I suppose it sufficient to say that Virgil and myselfe do here attend you if therfore you be accompanied in this Voyage with your Muses and other Manuscripts we shall not neede to entertayne the time with Court newes nor with the Germaine troubles Let me not liue if euer I saw any thing comparable to your Spirituall Meditations and if the least part of the Worke you shewed me be not of more worth then all Frankford Mart and all those great Bookes which come to vs from the North bringing cold weather and frosts along with them I assure you the President of THOV who was as worthy a Iudge of Latine Eloquence as of the life and fortunes of men and
treasures of Roses Ambergreece and Suger it being of such pleasing commodities I pretend to bee rich leauing necessary wealth to the Vulgar Two Elements haue ioyntly contributed the best they haue to furnish matter for your Liberality and smally valuing either Cold or Pearles as I doe I could wish for nothing either from Sea or Land I finde not among your presents You haue bestowed with a full hand what is offered vpon Altars but sparingly which men reckon by graines and whereof none the King of Tunnis excepted is so prodigall as your selfe In a Word this profusion of forraine odours you haue cast into your Comfitures obligeth me to speake as I doe and to tell you if you feed all your flockeat this rate there will not be any one in all your Diocesse who will not cost you more by the day then the Elephant doth his Master I see therefore Sir I am the dearest Childe you haue vnder your Conduct nor should J receiue so delicate and precious nourishment from you did not your affection force you to beleeue my life to be more worth then ordinary and consequently that it deserueth morecarefully to be preserued then any other But to returne you Complements for such excellent things were as much as to vnder-value their worth should J striue to acquit my selfe that way our Language is too poore and vnable to lend mee wherewith to pay you And since in Homers iudgement the words of the most Eloquent among the Grecians were esteemed little better then Honey the foode of Shepheards there is small probability mine should be comparable to Amber-greece and Suger the delicacies of Princes I therefore feare J shall beforced to be all my life time indebted vnto you for the fauours I haue receiued from you and that it must bee onely in my heart where I can bee as liberall as your selfe But I well know you are so generous as to content your selfe with this secret acknowledgement and that in me you affect my naked good-meaning which must supply the place of those other more fine and subtile vertues I cannot learne at Court Truely as I expect no commendations being the second perfumes you present mee in that I hold myselfe vnworthy thereof so doe I suppose you cannot refuse mee your affection since it is a kind of deseruing it to be passionately as I am Sir Your most humble and most faithfull seruant BALZAC The 25. of December 1626. To Father Garrasso LETTER III. Father YOu haue found the place whereat I confesse I am the most easily surprised and to oblige mee to yeelde your Courtesie hath left nothing for your courage to performe since therefore you imploy all your Muses to require my Friendship and haue already payed of your owne I can no longer keepe it to myselfe but as another mans goods But if this were not so my resentments are not of such value with mee as not often to bestow them vpon more slender considerations then those were which produced them nor doe my passions so transport me but that I will at all times remaine in the power of Religion and Philosophy Hitherto I can defend a iust cause but in farther resisting what you desire I should force right it selfe to be in the wrong were it on my side And out of bare enmity which in some Common-wealthes hath beene tollerated I should euen passe to Tyranny a thing odious to all men Since our liues are momentary it is no reason our passions should be immortall or that men should glut themselues with reuenge whereof God hath as well forbidden the vse as the excesse It is a thing he hath soly reserued to himselfe and since none but hee truely knoweth how to vse this part of Iustice he would no more put it into the hands of men then hee doth Thunder and Tempests Let vs therefore stop in our first motions for it is already too much to haue begun Let vs not tearme the hardnesse of our hearts Courage and if you haue preuented me in the ouerture of the peace wee treate of repent not your selfe since you haue thereby bereaued me of all the honour there had beene in acquiring it Heretofore Magnanimity and Humility might haue beene esteemed two contrary things but since the maximes of Morality haue bin changed by the principles of Diuinity and that Pagan vices are become Christian vertues there are euen weake actions a man of courage ought to practise nor is true glory any longer due to those who haue triūphed ouer innocents but to those Martyrs they haue made and to such persons whom they haue oppressed But to passe from generall considerations to what is particular betweene you and me it is no way likely a religious man would disturbe the tranquility of his thoughts or quit his conuersation with God and Angels to intermeddle with wicked Mortals and to make himselfe a party in our disorders I should likewise haue lesse reason to seeke for an enemy out of the World wherein there are so many aduersaries to dislike and so many Rebels to subdue Now Father whatsoeuer opinion you haue had and notwithstanding any thing I haue said in the beginning of this Letter I neuer intended to commence any reall Warre against you I haue not at all felt the emotion I shewed all my choller being but artificiall when at any time certaine of my speeches seemed disaduantagious vnto you so as I freely consent that what was written to Hydaspe shall passe as a flash of my braine and not as any testimony of my beleefe onely to let men know I had a desire to shew how able J was to contest with truth if I had no minde to side with it This science hauing beene sufficiently daring to vndertake to perswade that a Quartan Ague was better then Health Rhetoricke I say which hath inuented praises for Busiris made Apologies for Nero and obliged all the people of Rome to doubt whether Iustice were a good or bad thing may yet in these dayes exercise it selfe vpon subiects wholy separated from common opinions and by gracefull fictions rather excite admiration in mens spirits then exact any credence It rayseth Fantomes with purpose to deface them It hath paintings and disguisements to alter the purity of all worldly things It changeth sides without leuity it accuseth innocency without calumny And to say truth Painters and Stage players are no way culpable of those murthers wee see represented in Pictures or presented vpon Theaters since therein the most cruel is the most iust None can iustly accuse those of falsity who make certaine glasses which shew one thing for another Errour in some cases being more gracefull then truth In a word the life euen of the greatest Sages is not altogether serious all their sayings are not Sermons nor is all they write eyther their last Testament or the confession of their Faith What can I say more Can you imagine me to be so curious as to condemne the gust of all that great