popular State but truely I neuer affected confusion or disorder and my designes haue euer aimed at the pleasing of a few For since you haue declared your selfe in fauour as hee likewise hath done for whom France at this day enuieth Italy and since you carry after you the most solid part of the Court I am content to let the rest runne astray with Turkes and Infidels who make the greater number of Mankinde Yet my Lord I cannot thinke that any hereafter will be so farre in loue with himselfe or so obstinate in his owne opinion as not to be a Convertite by the onely reading the Letter you honour'd me with and who in conclusion will not subscribe to your great Iudgement And if it be certayne that truth it selfe could not be strong enough against you there is no question but that side whereon you two shall agree oughtto be vniuersally followed For my part my Lord let all men say what they will I fixe my selfe with closed eyes there and what enemies soeuer the reputation you haue allowed mee procure me yet knowing your abilities and what you are I will be no farther solicitus for mine owne Interest or future benefit since it is become your cause I am My Lord Your most humble and most obedient seruant BALZAC The 10. of March 1624. To the Cardinall of Richelieu from BALZAC LETTER III. My Lord I Humbly intreate you to be pleased by these presents to permit me to confirme vnto you the assurance of my most humble Seruice and that you would allow mee to craue some Newes from you It is the onely thing wherein I am now curious and which in the very depth of my retirednesse obligeth me to reflect sometimes vpon worldly Affaires But happen what can I am most assured you will remayne constant euen amidst publique ruines and that Fortune cannot bereaue you of those aduantages shee neuer gaue you Yet could I wish that your life were somewhat more calme and lesse glorious And that Artemiza's goodnesse hauing so great Affinity to what is infinite and which is of power to procure loue euen amidst the most sauage beasts doth in right deserue to obtaine truce and repose among reasonable Creatures It is not in vs to be Authors of hereafter nor doe our wishes rule the euent of humane Affaires But surely if there be any Justice in Heauen whereof there is no doubt and if God haue an Eye to worldly matters wee must beleeue the teares of vpright persons shal not be shed in vaine or that your Queene shall waxe old in her Misfortunes yet at the least since our cogitations be still within our owne compasse and we being not forbidden to hope well let vs make the best vse we may of this small portion of Liberty yet remayning The vertue she hath hitherto made vse of in resisting her afflictions will happily oneday serue to moderate her felicities And if God strooke a certayne Woman with suddaine death for that she should haue beene seated in the place hee destinated to this great Princesse he surely will not suffer that man to liue long who hath so highly iniured her Howsoeuer my Lord it is great Honour vnto you not to haue fayled her in her afflictions and to haue vnder-valewed all worldly Prerogatiues to be vnfortunate with her I know that herein you satisfie your selfe with the testimony of a cleare conscience and that it is not so much for Opinion of men you vndertake Worthy actions as for your owne priuate Satisfaction Nor are you a little to comfort your selfe in that at this present you are praysed euen by your very enemies and to see your Resolutions redoubtable to those who haue great Armies on foote and the chiefe forces of the State vnder their Command I would say more did I not feare you might suppose I had some priuate designe in my Discourse or seeke hereby to prepare you to receiue some kind of importunity from me But I most humbly beseech your Lordship to be confident that I being of free Condition am little acquainted with Flattery and that I am not so giuen ouer to gaine but that notwithstanding you were still in Auignion I would euer as really as at this Houre remayne My Lord Your most humble and most affectionate Seruant BALZAC The 15. of May 1623. To the Cardinall of Richelieu from BALZAC LETTER IIII. My Lord VVEre I not well acquainted with my owne insufficiency I might well be possessed with no small vanity vpon the Letter you did mee the Honour to addresse vnto me and might well imagine my selfe to be some other thing then if I was the day before I receiued it But knowing it is no other then a meere fauour you pleased to affoord me I will not flatter my felfe in my good fortune nor lessen the Obligation due vnto you in presuming to merit the same If Vertue required any Recompence out of her selfe she would not receiue it from other mouth then yours and your Reputation is at this day so Iust and Generall as it is become a Verity wherein the Wise agree with the Vulgar I doe therefore account my selfe very happy to be reputed of by a Person who is able to giue a value to things of themselues worthlesse and I attribute so much to your Iudgement that I will no longer hold any meane opinion of my selfe lest therein I should contradict you Truely my Lord very difficultly will my parts any way answere your Expectation The time my Feauer affoordeth me for rest is so short I can hardly imploy it to other purpose then to complaine of its cruelty I haue enough to doe to liue and to make that good I keepe my selfe as carefully as though I were composed of Christall or as if I were some necessary matter for the good of all men Yet my Lord you haue so great power ouer me that I will ftrayne my selfe to shew my Obedience and to giue you an account of my leasure since you please to thinke I ought not to depriue the World thereof It is better to vtter glorious Dreames then to labour in grosse Designes and there are certayne Acts of the spirit so excellent that Princes are too poore and their power too slender to affoord them their full merit But my Lord you haue often giuen so great testimonies of me that if I should not haue some presumption it were fit I lost my memory Wherefore out of the assurance you giue me that my Stile doth not stray from that perfection which men imagine but neuer saw nor haue attayned vnto I will enter vpon a designe which shall amaze our vulgar wits and cause those who haue hitherto supposed they surmount others to see I haue found what they seeke for Whatsoeuer I doe I will at least haue you at all times present to my thoughts thereby to oblige my selfe not to come short before so great an example nor will I forget the place where at this present I am to
seeke for another kinde of world then this and for more perfect creatures then Mortals There will euer be poysnings beyond the Alpes Treasons at Court and reuolts in this Realme Howsoeuer my Lord there will be loue euen in spite of you so long as there are eyes and beauties in the world yea the Wise themselues will loue if they finde Clorindaes Dianaes and Cassandraes to be beloued Fire seazeth somtimes on Churches and Pallaces God hath framed Fooles and Philosophers of one and the same matter And that cruell Sect which seekes to bereaue vs of the one halfe of our selues in seeking to free vs from our passions and affections instead of making a wise man haue onely raised a Statue I must therefore once againe tell you that I loue since Nature will haue it so and that I am of the progeny of our first Parent but I must withall informe you that all my affections spring not from the distempers and diseases of my soule my inclination to serue you hauing immortall reason not momentary pleasure for its foundation one day happily I shall no more be amorous but will alwayes remayne My Lord Your most humble and most affectionate Seruant BALZAC To the Lord Cardinall of Valete Sonne to the Duke of Espernon LETTER II. My LORD AT length they haue done you right and you now enioy what you deserued from the first day of your Natiuity if there could bee any thing added to a man who reckoneth Kings among his Predecessors and whose inclinations happily are ouer-great to liue vnder the power of another I should aduise you to reioyce at this newes but being extracted as you are from one of the most illustrious Origines on earth and begotten by a Father whose life is loaden with Miracles it sufficeth that you pardon Fortune since it hath so happned that present necessity hath gained of her what she in right owed to your name I know well that some will tell you you are created Prince of such an Estate as is bounded neither by Seas nor Mountaines and how the extent of your iurisdiction is so illimitable as were there many worlds they ought all of them to depend thereon as well as this But I who suffer not mine eyes to be dazeled by any other luster then that of Vertue and who doe not so much as bestow the looking on what most men admire if I should esteeme you either more great or happy then you were I should not haue sufficiently profited vnder you in the true vnderstanding of you Doubtlesse in the opinion of the Vulgar it is an extraordinary Honour to be a prime person in a Ceremony and to weare a Hat of equal esteeme to Crownes and Diadems Yet I presume you will pardon mee if I make bold to tell you it is an honour can neuer oblige a wise man to enuy you For had you this point onely aboue me I should still be my owne Master Nor had I for your sake renounced that liberty which was as deare to mee as the Common-wealth of Venice Vpon the matter to haue none other Iudge on Earth saue onely your reputation and conscience and to haue a great trayne of followers some whereof are imployed in the procuring your spirituall pleasures others in the conduct of your temporall affaires all this shal be still the same with you and diuers others whom you slight but to performe good and vertuous actions when you are assured they shall neuer come to the worlds eye to feare nothing but dishonest things to beleeue death to bee neither good nor bad in it selfe but that if the occasion to imbrace it be honourable it is alwayes more valuable then a long life to haue the reputation of integrity in your promises in a time when the most credulous haue enough to doe to confide on publique faith This is it which I admire in you my Lord and not your Red Hat and your fifty thousand Crownes Rent yet I will say that for the honour of Rome you ought to esteeme of what she sends you The time hath bin when she would haue erected Statues for you and affoorded you sufficient subiect to haue merited Tryumphs but those dayes being past and since that Empire is no longer maintayned by such meanes yet ought you to rest satisfied with the honours of Peace and accept as a high fauour a Dignity the King of Spaine's Sonne hath made suite for If there were nothing else in it but that it causeth you to quit your Mourning-robes to reuest your selfe with the colour of Roses you can doe no lesse then reioyce at such a change Howsoeuer the nearest obiects to your eyes will not be so dolefull as formerly they were since there will be nothing vpon you which shall not be resplendent and glorious I would willingly dilate this discourse but the speedy departure of the Post will not suffer me and besides I being well assured that if you esteeme any thing in my Letters it is not the multitude of words I ought to be contented to end this after my humble suite vuto you to loue me alwayes since I am passionately My Lord Your most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC To the Lord Cardinall de Valette from Balzac J here send you two Letters which were deliuered mee to bee conueyed vnto you the one from the Duke of Bauaria the other from the Cardinall of Lerma My Lord you shall thereby perceiue that your proposition hath affoorded ioy both to the Victorious and to the Afflicted and that the World receiueth a notable interest therein since it augmenteth the contentment of Triumphes and sweetneth the harshnes of retyrement LETTER III. MY LORD I Suppose you haue vnderstood of the Election of the Pope some two dayes iournies from Paris and that you will make no great hast to adde your approbation to a thing already dispatched I had sent a Post on purpose to aduertise you thereof but my Lord Embassador thought it not fit but hath encharged his owne Messenger to aduertise you of all things in your Voyage this way and to giue you accompt of all occurrents This makes me thinke that the subiect of your voyage ceasing and the time of yeare being as yet some what troublesome for the vndertaking thereof you will rather reserue it for a fitter season when you may performe it with lesse disorder and more aduantagiously for the Kings seruice My meaning is that I would haue you set forward about the end of Autumne that you may spend here with vs one of these warm and springing Winters laden with Roses wholy reserued for our admirable Italy And my Lord though herein the consideration of my priuate interest may seeme to make me speake thus rather then my affection to your seruice yet would I willingly tell you that all kinde of contentments attend you here and if your great Spirit aspire to glorious things for the keeping it in action it shall infallibly finde them at Rome In
hath beene foretold not by Astrologicall rules or the aspect of some Constellation but by a true discourse founded vpon the maximes of reason and experience of things past causing him to presume that God hath not conferred such extraordinary endowments vpon you to be for euer encloistered within your selfe And that he hath loued France better then to depriue her of the good you ought to procure her But all these verities shall one day be comprised in that worke the King by your mouth my Lord hath commanded Mounsieur de Balzac to vndertake and which one yeere of leisure will effect There shall it be where he will cause all men to confesse that to haue the pourtraict of a perfect Prince the reigne of so great a Monarch as ours is to bee attended that the Diuine Prouidence neuer shewed it selfe more apparantly then in the conduct of his designes and in the euent of his enterprises and how Heauen hath so farre declared it selfe in his fauour that were his state assaulted on all sides and all ordinary meanes of defence should faile him he hath vertue sufficient to saue himselfe and performe miracles Now as you are the prime intelligence of his Councill and your cogitations the first causes of the good resolutions therein taken you are not to doubt my Lord but you likewise possesse the principall place therein after His Maiestie and that you participate more then any other of His triumphs There shall you be reuenged of all those wretched writings you haue formerly slighted There the spirits of all men shall bee satisfied in the iustice of your deportments and calumny it selfe will there bee so powerfully conuinced that to cry downe so legall a gouernement as yours ill affected French-men and those strangers enemies to this Crowne will finde no further pretext in affaires nor credulity among men And truely when I on the one side consider how fat all it is to those who gouerne to be exposed to the enuy of great ones and complaints of meaner persons and how Publike affaires haue this fatality as how pure soeuer the administration thereof be they still afford sufficient colour to calumny to disguise them and cause them to appeare iniust And on the other side when I consider that to guide this State is no lesse then to manage a body hauing no one sound part and how there is no sicke person who doeth not sometimes murmure against his Phisitian I dare bee confident my Lord that such a man as Mounsieur de Balzac will not prooue vnusefull vnto you and that the lustre of your actions and glory of your life shall receiue no diminution in his hands I would say more did I not feare to disoblige him in commending him or if I beleeued him to be so great a selfe admirer as his enemies figure him vnto vs. But I who haue sufficiently studied him to know him and who am acquainted with his most secret Inclinations and the most particular conception s he hath in his soule and of a farre different opinion to theirs I will therefore rest there my Lord and not to cause you to loose more time and to the end you may the sooner inioy the entertainement this excellent Booke prepareth for you I will satisfie my selfe in letting you know that I esteeme not my selfe so vnfortunate as formerly I did since I haue happened vpon so faire an occasion to let you know that I am My Lord Your thrise humble and most obedient seruant Silbon THE PREFACE Vpon the Letters of Mounsieur de BALZAC By Mounsieur de la Motte Aigron I Doubt not but among those who shall see these Works some there are who will esteeme them worthy a more aduantagious Title then that of Letters as well in regard of the greatnesse of those things therein frequently handled as in respect of the exactnesse where-wherewith they seeme to haue beene composed Butas I willingly excuse those who with vnapt complements imagine they haue composed a good Letter nor doe any more blame such as there in neuer digresse from their perticular affaires â—o must I likewise acknowledge that such writings as these hauidg not beene made with any intention to bee put in Print the World might well haue passed without them And that it is only allowed to the Germans to giue account to the age they liue in and to posteritie forsooth concerning the affaires and fortunes of their particular families and of the silly acts of their Colleagues Truely it is an errour to beleeue that graue and solemne subiects are to bee banished out of all Letters or that euen eloquence ought but slackly therein to appeare and that the Maiestie of both these is only reserued for Pulpits and Panegyrick Orations as though valour neuer appeared saue onely in pitcht Battells and that in single Combats it were lawfull to run away or that vertue therein were vtterly vnusefull because it hath fewer witnesses neither is so fully regarded But besides that wee are no longer in those times wherein the State gouernment was publiquely questioned where the Oratours forced the Lieutenants generall of armies to render accompt of their seuerall charges and that consequently there is no more any meanes remaining to become eloquent in that kind Yet are there reasons whereby wÌ„ee may vnderstand the merit of Letters to bee of no lesse regard then that of Orations Howbeit if there bee any necessitie to find some difference betweene these this at least can neither be in regard of the dignitie of the Subiects the force of Reasons the gracefullnesse of Discourses nor in the sublimitie of Conceits To speake trueth when I consider the Orations yet remaining among the ruines of former ages some where of were publikely pronounced others onely penned I am so farre from admiring any aduantage they haue ouer those Letters now extant among vs both of the same Authors and Ages as I doe not so much as wonder at all how the first hauing beene armed with discourse and voice together with the gesture and motion of the body haue produced such prodigious effects as wee all know and haue so often as it were by maine force extorted the consents of all hearers yet the second though they had not the like arms and allurements haue notwithstanding not beene any way â—â—â—icient Those smooth Exordiums whereby they prepare and put themselues by easie accesses as it were into possession of the Readers those straites and passages whereby they conduct the spirits of men from pleasant to painefull and from grieuous to gracious obiects to the end that hauing in a maner shaken and cast them out of their former stations they may afterwards force them to fall on what side they please Surely all these aduantages are so peculiar to Orations as I ingeniously confesse Letters doe not so much as know what they meane In these we enter at the first dash vpon the matter nor doe wee scarse at any time quit the same the reasons goe altogether alone without
hath beene their subiect not altogether sutable to this State nor very fitting for English eares The rest are here presented to thy gratious accetpance not doubting but they will prooue both pleasing and profitable to diuers who endeauour to make right vse thereof My desires haue aimed at that end and my greatest ambition is to haue them find courteous entertainement and to afford Publique Vtillitie Vale. VV. T. PErlegi hunc librum cui titulus Balzac his Letters una cum praefatione duplici ad Dominum Cardinall de Richelieu ad Lectorum qui quidem liber continet folio 176. exceptis quae delentur in quibus nihil reperio sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribus contrarium quo minus cum publica utilitate Imprimatur ita tamen ut si non intra annum proxime sequentem typis mandetur haec licentia sit omnino irrita GVLIELMVS HAYWOOD Capellan domest Archiep. Cantuar. THE LETTERS OF MOVNSIEVR DE BALZAC THE FIRST BOOKE A Letter from the Cardinall of Richelieu to the Signior of BALZAC LETTER I. SIR THough I haue formerly deliuered my Opinion to a friend of Yours concerning some of your letters he shewed me yet can I not satisfie my selfe before these Lines affoord you a more Authenticall approbation thereof It is not any particular affection I beare to your person which imsiteth me to this allowance but Truth it selfe carrying with it such a Prerogatiue that it compelleth all who haue their Eyes and Spirits rightly placed for the deliuering an vnpartiall opinion to represent them without Disguise My censure shall be seconded by many others and if there be any of a contrary conceite I dare assure you time will make them know that the defects they finde in your Letters proceede rather from their Spirits then from your Pen and how nearely they resemble the Icterickes who hauing the Iaundesse in their Eyes see nothing which seemeth not vnto them to carry the same colour Heretofore meane Wits admired all things aboue the pitch of their capacity but now their Iudgements seconding their Sufficiencies they approoue nothing but what is within the compasse of their Talent and blame all whatsoeuer exceedeth their Studies I dare without presumption say in what concerneth you herein that I see things as they are and declare them to be such as I see them The conceptions of your Letters are strong and as transcendent aboue ordinary imaginations as they are conformable to the common sense of such who are of sound iudgement The Language is pure and the Words perfectly well chosen without affectation the Sense is cleare and neate and the Periods accomplished with all their nūbers This censure of mine is by so much the more ingenuous as that approouing whatsoeuer is your owne in your Letters I haue not concealed to a certay ne Friend of yours that I found some rectification to be desired concerning certaine things you insert of other mens fearing least the liberty of your Pen should cause many to imagine that it is to often dipped in their humours and manners and draw such as are more acquainted with you by name then Conuersation to be otherwise conceited of you then you willingly could wish The manner wherewith you haue receiued this my Aduise causeth me that continuing my former freedome I will conclude in aduertizing you that you shall be answerable before God if you suffer your Pen to sleepe and that you are obliged to imploy it vpon more graue and important Subiects being contented that you shall blame me if in so doing you receiue not the satisfaction to see that what you performe herein shall be praysed and esteemed euen by those wh would willingly picke occasion to controule them which is one of the most sure markes of the perfection of any Worke. You shall receiue some in this kind out of my Affection when I may haue the opportunity to assure you that I am Your well affectionate to serue you the Cardinall of Richelieu From Paris the 4. of February 1621. To the Lord Cardinall of Richelieu from BALZAC LETTER II. MY LORD I Am as proud of the Letter you did me the Honour to addresse vnto me as if there were a thousand Statues erected for me or if I were assured by infallible authority of my works excellency Truly to be commended by that man our Age opposeth to all antiquity and vpon whose Wisedome God might well intrust the whole earths gouernment is a fauour I could not wish for without presumption and which I am yet doubtfull whether I haue really receiued or onely dreamed somesuch matter But if it be so that my eyes haue not deceiued me and that you are hee who hath bestowed that voyce vpon me which hath bin chosen by all France to present her petitions to the King and by the King himselfe to conuey his Commands into Citties and Armies My Lord I must humbly then acknowledge you haue already payed me before hand for all the seruices I can euer possibly performe vnto you and I should shew my selfe very vngratefull if I should hereafter complayne of my fortunes since vpon the matter the goods and honours of this World are most ordinarily none other then the inheritance of Sotts or rewards of Vice Estimation and Commendation being onely reserued for Vertue Ought I not then to rest highly satisfied hauing receiued from your Mouth the same Prize which Conquerors expect for their Victories yea all that your selfe could hope for in lieu of your great and immortall Actions if there were another Cardinall of Richelieu to giue them their due Commendations But truely my Lord that is a thing which will alwayes be wanting to your Glory for when by your onely Presence you haue appeased the spirits of an incensed Multitude when by your powerfull Reasons you haue induced Christian Princes to set the Natiue Countrey of Jesus Christ at liberty and to vndertake the Holy Warre when you haue gayned whole Nations to the Church as well by the force of your Example as by that of your Doctrine who is of ability to pay you the Reputation which you in all right deserue and where shall you finde so excellent a Witnesse for all the marueilous Acts of your Life as I haue of my Watchings and Studies I cannot chuse but reiterate this and my ioy is ouer iust to be concealed Is it possible this great Wit and high spirit which hath bin imployed euen from his first Youth in perswading Princes in giuing instructions to Embassadours and hath beene listned vnto by old men who haue seene foure Reignes Is it possible I say this man should valew me on whose Approbation all enemies agree nor is there among all men a contrary party or diuersity of beleefe in this poynt If I had a purpose to disquiet the repose of this Kingdome I would seeke for the consent of slacke spirits and I should stand in need of the fauour of all sorts of men were I to study for Reputation in a
the oppressed Prouinces Though Purple be very refulgent yet will it receiue a farther luster by this your Dignity carrying command where euer it commeth and which is particularly so proper for the conduct of Soules as it is onely to that power whereto they will submit themselues My Lord if I haue any hope to be knowne in after Ages or that my Name may passe to Posterity they shall finde this consideration to be the first obligation vnto me of seeking the Honour of your Acquaintance and that hauing heard you speake you did so absolutely purchase both my thoughts and affections that since then I haue euer reflected vpon you as on an extraordinary person and haue euer passionately remayned My Lord Your most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC The 16. of December 1622. To the Cardinall of Richelieu from BALZAC LETTER VI. My LORD HAd the wayes beene safe or if the good order you haue taken for publicke security had not beene subiect to the like successe as are wholesome Lawes which are seldome well obserued I should not be necessitated to take a longer time then you allotted me when I parted from Fountainebleau nor had I till now beene constrayned to spin out the time of my Dispatch But though your Commandments are all powerfull in me yet you know necessity will firstbe obeyed nor will you I hope be displeased that I haue made choyce of a Prison whereto I am accustomed to auoide another not so commodious for me This hath not hapned but to my extreame griefe since I haue not beene able to be a witnesse of the most illustrious life of our Age and haue thereby lost halfe a Yeare of your Actions which well nigh fill vp all our History For though we are not so remote from the World that no Newes can come to vs yet they passe so many places as it is impossible they receiue not diuers Impressions or that they should arriue here in their purity since they are often altered from the very Loouer yet haue Ivnderstood and Fame hath published euen in Desarts the great Conflicts by you vndergone and atchieued for the Honour and Reputation of France and how you haue subdued the subtilties of Strangers being in truth more to be feared then their Forces I heare how Italy hath spent all her practises without hurting any and how those States-men who made accompt to Seignorize in all Assemblies and to be Maisters in all Reasons of State were vnable to defend themselues against you but with passion and choller nor to complaine of any other thing but that you perswaded them to whatsoeuer they were before hand resolued not to yeeld So as my Lord those who tearmed vs Barbartans and by their treaties commonly tooke reuenge of our Victories haue in the end found wisedome on this side the Alpes and haue well perceiued there is a man who hath abilities to hinder them from deceiuing others They stood amazed to see a Seruant who would not suffer there should be any Maister greater then his Soueraigne Who was as sencible of the least Euils of his Countrey as of his proper sorrowes supposing himselfe to be wounded vpon the least apprehension when any made shew of trenching vpon the Dignity of this Crowne But when they found you applyed present remedies to all such inconueniences as they obiected that you preuented the difficulties they offered to propose that you diued into their soules drawing thence their closest Intentions and how at the first conference you made answer to what they reserued for a second Then it was indeede when their Fleame was turned into Choler and when you put their humane Wisedomes and politique Maximes to a stand So as we see it is sufficient onely to let Good appeare to cause it to be beloued and truely if Reason had the like power ouer the Will as it hath ouer the Vnderstanding all those Italians doubtlesse who heard you speake had returned good French-men and the safety of Christendome together with the security of her Princes had beene but one daies worke Forraigne warres had beene ended in your chamber nor should we now haue any more then one businesse vpon vs and the Kings Forces had at this present beene imployed onely in suppressing the Rebels of his owne Kingdome My Lord I hope you are perswaded though I could not probably expect any slight occurrents from the place where you are yet that I receiued these with much emotion and transport it not being in my power to dissemble my ioy when I vnderstood how their Maiesties are not wearie of your Seruice and how after hauing tryed diuers Councels it was in conclusion thought fit to follow yours and that you precede in the affaires of Europe by being conductor of the Fortune of France Truely of all exteriour contentments there is not any whereof I am so sensible as of that But on the other side when I vnderstand that your Health is dayly assaulted or threatned by some accident that the Tranquility your Conscience affords you hinders you not from hauing ill Nights And how amidst the happy successes befalling you life it selfe is notwithstanding somtimes tedious vnto you then indeed I must confesse they touch me in the tenderest part of my Soule And whilst the Court makes thousands of feined Protestations vnto you there is an Hermite some hundred Leagues from you who mournes for your maladies with vnfeigned teares I know not whether or no I may presume to say I loue you yet is it not probable you will take offence at a Word wherewith you know God himselfe is well pleased My Lord I do in such manner Loue you as I am eyther sicke vpon the Relation of your indisposition or if the newes be current that you are recouered yet haue I still an apprehension of what alteration each houre may bring vpon you Ought it then to be in the Fits of your Feauer and in your inquietude for want of sleepe that you vnderstand these publicke acclamations and the due prayses you haue purchased Shall the Senses suffer and the Spirits reioyce or they continue tortured amidst these Tryumphs or that you at once performe two contrary Actions and at the same time haue neede as well of Moderation as Patience If Vertue could be miserable or if that Sect which acknowledgeth no other euill but paine nor any greater good then pleasure had not beene generally condemned the Diuine prouidence had receiued complaints from all parts of this Kingdome nor had there beene an honest man knowne who for your sake had not found something farther to be desired in the conduct of this World But my Lord you vnderstand much better then I doe that it is only touching the felicity of beasts we are to beleeue the body and not concerning ours residing onely in the supreame part of our selues and which is as smally sensible of those disorders committed below her as those in Heauen can bee offended by the tempests of the Ayre
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
that I neuer had one single temptation against my duty and that my fidelity is spottlesse as if you so pleased it might be without suspicion I must confesse that you hauing declared your selfe no way desirous to trench vpon my liberty and that you left it wholy to my selfe I haue sometimes made vse thereof imagining that without wronging that first resolution I vowed to your seruice it might be lawfull for me to haue second affections I will not expect the racke to force me to confesse it I haue loued a man whom the misfortunes of Court and the diuers accidents happening in worldly affaires haue separated from some friends of yours and haue cast him into other interests then theirs But besides that he was extracted from a Father who did not more desire his owne good then your contentment and since I am most assured how amidst all the fore-passed broiles he at all times conserued his inclinations for you I must needs tell you I was in such sort obliged vnto him as had he declared Warre against my King and against my Country J could not haue chosen any side which had not bin vniust J therefore at this day bewaile him with warme teares and if euer I take comfort in the losse I haue sustained I shall esteeme my selfe the most vnworthy and in gratefull person liuing Your selfe my Lord knowing as you do how much I owe vnto his amity would sooner adiudge me to die with him then blame my resentments I assure my selfe all my actions are disguised vnto you on purpose to cause you to dislike them Howsoeuer I will not dispaire but the time to come wil right me for what is past You will on day see the wrong you ofter to my innocency in admitting false witnesses in prciudicethereof and what you now tearme my fault you will then be pleased to say it was my vnhappy fate or my hard fortune in the interim I am resolued to continue in well doing and though there were no other but my conscience to acknowledge my fidelity yet inuiolably to remaine Your most humble and most faithfull seruant BALZAC The 30. of December 1626. To the Lord Bishop of Nantes LETTER VI. SIR AS the bearer hereof can testifie the obligations I owe you so may he beare witnesse of my perpetuall resentments and will tell you that were I borne your sonne or subiect you could haue but the same power ouer mee you now possesse nay I am perswaded I yet owe somewhat more to your vertue then to the right of Nations or Nature If power hath made Princes and chance Parents reason well deserues a further kinde of Obedience It was that which ouercome me vpon the first conference I had with you causing me to prostrate all my presumption at your feete after hauing rightly represented to my thoughts how impossible it is to esteeme my selfe and know you I am sure this Language is no way pleasing to you and that you will looke awry at my Letter but doe what you please I am more a friend to truth then to your humour and my spirits are so replenished with what I haue seene and heard as I can no longer conceale my thoughts I must tell you Sir you are the greatest Tyrant this day liuing your authority becomes awfull to all soules and when you speake there is no further meanes to retaine priuate opinions if they be not conformable to yours I speake this seriously and with my best sence you haue often reduced me to such extreamities that comming from you without knowing what to answer you I haue beene ready to exclaime and say in the rapture wherein I was Restore me my opinion which you haue violently forced from me and take not from mee the liberty of Conscience the King hath giuen mee But truely it is no small pleasure to be constrained to be happy and to fall into his hands who vseth no violence but to their auaile who suffer For my part I haue at all times departed your presence fully perswaded in what I ought to beleeue I neuer gaue you a visite which cured me not of some passion I neuer came into your Chamber so honest a man as I went foorch How often with one short speech haue you eleuated me aboue my selfe and bereaued me of whatsoeuer was fleshly and prophane in me How often hearing you discourse of the World to come and of true felicity haue I longed after it and would willingly haue purchased it at the price of my life How often could I haue followed you would you haue conducted me to a higher pitch of perfection then all ancient Philosophers euer attained So it is that you onely haue bestowed the loue of inuisible things vpon me causing me to distaste my first and most violent affections I should still haue beene buried in flesh had not you drawne me forth nor had my spirit beene other then a part of my body had not you taken the paines to vnloose it from sensuall obiects and to seuer the eternall from the perishable part You caused mee at the first encounter to become suspicious to the wicked and to fauour the better side before I was of it you haue made those remedies pleasing which all others affrighted me with and in the midst of vice you haue constrained me to confesse Vertue to be the most beautifull thing on Earth Thinke not therefore that either the pompe of the Roman Court or the glitter of that of France can dazell those eyes of my soule where to you haue shewed so many excellent things It is the beames and lightning of those eminent Vertues you haue discouered vnto me which cast so forceable reflections vpon the eyes of my soule and which cause mee though I formerly resolued to slight all things yet at least now to admire something But yet Sir assure your selfe it is not the world I admire for I rather reflect vpon it as on that which hath deceiued me these eight and twenty yeares I haue bin in it and wherein I fearce euer saw any thing but how to doe euill and counterfeit to be good In all places on Earth whether my curiosity hath transported me beyond Seas or on the other side the Alpes in free States or in Kingdomes of Conquest I haue obserued among men onely a fare of flatteries fooles and Cheaters of Oldmen corrupted by their Ancestors and who corrupt their Children Of slaues who cannot liue out of Seruitude of pouerty among vertuous persons and Ambitious Couetousnesse in the soules of great persons But now that you haue broken the barres through which I could onely receiue some light impression of truth I distinctly see this generall corruption and doe humbly acknowledge the iniury I offered to my Creator when I made Gods of his Creatures and what glory I fought to bereaue him of c. BALZAC The 12. of Ianuary 1626. To Mounsieur de la Marque LETTER VII I Know not what right vse to make of your praises if
and iealousies for others I here endure torments such as wherewith one would make conscience to punish Paricides and which I would not wish to my worst enemies If notwithstanding all this in obedience to the Counsell you giue mee in the Letter you did me the honour to write vnto me I should make my selfe merry I were necessarily to take my selfe for some other body and become a deeper dissembler then an honest man ought to be My Melancholly is meerely corporeall yet doth my spirit giue place though not consent thereto and of the two parts whereof I am composed the more worthy is ouer-borne by the more weighty Wherefore if the whole world should act Comedies to make me laugh and though St. Germans Faire were kept in all the streets where I passe the obiect of Death euer present before my eyes bereauing me of sight would likewise barre mee of content and I should remaine disconsolate amidst the publique Iubilations Yea if the stone I so much dread were a Diamond or the Philosophers Elixa I should therein take small comfort but would rather beseech God to leaue me poore if he please to bestow no better Riches vpon me But when I haue sayd all be it vnto me as he shall please to appoint since I am well assured my maladiys will either end or I shall not for euer hold out yet should I dye with some discontent if it happen before I testifie my dutifull affection towards you and the sensibility I haue of your noble fauours But howsoeuer it fare with me I would willingly make a iourney to Rome there to finish the worke I promised you and which you commanded me to vndertake for the honour of this Crowne Certainely if I be not the cause to make you in loue with our language and to preferre it in your estimation before our neighbour Tongues I am affraide you will be much troubled to reuolte from the Roman Empire and that it will not be for the History of Mathew or of Hallian you wil change that of Salust and Liuie I will not deceiue you nor delude my selfe yet may I tell you that my head is full of inuentions and designes and if the Spring for which I much long would affoord me the least glimpse of health I would contest with any who should produce the rarest things I haue an infinite of loose flowers which onely want binding vp into Nosegayes and I haue suffered others to speake any time these sixe yeares on purpose to bethinke my selfe what I haue to say But I well perceiue the publique shall haue onely desires and hopes and truely if I spring not afresh with the trees in stead of so many bookes you expect from me you shall not read any thing of minesaue onely the end of this Letter and the protestation I here make vnto you to dye Your most humble most obedient and most faithfull seruant BALZAC The 7. of Ianuary 1623. To the Lord Cardinall de Valete from BALZAC LETTER IX My Lord THe hope which any time this three Moneths I haue had of your determination to come into this Countrey hath hitherto hindred me from writing vnto you or to make vse of the onely meanes remayning for me to be neare your person But since you haue supposed the speedy quitting the Court to be as fatall as to dye a suddaine death and that no lesse fortitude or time is requisite to resolue to weane our selues from pleasing things then to surmount painefull ones I will by your permission resume the commerce the common rumor caused me to surcease and will not hereafter beleeue you can with any lesse difficulty get out of Paris then can the Arsenac or Loouer Were it not a place all stored with inchantments and chaines and which is of such power to attract and retayne men as it hath beene necessary to hazard diuers battailes to driue the Spaniards further off one might well wonder at the difficulty you finde to conuay your selfe thence But in truth all the world doth there finde both habitations and affaires and for you my Lord since in that Countrey our Kings both enter into their first infancy and grow old as being the seate of their Empire no man can iustly blame you for making ouerlong abode there without accusing you of ouer much loue to your Master and for desiring to be neare his person At Rome you shall tread vpon stones formerly the gods of Caesar and Pompey and shall contemplate the Ruines of those rare workmanships the antiquity whereof is yet amiable and shall dayly walke among Histories and Fables But these are the pastimes of weake spirits which are pleased with trifles and not the imployments of a Prince who delighteth in sayling on rough Seas and who is not come into the world to let it rest idle When you haue seene the Tyber on whose bankes the Romans haue performed the Apprentiships of their rare Victories and begun that high designe which they ended not but at the extreame limits of the Earth When you shall ascend the Capitol where they supposed God was as well present as in Heauen and had there inclosed the fatality of the vniuersall Monarchy After you haue crossed that great Circus dedicated to shew pleasures to the people and where the blood of Martyrs hath beene often mingled with that of Malefactors and bruite beasts I make no doubt but after you haue seene these and diuers other things you will grow weary of the repose and tranquility of Rome and will say they are two things more proper for the Night and Church-yards then for the Court and the Worlds eye Yet haue I not any purpose to giue you the least distaste of a Voyage the King hath commanded you to vndertake and whereof I well hoped to haue bin the guide if my crazy body would haue seconded the motion of my Will But truely my Lord I am deepely ingaged in this businesse and when I looke vpon my selfe single I sometimes haue a desire to make you suspicious of those felicities I feare I shal not be able to enioy with you yet whatsoeuer I say I am not so farre in loue with my selfe as to preferre my priuate content before the generall desires of all men and the Churches necessities It is requisite for infinite considerations of importance you should be present at the first Conclaue and that you appeare at a Warre not therefore lesse considerable in being composed of disarmed persons or for that it makes no Widowes nor Orphans I am certaine you haue elsewhere seene more dangerous encounters and haue often desired more bloudy Victories But how great soeuer the obiect of your ambition be yet can it not conceiue any thing of such Eminency as at once to giue a Successor to Consuls to Emperours and Apostles and to make with your breath the man who ouer-toppeth Kings and who commandeth ouer all reasonable Soules Though my health be so vncertaine as I cannot promise my selfe three dayes