transmutations of Love for as I have told you there was no more of that threatning style in it it was in a strain proper to affect any Woman that had not been so much incensed as I was He begg'd me pardon for his last insolence in terms which clearly shewed that he could not without tears have couched them in writing Judg said he Madam what desperate Love may not force me to act against my self since it hath reduced me to that pass to seek a cure for it by offending you as I have done He confessed that he had justly incurred my indignation that he had been too presumptuous in the beginning of his Amour that a youthful transport had made him act in that manner being deceived by some good successes on his rashness with other Women and that he had since fully changed that turbulent inclination That at the instant he discovered my vertue and merit he had entertained nothing but submissive respect for me that he had not conceived any hopes or desire that might bring prejudice to that vertue that he had loved me as an Angel might love me and that if he had seemed guilty of some transports which appeared inconsistent with the moderation of a man that loves in that manner they were occasioned by his grief to see me obstinate in refusing to hear him and in taking cognizance of the change that my vertue had wrought upon him And then concluded by a thousand oaths that he would kill himself upon the return of the person that carried the Letter if he brought him not back word that I had pardoned him what was past wherein he kept his word too religiously How said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux did he kill himself No he did not kill himself outright answered Madam de Moulionne but he did at least as much as was necessary for the work and when my answer was brought back to him that he should have already killed himself and that he made too many words about it they say he drew his Sword and casting himself upon it run himself quite through the Body Ah! He loves you Madam said Montal then and seeing he hath been so great a Fool as to kill himself I make no more doubt of his Love I knew very well answered she that you would doubt no more of it when I had once told you this circumstance for you told us yesterday that Love might carry people to that extremity And were you no way affected at that accident Madam said Madamoiselle Velzers My passions were at that time too much divided answered Madam de Moulionne for me to be able to give you an account how I received that News I trembled all over when I heard it for the News of any man's death as well as his would trouble me but my heart however felt a kind of satisfaction in the thought that it would clear me from the Calumny of having condescended to the will of the impertinent man as he had the insolence to give it out I felt also another Consolation because his ambiguous threats put me always in fear that he had a mind to send me going unto the other World and I was far better satisfied that he himself made the Journey In the mean time his Mother soon after came to render me a Visit and to pray me to have some compassion of her Son but what would you have me do said I Madam you are too vertuous a Lady to desire that I should abuse my Husband and that 's the thing your Son demands We had a very pleasant Discourse on this subject she adjured me to find out some expedient for the Cure of her Son without interesting Monsieur de Moulionne or my self in the affair and I obstinately refused to shew him any favour But perceiving that she desired no more but the permission to order him in my name to suffer his wound to be dressed I told her she might speak in my name what she pleased and provided she employed none of my Servants to do it I was not concerned at what ever she thought fit to say Did he dye then at length said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux So far from that said Madam de Moulionne that I found him next day at Mass just over against me The wound that he gave himself was not at all dangerous a little remnant of Charity that people have for themselves without minding it make them always chuse places that are not mortal and that poor Lover pierced only the fat of his side which he had squeezed hard in his hand before he gave himself the thrust insomuch that it proved but a wound to be cured easily with a penny-worth of Salve And I failed not to tell him so when as I was going out of the Chappel he came and spake to me of it but I gave him a fresh ground of displeasure so sensible that pretending to faint away for weakness he fell down at the very door of the Chappel that he might be revenged on me by the hubbub that action would occasion I trouble you too long with the Relation of his Extravagancies he committed four or five more for some days time and then resolved to return into his Country where now he hath been two months and I desire he may remain there untill I go fetch him back However this is a fair example for Monsieur the Marquess and the dangerous effects of Love in those who cannot obtain a reciprocal affection ought to perswade him to be careful how he ventures Ha! Madam cried Madamoiselle de Barbisieux there is no comparison to be made between your Baron and Monsieur the Marquess and no Woman will ever use him as you have used that Extravagant It 's no matter Madamoiselle said the Marquess I shall make the best use of that Example and endeavour to live a little more civilly with Clelia that she may not oblige me to kill my self But indeed Madam added he you have told us a very wonderful Story and I think strange that it hath been so little talked of that we could never learn it but from your own mouth I wonder at it also said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux for it might have given ground to many Gossipping tales and Calumny is very modest in the Neighbourhood of Madam de Moulionne that it hath so secretly buried such adventures They have been sufficiently talked of amongst my Neighbours replied Madam de Moulionne but there are so few Persons of Quality amongst them that Fame finds no mouths there to carry the News of these transactions to Persons of so much worth as you And besides the best passage happened in presence of some who were so much my friends as not to divulge them knowing that I was not well pleased therewith You had reason not to be well pleased with them Madam said wittily the fair Hollander for your cruelty would have got you a very ill name You jeer replied Madam de Moulionne but probably you
I wish it were day that I might go and impart some of it to all my friends How Sir replied she will you do me that affront then I most humbly beg your pardon for it Madam said he but it must be so I never Love Sigh or Pine but for the pleasure of publishing the favours I receive The poor Lady wept took on added prayers carresses threats and all that she could to divert the Marquess from his design but she could obtain nothing from the foolish indiscreet Franlieu he made her answer that at least he must intrust the secret to the first he met and so he left the Lady even before day that he might satisfie that horrible itch of speaking By good luck the first man he met was one that cried Brandy about the streets he was content to tell his adventure to that honest man that so he might put the young desolate thing to despair who not knowing what she did followed him out into the street and published I think her own shame by accompanying Franlieu farther and farther still conjuring him to keep the matter secret How Hath the Marquess of Franlieu been guilty of that baseness said Madamoiselle Velzers Is he of that humour And are there Ladies at Court such Fools as to listen to him O! Do you think answered the Chevalier de Montal that the Misses at Court stand so much upon discretion They desire a great deal of Love and as little secrecy as men please There are even some Women that would be vexed if men were so reserved Have ye not heard what has been said of the Duke of Candalle and of the Vice-Countess of Talut No said Madam de Moulionne and you bring us an example elder than any of us the Duke of Candalle hath been dead so many years But still What is it that is said of him I remember it said the Marquess of Riberville speaking for Montal and I 'll tell you also that Tale. An Adventure of Monsieur the Duke of Candalle IT hath been reported That the Duke of Candalle after he had taken all imaginable pains to compass his designs with that Woman whose Follies were not so publick at that time as they have been since got at length into her favours And that as they were just about to withdraw after they had spent the night together she made him take a thousand oaths not to speak a word of his good Fortune Sir she said to him You will promise me then that you will not speak a word of it And the Duke having sufficiently sworn to perswade the Lady that he should be more reserved than he used to be on such occasions she answered him Well well Sir If you will not tell it I 'll tell it my self for it is too great an honour for me to do a favour to such a man as you and afterward mince the matter This has been reported Ladies And in effect the Vice-Countess of Talut so soon as it was day went and told all her Friends the kindness she had shewed the Duke but on design say they that by publishing it her self in Raillery no body might believe Monsieur de Candalle if he chanced to speak of it but her cunning had bad success for they did her the honour to believe that what she said was true You would have said the Chevalier to the Marquess the Indiscretion of that Vice Countess to have been an effect of some rational thought of hers and for my part I maintain it to have been an effect of her looseness But said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux you have spoken of the Duke of Candalle in such a way as it would seem he was not discreet in his Amours was he a man that bragg'd of Ladies Favours Bless me said Madamoiselle Velzers Expect you discretion and secrecy from handsom men If their Beauty were so unfortunate as not to afford them some occasion to tattle on they would daily invent grounds of speaking and there is none of them but brags Say not so replied Madamoiselle de Barbisieux I have known one that suffered his Head to be struck off rather than reveal the Favours that had been done him Madamoiselle has reason continued the Marquess it is the Count of Bermilly she means and it is but a year ago since that happened Alas said Madam de Moulionne What I have heard already hath made me very much regret his Fortune and I have a great curiosity to be informed of all the Story You have much kindness then Madam for men that are secret and discreet in their Love said the Chevalier de Montal. In the mean time if we may be believed no men are more insignificant to you than these Blades and you lament too much those that are good for nothing I should think them good for something replied she laughing could they be found daily and could I but meet with one of them but do not you perceive that so soon as any of them appear in the World they cut off their Heads But continued she addressing her self to Madamoiselle de Barbisieux tell us a little how that misfortune befel the poor Count of Bermilly I am going to tell you answered Madamoiselle de Barhisieux NOVEL XII THE HISTORY OF The Count of Bermilly I Might make a long History of the Amours of that poor Gentleman before I come to his tragical End but seeing they are about to cover the Table I shall abridge the Relation in a few words He was a handsome man gallant brave and of great worth One day as he followed a Law-suit in a Parliament-Town which I will not name he had the honour to be loved by the Lady of a President who was to be one of his Judges That Lady who was no less lovely than himself stood in need of no second interview to make him in love also so that that sympathie for some time produced very pleasant effects for both They met together privately talked and did whatever ye please That little Commerce lasted at least six Months without obstruction on but something happened at long run which marr'd all the matter too much circumspection spoil'd their affairs There lived with the Presidents Lady a Neece of her own whom she advised the Count to court for the better concealing their Intrigue and the greater convenience of seeing one another He obeyed her counsel a rival came in play who raised daily quarrels against the Count He was forced to dispute his Pretensions to that Neece in appearance to whom he had none in reality their enmity became so publick that it divided all the Town Whilest these matters were in hand the Rival was one evening killed in the street where the President lived The Count was suspected for it next day he was apprehended there were some Britons who made Oath they saw him commit the fact and he was condemned though the poor man was three leagues out of Town when the Murther was done and that it
pleasantest news in the World answered the Marquess that fair Lady is here between a pair of Sheets You are happy said Montal I would I had her as sure Ho! Be quiet said Madamoiselle Barbisieux to him you are already about to begin your usual fopperies They entered all afterward into the Garden with design to fetch a Walk before they went into the House and the Marquess being there pressed to tell what he had learned of his fair melancholick Lady he recounted to the Ladies the whole Story as he had just before heard it Well really said Madamoiselle de Barbisteux when he had made an end I protest I suspected last night that the Marquess had told us some made Tale and did not in the least believe that he was in chace of such an Adventure And so did I added Madam de Moulionne I fancied that his surprize in having met us when he desired no such thing had made him invent on the spot that which he told us for the truth is there was so little probability in it that if I had not heard what now I hear I should never have believed it and I suspected as you did some other mystery in his Journey Ye do me too great honour Ladies said the Marquess and I am truly very much obliged to you for these good opinions We speak not without reason replied Madam de Moulionne and I appeal to Madamoiselle Velzers and Madamoiselle de Kermas if the other day we were not told such things as might very well give us ground to have that suspicion of you That 's true said Madamoiselle Velzers but if you will be ruled by me let Monsieur the Marquess alone and let us endeavour to make the Chevalier as good as his word in telling us a Story which he promised last night Ah! You are in the right answered Madamoiselle de Barbisieux he told us that the attempt that was made yesternight upon his person was the consequence of a Love-intrigue he must tell us what it was With all my heart answered the Chevalier and the Story shall be no less pleasant than that of the Gascoigne Clelia At these words all held their peace and thus he began NOVEL II. The History OF THE Chevalier de Montal and Madam de Laumer IF Monsieur the Marquess hath been in great trouble for an Hypochondriack Person a fanciful Lady also was the cause that last Night I narrowly escaped being Murdered There is a certain Lady who hath a House on the Road to Marsals that would be thought the greatest Beauty of Lorrain and to have likewise the best Wit in the World As to Beauty without doubt she has her share and for a proof of that Ladies I have been in love with her and am not so bad a Judge of Beauty as to love an ugly Woman but as to her Wit you will hardly agree with her in Opinion At that time then when the King made his Expedition to Marsal one of the loveliest Princes not only of our Court but of all Europe also and I know Ladies that you are willing I should conceal his name and quality had I but nam'd him a secret that I have long kept would be sure to come to his ears by to morrow and therefore I think it not as yet convenient to see the impertinent Historian Said Madamoiselle Velzers he hath spoken but three words and yet cannot forbear to show his own vanity and affront us It is not to affront you answered the Chevalier to distrust your tongues for there was never Woman that could keep a Secret half a day And think you continued he looking on her pleasantly that had it not been for that I could have delayed till now to let you know I love you Ha ha said Madam de Moulionne to the fair Hollander there is a pretty way indeed of breaking Love and I know not how you will take it from him yet I think a Protestation made in that manner should not be received with disdain The Lady replyed Montal blushes no less for anger but the reason is because there is nothing truer than what I have said Good good said Mademoiselle de Barbisieux interrupting him no body doubts but that you spake the truth in saying you loved her and for all the bad opinion you have of Womens tongues it is far less doubted but that she also is so secret in her love for you as not to speak of it to any but make an end if you please of the History of the Lady of Marsal This Prince replied he needing a little refreshment on the Road was forced to accept of the civilities of that house And seeing she was a Woman that let no occasion slip of entertaining fancies and visions or that she was of an humour to brag of every thing she would needs perswade her Friends that the bare civilities that the Prince had shewed her were a real declaration of Love She had even the wit to make them believe that he made a halt only in her Village that he might have a pretext to speak with her All her good Gossips presently advised her not to neglect so good a Fortune They urged her to follow that lovely Prince to Marsal and recommended to her care not to be sparing in giving him encouragements Go said they Madam you know not of what consequence it may be to you and one must not make Ceremonies with Princes as with other People These brave Counsels made the Lady go to Marsal where I had the first time the honour to see and converse with her for perceiving her to be in some perplexity and that she lookt for something at Court I offered my self to wait on her whithersoever she pleased but she told me that she desired no more but to see the lovely Prince that I have been speaking of at Dinner which I procured her My Friends placed her so commodiously and so full in view that the Prince to the great satisfaction of her heart eyed only her all the time of Dinner Then it was that being her self perswaded of what she intended only to perswade others she returned home full of pride and haughtiness for her conquest The Lady who before that was proud of a crowd of Votaries who flocked daily about her from six leagues in compass thought it afterward a great disgrace to be served by Galants of their quality and there was not any not so much as her Husband whom even the bonds of Matrimony could not serve that could avoid her slights if he asked or stole any favour from her it was a kind of Treason and robbing the Publick he took to himself what only belonged to the Prince and she threatned to undoe him At that all the Company burst out in laughing There was said Madam de Moulionne a foolish creature indeed if it be not one of the foolish inventions of the Chevalier Confound me replied the Chevalier if I add one word to the Story and
if I describe not to you the humour of that Lady just as it really was Nay I have been told that she so slighted her Husband that the poor Countrey Gentleman was constrained in a great fit of Love to beat her because she would not suffer him to use her more kindly In fine she led this life two years until it pleased my destiny to make me a Companion at Hunting with Monsieur de Laumer her Husband who was come to Thoul where my Regiment lay However I knew not that she was the Wife of that Gentleman for though she had received from me at Marsal the good Office that I have told you yet I informed not my self of her name and knew her not but by sight And that made me pleasantly surprised to see her in Laumer's house when he treated me after we came from the Chase but I may likewise say that the amazement I put her then in was no less than mine own Laumer who perceived that his Lady changed colour when she saw me came familiarly and whispering me in the ear Chevalier said he be not surprised if my Wife look not favourably on you she is a Beast that uses all people so and is mad when I bring any man hither Alas answered I shrugging up my Shoulders let her look on me as she thinks fit and if she please I shall not at all eye her On the contrary said Laumer you will do me a kindness to speak to her and turning to her Wife said he entertain this Gentleman till I go and give orders for Dinner Then it was that I fell in love with that Beauty The curiosity that I had to make her change her humour which her Husband had set forth to me to be so cruel and the convenience that he gave me of being with her alone were the first causes of my love Your Husband said I to her Madam so soon as he was gone out has been telling me a strange thing of you Is it possible Madam that you give so bad usage to those whom he brings hither to adore you for to see and adore you is but one and the same thing She fetched a little sigh before she answered to that and then turning her eyes amorously towards me Sir said she If I had as great obligation to all those whom my Husband brings hither as I acknowledge my self to have to you I should not so much dislike their Company As she ended these words her Husband returned and hindered me to answer their kindness the kindness was not so great as you take it to be said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux and it might very well have admitted an explication I confess that replied he but for my part who never desire more of a Woman to make me believe my self in good terms with her and who besides had no ground to believe it was a riddle I had not failed to have thanked her by a fair declaration of Love if her Husband had not by his coming prevented me That had been very pleasant said Madamoiselle Velzers she would have certainly scratcht out his eyes Just so as she scracht them out answered he when I made that declaration three days after I sent it to her cautiously by one of my Lacqueys and received a very favourable answer As you say says Madamoiselle de Barbisieux again interrupting him ' Slife there it is still said the Chevalier plucking it out of his Pocket and you may read it if you will Madam de Moulionne took it and whilst Barbisieux looked over her Shoulders she read in it these words To Monsieur The Chevalier de Montal. YEs Sir I shall always reckon my self the happiest Woman in the World in having obtained your acquaintance and without doubt your first cares have sensibly affected me I would if it were possible abide with you always not to speak of any thing else but however I pray you entertain no love for me for that will do us both an injury Conceive who can the meaning of that answer said the Marquess it is an admirable quibble for when the Lady says that she is happy in having obtained acquaintance of the Chevaller and that his first cares have pleased her it is clear she means of the pains he took to get her in to see the Prince Dine But surely added Madam de Mulionne for one to have answered in these terms the note of the Chevaller must have been also no less ambiguous on his part How I said the Chevalier I wrote to her that I was very much obliged to her for the good reception she had given me and that if I thought that my first cares had not displeased her I should use all my Art to see her as often as I could To conclude I prayed her to be assured that she had rendered me the most amorous of all men However it be Ladies continued he what ignorance soever I might have of the meaning of that note yet it made me downright in Love And from that time I began to contrive a thousand devices to see her and I had the more reason to do so in regard her Husband grew Jealous of me and suffered me no more to come to his house That design cost me a good deal of Money at Thoul for the space of a whole Winter that she lived there with her Jealous Husband who had a fuit at Law there He would not so much as leave her alone in his house I used all colours and pretexts that I might speak with him until at length having found an occasion to tell him that she seemed to be angry because I had sollicited on their behalf that Artifice lessened a little the diffidence of her Husband Then did I disguise my self into Womans Apparel that I might go often to her Lodgings which succeeded so well with me that every time her Husband was abroad I never budged from thence But to my shame I must confess that I gained no ground upon the Lady and that after a great many ambiguous discourses and at least as many sighs as I have already spent for Madamoiselle Velzers I thought I had fallen from the Clouds when out of pity she resolved to make me her confident being she could not admit of me for a Gallant That happened in the most pleasant way imaginable for as in the height of transport I embraced her knees accusing her of cruelty for being the cause of my Death and protesting that I wished to have been the Son or Brother of the King that I might have better deserved her favours she fetched a deep sigh and giving me her hand to kiss as a signal testimony of kindness Ah! said she dear Chevalier how cruel are you to prick me in the Sore And why so Madam answered I taking what she said as meant for my self would your ather that I should dye by keeping silence Go go continued she I will no longer abuse your patience and seeing I know the
conduct and we must not expect that these Gentlemen are so heroical as to die gloriously for us They would be great Fools to do so said Montal and far greater still if they did it after rather than before the death of that which they love And when would you have them do it then said the Marquess I am of opinion that if any one should die of despair it should be when he has for ever lost that which was dearest to him That is a Tale of a Tub replied Montal for Desire being dead with the Object we come to our wits again and as the living are made for the living we let the dead go for another that can eat and drink So then I should trust much to you said Madam de Moulionne if I intended to have a Gallant How to me replied he I am the most constant Lover in the World I was like to have killed my self ten times for the cruelties of my Mistress and that fair One looking on Madamoiselle Velzers was a witness of it in Holland Yes verily answered she drolling it was that was the cruel Mistress Yes yes sweet Laugher replied he it was you and you know that there was many times much ado to hinder me from falling into the folly of poysoning my self but I shall have a care for the future and the greater after your death than at another time You need not swear to make me believe it said she looking somewhat coldly upon him Madamoiselle replied he to sweeten what he had said Perhaps seeing I love you with extraordinary passion the first shock of my grief would bring me to a natural death but continued he looking on the Company with his usual Drollery Be assured I would not kill my self and it is not the fashion now adays for men to stab themselves for Love But what reason have you answered the Marquess to be willing rather to kill your self before than after Ha ha replied Montal What reason have I When we must often see a Woman with whom we are desperately in love the Object moving our faculties and Love provoked by denials making us mad we may sometimes prefer poison to so uneasie a life but remove all hopes of enjoying the person which can only be done by death and we come to our right wits again That is a good reason for a brutish Fellow who might love a Woman sensually said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux but for a vertuous Gentleman Good God! said he interrupting her I know what you are about to say but ye would be all fairly lurched if men loved you only like Angels and when we hear such Preachments of the spirituality of Love all are but conceits to lay us in the Cradle Ah! replied Madam de Moulionne I maintain that there are some men who love with the greatest honesty imaginable and without any design And for my part answered he I maintain that that is a thing impossible They pretend perhaps more honesty than others but that is only to bait the hook and it is a way that never fails Ladies then said the Marquess If we believe his Philosophy there will be no commerce betwixt the two Sexes but what must be very dangerous You play the Wag said Montal to him but you understand me not Well well be gone replied the Marquess neither these Ladies nor I will hear you any longer and we had rather that Madamoiselle Velzers would tell us how the Chevalier de la Grancourt got out of the mire wherein we left him sticking How he got out answered she Two days after that he fought a Duel with a man that killed him otherwise I believe he had never come off with credit It is not long then since that happened said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux for it is no more than three weeks since the Chevalier de la Grancourt was killed You may easily imagine that it is of fresh date answered Madamoiselle Velzers seeing I told you that it is but three weeks since I returned from Holland and the Chevalier de la Grancourt was killed but two days before Yet I believe continued she that had he lived longer he would have found out some new invention to have rid himself of his man And he had even begun another Stratagem to bring things so about that the Swede should depart from Paris and give him up all the Letters which he fancied he had received from me He told him that if my Father made the least difficulty to repay the Money that the Moveables cost the only way to bring the old Man to reason would be to threaten to publish the Letters of his deceased Daughter However the success of that Intrigue was so uncertain and the consequences of it would have proved so intricate that I assure you the Chevalier de la Grancourt did far better to find a way to be killed than to trust to it But if his death relieved him from trouble it wrought vexation enough to my Father and me so soon as we returned to Paris Two days after the Stranger came and in his own language which my Father understands very well condoled with him for my death To which my Father who was possessed with the thought that the poor man was a Fool and that one must seem to believe all his fancies made answer as if it had been true that I was dead This he could the more easily do because a Lady one of our Friends had detained me at her House as we passed that way and being not as yet arrived at Paris I could not by my presence falsifie his Discourse He considered also the fancy of the Swede as a means to deliver me at length from an importunate Fool and believing that all he said of the Tapistry and Damask-Bed for which he desired back his Money was such another Dream as that of my Death That he might not anger him he gave him likewise answer That he expected Bills of Exchange and that so soon as they were come he should have his Money The Stranger came several times to ask news of the Bills of Exchange until that being put off almost fifteen days and losing patience he at length sent another Swede to tell my Father that he could wait no longer that persons of our quality never wanted a thousand or twelve hundred pieces which he desired only to be payed off that he stood in need of them for his Journey into Swedeland and that to be short he must needs have his Money My Father that knew the other Swede very well whose Name was Monsieur de Grustaw and who had only taken upon him that Message because he was a Friend of ours as well as of the Count of Valdame's at first played upon his credulity for having taken all the fancies of the Count for real truths he also laughed heartily to see him in the same mistake concerning my Amours insomuch that never poor man was more astonished than Monsieur de
Conjuration brought An Abbots Ghost to your Dear bed last night But Madam let not this disturb your thought 'T was I my self that was the loving Spright In your soft arms all night I panting lay Full of such Pleasures as can never tire Nor did I leave your bed till break of Day And that was all the Spirit did require The God of Love kept with me wheresoe're I went and through th' Adventure shew'd the waye He brought me to your Bed and 't was he there Pull'd off the Cloaths as you in slumbers lay Then whispering to your fancy in a Dream Cruel said he for whom so many groan Do you these Beauties of no use esteem But to kill Lovers and destroy my Throne This Shape this Mien these Eyes so lovely bright This soft clear Skin this luxurious Breast These Treasures are not yours in strictest Right But that poor Lover's who esteems 'em best And now what think you of the Apparition You cannot doubt whether 't was I or no Nay you are sure it was without suspicion You know my Spirit better far than so Mean time dear Madam if you 'd shun such frights You must be kind and to my passion civil Or be assured you 'l still be scar'd with Sprights This God of Love's resolv'd to play the Devil How do you call the Abbot that made these Verses said Mademoiselle de Barbisieux is it not the Abbot of Ruper The very same answered Montal and Commorgien would gladly have seen him hanged every time that he went to the Ladies Lodgings because no body but he hindered them from speaking together about their Affairs And was the Abbot deeply in love with her replyed She Your self shall be judge answered he for he never budged from her and he it was that occasioned all the disorder that befell Commorgien which I shall tell you at the end of my Story I am glad replyed Mademoiselle de Barbisieux that I have learnt that and I shall soundly rattle that Abbot for it when I see him Consider a little Madam said she to Madam de Moulionne who can one trust to for the future since the Abbot of Ruper is not ashamed to be in love The Lady continued Montal talked then of that Spirit adding that she thought it came in and went out at her Chamber window which she would have been very glad the Marquess of Commorgien had endeavoured to do himself as she since confessed but there was no probabilitie that he should expose himself to enter a Chamber by windows which looked all to the Street the House was too near the Court whither so many went and came in the night time He observed that under the hangings there was a necessary Closet in the wall he thought he might do his busiuess far better if he could hire the Chamber in the next House to which the same Wall served and make a hole on his side into that Closet he managed the affair and it took effect for by good luck his Landlord besides his own Trade would also play the Mason by means of a little piece of money the Landlord not only gave consent but helped Commorgien to pierce the Wall and the hole being made he plastered over a piece of board of the bigness of the hole with which he neatly shut the passage The Husband had a hundred times viewed all his Wifes Chamber and believed that the new piece was the former plaister because the Wall was new and no body could ever have imagined that the hole which was shut so close could open and shut when one had a mind You laugh fair Ladies said he interrupting himself and perhaps think that I forge a story Go on said they if the thing be not true it is at least well invented and the new Wall and Landlord Mason come in very pat They were two very necessary points to succeed in the design It was by that means continued he that Commorgien renewed his Commerce and to use greater circumspection he never passed through his hole but in the disguise of a spirit wherein some days afterward he had a lucky hit A little Lacquey whilst his Mistress was undressing stole inter her Chamber that he might catch a nap under a Table covered with a Turkey work Carpet he awoke not time enough to withdraw with the rest but awaking in the Night time and lifting up the Carpet just as Commorgien was retiring he saw him and was frighted next day he told what he had seen the Lady was obliged to second him saying that in reality when she saw that spirit in a dream it appeared to her in the same shape that the little Lacquey said However she would not seem to believe that the little Rogue had seen it when he was awake for fear she should be obliged to seem timorous and so might be advised to lie somewhere else Her Husband nevertheless ordered her Chamber-Maid to lay her Bed at the foot of her Mistresses Bed to keep her from fear In the mean while he guarded himself by frequent Prayers in case it was to him the Spirit had any thing to recommend On the other hand the Chamber-Maid was extreamly fearful of Spirits and rather than incur the danger of seeing one chose to lose her place and be gone but her Mistress who loved her undeceived her and having had many experiences of the commodiousness of her humour imparted to her the secret and told her that it was a real body and no spirit that haunted her Chamber And in this manner was that first cross accident made good again now ye shall hear of another The Husband who as I told you lay by himself was not too well accommodated with a Chamber for seeing people are not lodged always as they could wish in every place where the Court is kept when it is out of Paris and that he had besides chosen to lodge at the House of an ordinary Citizen he was forced to stow himself into a little room at the end of a Gallery directly opposite to his Wifes Chamber It rained very hard during a whole Night and that Chamber being none of the best the rain came in to his very Bed Just as he was about to call a Lacquey the Chamber-Maid came out of her Mistresses Chamber about a necessary concern which gave him occasion to go lie with his Wife He gently drew the Curtains and perceiving she was asleep slipt down by her side without awaking her In the mean while Commorgien was got on the other side of the Lady fast as well as she in an amorous sleep never were any in greater danger of being surprised in so nice a juncture However Fortune that watched for them gave the old man so much discretion as not to suspect any hurt at that time it made him so blind as not to perceive that Commorgien was in the Bed though there was nothing more easy for one that had young Eyes than to have seen him by a little
that as love encreased that fair one felt in her heart a violent desire to learn to make Verses This Gentleman who has a gallant knack that way took thereupon pretext to see her often at her House and this commerce lasted until that her Mother began to find fault with it You are godly and devote Daughter said she to her you are an enemy to love and would have people to think so reconcile in the mean time that I pray with the rest said Mademoiselle de Barbisieux and in a word continued the good Mother you would have none of your Companions so much as look upon a man and yet you suffer one to be alone with you in your Chamber that 's not well And to this remonstrance the Mother having added a prohibition she was constrained to keep her assignations elsewhere A Seamster the pattern of devotion to all the Neighbourhood and who was wont to make Handkerchiefs for Mademoiselle de Ravenois gave her the use of her House that she might take her Lessons of Poetry there There were two Keys made for one Chamber and the party that came first went in and stayed for the other I dare not tell you the policie that the fair one made use of to order matters so commodiously as to observe her times of Rendezvous without being perceived by her Servants It is enough to tell you that her Coach stayed for her at the Gate of a Monastery and that when she came from another place it seemed that she always came thence from her devotion That virtuous exercise lasted above two years during which it is said she might have brought to light some sine pieces of her one production if she had pleased She hatched a very natural and gallant work but some considerations made her look upon the piece as a thing mis-becoming a Maid who made it a point of honour to hate all kind of gallantry She stifled the work and the desire she might have had to publish it at one and the same time Upon my faith Mademoiselle said the Hero of the story again interrupting her you are a very dangerous enemy and it is not good to displease you What do you mean by that replied she is it to be the enemy of any person to relate their laudable actions I assure you there are a great many Authors who have not so great command over themselves as to suppress their works as she did though they know that they are not like to bring them much reputation but let me come to a conclusion They were very punctual then during the space of two years in keeping their assignations at the Seamsters House Monsieur de Lusigny was satisfied with her and no body else who might have had a mind to teach the fair one would have been made welcome All that she wrote now was only directed to him but afterwards she had an itching desire to try the art of some others A man of great quality passing that way to go to his Government seemed to her by his looks to be a good Poet. She imagined that his quality must needs suggest to him more lofty thoughts than those of Monsieur de Lusigny and yet I think she might have been mistaken But to be short she did all she could to draw in that man of quality Love Letters flew ding dong and though he slighted her yet he failed not to send her an answer It became one of those Love intrigues which if they seize not the heart serve at least for matter of pleasant discourse to a man when he is with his friends Monsieur de Lusigny who immediately smelt out the matter became terribly jealous for it was said that he loved his Scholar with all his little heart He discoursed her about the thing made heavy complaints to her and in progress of time fell even into a little more fury than is allowed a gallant man to use against a woman he treated her as one of our Dukes the other day treated the fair Countess of Monsalva I mean that they made love at fifty-cuffs Do you say Mademoiselle replied Montal that the Countess of Monsalva hath been box'd good now what Country have I lived in then that I have known nothing of it but by your favour added he I beg Monsieur de Lusigny's pardon if I interrupt you tell me that story before you conclude his Hereupon Mademoiselle de Barbisieux made the following relation My Lord Duke of ...... it is needless to name him is the good friend of the Countess of Monsaiva and a man of parts She is likewise witty and that is as she says the only cause of their friendship In the mean time another Duke being pleased with the Ladies conversation and having rendered her frequent visits the good friend became jealous of him He prayed her not to receive that other Duke any more She told him that it was difficult yea and ill manners to cause her self be denied to a person of that quality Madam said the first Duke that is difficult indeed for one that loves him but so much the worse for you if you be gulled by him it is a Sacrifice which you must make to me How do you say I must replied she that 's well indeed you talk to me as if you were my Master I am your Ladyships Servant answered he but Madam if you will suffer me to tell you plainly it is sufficient that you have permitted me to be so to stop any other from pretending to it At that the Lady grew hot and treated her Gallant with highest contempt He answered her also with slights And she being somewhat more nettled at them than he gave him a Box on the Ear he returned her the like and so both fell fairly to Cuffs There is a Lesson for you Ladies said Madam de Moulionne that you should never allow men any advantage over you But it is rather one for you replied Mademoiselle de Barbisieux for it was not a Maid that was so cuffed The Rival continued she arrived during the scuffle The first Duke being informed that he was already coming up stairs and that the Lady though in that condition allowed him access busled out like a mad man his Hat pulled down over his brows and swearing to do worse still than what he had done The other Duke perceiving the Lady all in tears and that she had thrown her self upon the Bed Madam said he what do you ail and what has put you into that condition A Cholick Sir answered she but it has just now left me He guessed indeed that she was troubled with choler for he had espied the Cholick marching out by a back door Would to God! Madam replied he smiling my Sword might do you some service in revengeing you of that Cholick I should offer it you with all my heart By that answer the Countess was a little vexed to sind that he was not fully perswaded she was sick I pretend not here
that increases her Melancholy and irritates her Distemper and it would be said to inform all the Company with whom she is of the fancies that such Subjects occasion in her I ask no more then said the Marquess with a countenance somewhat astonished what was the cause of the disorder she fell into last Evening I remember that amongst the Flourishes I spake to her I compared the majesty of her Body and the beauty of her Face to a certain Roman Lady whom she resembles and whose Picture hangs in the House without doubt it is I that have spoilt all O yes said the Gentleman and my presence hath compleated the disaster You gave her ground replied the Marquess by running after her to take you for Horace and it is perhaps because you are the Rival of some person whom she loves Alas Sir answered the Gentleman that is but too true heretofore I was much in love with her and am hardly yet free but when you saw me yesterday endeavour to overtake her it was only for fear that she might hurt her self by running for I imagined that her Fit had taken her However I must thank you for the trouble you put your self to on that occasion for I was told that you took Horse with a very generous design Yes certainly answered the Marquess laughing you put me in a furious rage and I took a strange resolution against you if I had met you we should have undoubtedly had a trial whos 's the Lady should have been Then he told him of a second Adventure he had had in rescuing the Chevalier de Montal who was in danger of being assassinated To which the Gentleman made answer That he was the less troubled at Clelia's Fit seeing it was the cause that so gallant a man as Montal was not killed But Sir continued the Marquess I have a great mind still to know if you think fit how that poor Lady fell into that Distemper for how could she be possessed with that folly to believe Clelius to be her Father that he retired to Carthage that he saved Aronce and that there happened an Earthquake the day that she should have been married to that Aronce if there were not some conformity between her Adventures and those of Clelia To give you that satisfaction you desire answered the Gentleman I must needs relate to you the whole Story but then I should suffer those that expect news of her to pine away with impatience Alas Sir replied the Marquess That needs not trouble you we shall send one of my Servants who shall inform them to the full and if you will take my advice send for her Governess hither it shall be her own fault if she continue not here with her trust as long as she pleases I beseech you then said the Gentleman Cause that I may have Paper and Ink to write a word to that Woman otherways perhaps she may make some difficulty to come Yes said the Marquess for I take her to be a little capricious she instead of staying for my return yesterday fled out of the Garden as if she had been guilty of somewhat That was that she might not be obliged said the Gentleman to give you an account of so strange a Distemper for the good Woman loves not to publish the blemishes of our Family When the Note was written it was sent to the Governess who lived with the Aunt of the young Lady about a short League off They both afterward entered together into the Garden and having chosen a convenient place to sit in the Gentleman in this manner began the History of the fair distempered Lady THE HISTORY OF Madamoiselle Juliette d'Arvianne YOU have sometimes perhaps heard of the Counts d'Arvianne They are one of the noblest Families in Gascoigne The last Count of that Name who died since the Marriage of the King was Father to this lovely Lady But that you may the better know the Reasons that have made her apply to her self the Adventures of Clelia I must trace a little back the History of the Father of my Heroine I call her so said he smiling because she has made me act the part of a Romance-Squire with you In the year 1644 the Count d'Arvianne with his Brother the Chevalier equipped a great Ship and another small Vessel to go cruise with on the Seas And as he set sail from the mouth of the Garron he came at the nick of time to be witness of the wrack of a forrain Ship which was split about the Tower of Carduan and whereof he could only save a little Child which in its Cradle stuck to the Rock all the rest were by a Land-wind blown off into the Sea and perished no body being able to conjecture to whom the Vessel belonged The Count took the poor infant-Boy and recommended him to a Seaman's Wife and having three months after returned from his cruising and finding that no body owned it he caused it to be carried to Madam the Countess d'Arvianne his Lady who having had none as yet of her own in the space of four years that she had been married took pleasure to have it brought up There is Clelius indeed said the Marquess interrupting him and she has reason in the comparison if she have none in the application Two years after continued the Gentleman Madam d'Arvianne was brought to Bed of a Daughter who was called Julliette and the Girl and Boy were brought up together until the War of Bourdeaux and there is nothing of Romance in what I am about to tell you there could not be any thingmore accomplished than these two Children During this War one of the Rebels thinking to gain my Father by procuring him great advantages proposed to him Julliette in Marriage with me who though she was not above five or six years old was nevertheless betrothed to me There were great hopes conceived of me I had an Estate I was a Kinsman the Chevalier d'Arvianne was dead and it was thought there might be means found to restore the House of Arvianne to its ancient splendor by giving me that Maid with thirty thousand Livers a year For Madam her Mother having an Infirmity which hindered her from ever having more Children I was to carry the Name and Arms of the Family But the event of the War was quite contrary to what was expected all these fair designs vanished by the flight of the Count he was forced to shelter himself in England till he could justifie his innocence his Estate was at the same time forfeited Julliette was carried thither with the young Stranger who had opportunity enough to gain her favours as both grew in years In a word What shall I tell you They fell both in good earnest in love The Count d'Arvianne who perceived it would not suffer that love to take root what vertue soever he found shining in that Aronce yet his Birth perhaps answered not to that of his Daughter and besides he had no Estate
power of the affection you have for me I will likewise by the confession I am about to make to you testifie what a great esteem I have for your merit After that I expected no less than that she would give me assurances of my happiness and in that expectation even exspiring in Love to say the truth I know not what I was not preparing to do when the fanciful Woman stabbed me by the foolish confession of her Love for the Prince Though I perceived my hopes frustrated yet I could not forbear to laugh and the novelty of that extravagancy so strangely amazed my Love that it seemed to fly as fast out as it had entered into my heart However the vexation that I was in for having spent so much Money in vain and a certain point of honour which ye may name as ye please would not suffer me wholly to abandon my pursuit and changing my battery with her I told her I was obstinately resolved not to be her Fop. I persisted daily in a disguised habit to render her Visits and carried on my designs so well with her in the quality which she offered me of a plain Confident that I desired no other I gave her constantly advantageous descriptions of the Prince which was a thing that might be done without fiction I pretended that he was in Love with her that I might render her more amorous and adding a thousand promises so to order matters that she should one day enjoy him in private and that the Prince himself should be desirous upon my return to Court to come and see her incognito I put her into so great a transport and excess of Joy that I may tell you freely she gave her self in prey to my Love without considering what she did Ah! Madam said I to her one time sitting by her upon the Bed where she still lay and impudently stroaking her fair Breasts if it were the Prince when it is but a bare Confident that taketh this liberty what pleasure would it be O! extravagant Woman cried Madam de Moulionne Good Madam added Barbisieux say rather extravagant Man for telling us such improbable fopperies Ah! replied he let me become the most miserable wretch that ever was if I tell you not the truth and if it be not certain that the Lady would not have repulsed me provided I had undertaken nothing but by way of comparison to what the Prince might have done Well well Chevalier said the same Lady looking with a kind of severe gravity we tell you in plain terms that we desire not to hear such follies But Madamoiselle answered he you desire to know my Story and these are the chief points of it ye must resolve to have a little patience if ye be curious to hear the rest Come come go on said the Marquess I le stop them if they intend to be gone Goodness replied the Chevalier as if it behoved them not to be nice and ceremonious in every thing their honour is concerned that way but it 's no matter I shall have a care what I say In fine Ladies amidst my delights Heaven thought fit to give me a trial of its vigour I received Orders from Court to march with my Regiment to another Town at a considerable distance I leave you to ghess how much I bewailed my fortune to the Lady how much I accused the Court of Injustice that ought not to have been ignorant that I took more pleasure at Thoul than any where else And for your sakes and to spare your scrupulous Modesty I will not tell you neither that she gave me above a thousand kisses at parting She fondly regretted the absence of a man who acted so well the part of his Prince She sent me above twenty most tender and affectionate Letters to put me in mind of speaking of her to the Prince and she importuned me so much that at length the Idea of her Beauty that could do any thing upon a man of my temper made me take the resolution that I am about to tell you Upon a day when the Feast of St. Hubert was to be kept I returned purposely into the Neighbourhood of her house and taking with me four or five of my Troopers I went a Hunting with the rest where in cold blood I killed several of her Husband's Dogs and made some other ravage on his Ground The Lady whom I had informed solicited him immediately to pursue his revenge and perswaded him to sue me criminally The Suit as we had well foreseen was removed before the King's Counsel by reason of some circumstances and the fair Lady continuing her rage against me she offered to go her self and solicite it The Husband at first made difficulty enough to carry her thither but a troublesome Gout to which he was subject though still young nailed him to his Bed and the affair being pressing he at length sent her all alone to Paris I instantly followed her and there were renewed our Confidences until an occasion of doing better presented That precious occasion and more favourable than I expected happened at last by means of the King 's leaving Paris and going to St. Germans after the Death of the Queen Mother for the Councel having followed the King Madam de Laumer had a pretext to go thither also and there it was that I desired to have her I imparted there the secret of my good fortune to one of the Princes Officers And seeing there is not any Courtier who is not willing to serve his Friend in the affair of his Miss I made him promise to go see the Lady as if it had been by order and in name of his Master to the end that if she promised any pleasant minutes I might go under the name of the Prince and sweetly spend them with her O what Knavery said the young Madam de Moulionne I have heard of that adventure added the Marquess but believed not said he to the Chevalier that you were the Heroe and there was no body named in it That is true replied Montal because I was made to promise solemnly never to publish it but the countenance of the affair is now changed Matters being then ordered in this manner I brought the Lady to the old Palace there she saw the Prince Dine once more for he was come to wait on the King that day My Friend failed not after Dinner to deliver her the Message we had agreed upon told her that the Prince knew her to be the same Lady with whose Beauty he had been smitten on his way to Marsel and at Marsel it self and that he had sent him to wait upon her to entreat her that she would suffer him to come see her the Night following She look't big at first and seemed to arm her self against such a Proposition after the manner of the Sex who reject at first the pleasures they most desire The Prince answered she weeping hath but a very small esteem for me in desiring to
begin where he should end must a poor Woman then be so unhappy that she cannot love a Man but straight he must imagine it to be for such fooleries and from the meanest Gentleman even to the Prince so soon as ever they think that one loves them is that the fair Complement they have to make us Her tears interrupted a little that Lamentation Then as if she had gained a considerable victory over her love no Sir said she I shall never consent to that Well then replied my Friend withdrawing coldly I 'le go give the Prince your answer Bless me replied she what haste you are in would you have me say yes at first dash ought you not to find out some reasons to overthrow mine before you go if all Messengers were of your humour no Lady should be reduced to give everlasting denials Madam de Moulionne could not forbear to interrupt him again saying Here 's a man for you indeed of whom we should have a special care if we will believe him and who gives pretty Characters of Women Madam answered he I give you the Character a of foolish fond Woman who resembles none of you but I have not said one half of what I might have told you of her You know Saint Soulieu continued he addressing himself to the Marquess and seeing he is the man that I employed you may judge what he is able to do It is true said the Marquess Saint Soulieu is a great Buffoon Let me die added the Chevalier if he had not an hours discourse with that fantastical Lady where they said things infinitely more pleasing than what I have related to you if I could but call them to mind Well well much alike I believe said Madamoiselle Velzers make an end Ah! Lady replied he how do I love that charming unpatience in you it is a sign that you are curious to hear of lovely passages With these words he put her to a terrible blush and then continuing his discourse at length said he the Lady granted the Prince the interview that he desired but with condition still that to ease her Modesty she should expect him without a light which after that they had made their acquaintance might be allowed and in that she did but luckily prevent the demand that Saint Soulieu was to make to her about that caution It was then agreed upon that the Prince should come about midnight with a Dark Lanthorn only which he should not open until the Lady gave him leave That her Landlord where she lodged should leave the Door open all Night That he should watch alone and that he should suffer those that minded to see her at that time of Night to go up unto her Chamber without informing himself who they were which Saint Soulieu in name of the Prince immediately ordered the Landlord to do who took it as a great honour that so Noble an Intrigue should be carried on in his house I went on in my part to act the Prince the best way I could and when the hour was come which I expected with the impatience of a man of good assignations I set out with my Friend Saint Soulieu to go to the field of Battel but a fearful misfortune which I had no ways foreseen waited for me there the Husband being informed that I solicited his Lady more than my Judges and being free from his Gout was come purposely to Paris to observe our Conduct Having not found his Beauty at Paris he stayed no longer than to bait his Horses and came with all speed to St. Germans Being conducted by the Hostler strait to his Ladies Lodgings he asked the Landlord where her Chamber was who taking him for one of the Princes Officers immediately shewed it him he went up just a little before I arrived and his Wife having at his entry called him his Highness taking him for the Prince was the cause of a terrible disorder for as I entered her Chamber immediately after him he caught hold of me by the Arm I was forced to open my dark Lanthorn to know who it was and the Lady at the sight of her Husband fainted away the Jealous man followed me out into the Street whither notwithstanding his resistance I ran We both drew and had come to blows if Saint Soulieu and a great many of the Neighbours had not parted us And this Ladies added the Chevalier is the true cause of the accident that befell me yesternight Saint Soulieu however made a kind of accommodation betwixt us for seeing we made use of the Princes name we were glad to prevent the noise of that adventure from coming to his ears though the Prince himself would have but laughed at it And after it had been represented to the jealous Husband that this happy arrival had prevented his shame on that occasion after a thousand Oaths I was forced to take that I should never mention it and he that he should never remember it more in fine after that I had willingly condemned my self to pay the expenses of the Law Suit they obliged us to embrace one another and I did it as heartily as if I had entertained no grudge for having hindered me from embracing his Lady notwithstanding you saw by the base action he intended to have committed last Night that he hath less patience than I And that is the reason that for the future I shall not forbear to tell some good Tales to his cost And by what chance said the Marquess to the Chevalier came he to meet you so pat on the Road By what chance replied the Chevalier I protest I know not unless that Traytor spied me at Fountain-Bleau where I saw him four or five days ago In truth said Madam de Moulionne there was never a more pleasant Story nor more foolishly told added the Marquess True said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux the Chevalier is none of the discreetest men amongst Ladies Ye complain when ye are too well served answered he If ye imagine to make him change his humour said Madamoiselle de Velzers ye are much mistaken Ye are all true Hypocrites replied the Chevalier and pretend to be vexed at that which pleases you most and if there were any thing to be found fault with in my way of Relation it is to Madamoiselle de Kermas who hath not said a word that I should refer my self rather than to you but I know very well that she has found no hurt in my discourse How I said that Lady I never play the Philosopher on the words of an Historian and I barely mind the Story without considering the Ornaments wherewith it is set off It had been better replied her Companion Velzers that you had been still silent than to have opened your lips to make such an answer and to declare against us But what would you have me say replied that Lady there is no hurt to be found in such Stories but what people imagine to themselves What still said Madam de
that it was only her she instead of he Cousin He charged immediately all his Guards not to speak of it upon pain of being reduced but whether it was that one of these Gentlemen preferred his pleasure in telling that Story to his own advantage or that the Cousin her self took care to make it publick so soon as it was day the Adventure was all the Town over Every one that went to visit Monsieur the Governour cried to him so soon as they came within distance Well! Sir well Have you parted the Parties engaged as you ought And in a word the Raillery lasted above eight days And this Relation Ladies was made where I was present by a Lady of Bourdeaux the Evening before we departed from thence upon our journey hither Judge then if it be but small danger to love Monsieur the Marquess with whom one runs such terrible risks I thought I had been acquainted with a great part of his life said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux but by what I have just now heard I knew not the best intrigue of it Let me die said the Chevalier if what the Lady has told us be not an incomparable Story And besides added Madam de Moulionne she has expressed all that she said with so good a grace that her Accent alone was able to charm all that heard her Madam replied Clelia Monsieur the Marquess approves not all the praises you give me I have good reason to believe that my voice hath been a little rude to him whilst the Story lasted and you see how severely he looks upon me still because I have told you more News of him than he was willing to hear Ah! cruel Lady cried he having amorously beheld her all along The persons of whom you have spoken are much more offended than I at the Relation you have made to these Ladies for I have had the pleasure at least to hear it told by a lovely mouth which would even charm me in pronouncing the sentence of my death but I know not what reparation you can make to those two Cousins who have not the same comfort that I have for the injury you have done them Ah! Sir replied she I have kept my word to you and have named no body It is true Madam answered he laughing the matter is not easily guessed at since you have named Thoulouse and told that the Lady went to her Assignation whilst her Husband went to the Palace But let that pass all that I design is to justifie the Lady of whom some have had the charity to say that it was she that was in the Room with me for seriously not to act the discreet Gallant do I say this but that I may contradict a fearful Calumny it was not she but a young Client to whom I had offered the small credit that upon consideration of my Sister I had gained in the Town The Discourse continued on the same Subject till Madamoiselle Velzers and Madamoiselle Kermas returned into the Parlour which I told you they had left that they might take a turn in the Gallery That Parlour was so delightful by reason of the noise of several Fountains and little Cascades which seemed to interpose and hinder the Sun 's entering at the Windows and falling from thence again into reservatories murmured along and mingled themselves with the other Waters of the Garden that it was resolved they should spend the heat of the day there and Montal proposed that the beautiful Dutch Lady should be obliged to relate the Story she promised whilst the Company was in the humour of hearing I am confident said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux that Kermas and she have been consulting together how they may give a fair gloss to the Letter which we read before Dinner If there be a Charm for that replied the Chevalier it may be accomplished and she to whom it hath been written will no doubt invent some probable Story to justifie her modesty but I much suspect it I need not invent any thing answered Velzers and you shall presently see that they who take upon them to judge of things by appearance are often rash in their judgements Gentlemen and Ladies said Madam de Moulionne interrupting her Before ye engage in any thing I advise you that we must go to our Lodging betimes ye know that my Husband comes purposely from Paris to sup with us to night How Madam said the Marquess Will you not stay at Vaux some days do you intend to return to day Yes answered Montal the Lady has a necessity to do so but it is her design to have you with her With all my heart replied the Marquess provided that that fair young Lady looking on Clelia go likewise Both you and she answered Madam de Moulionne and ye will do us a great honour for without you our Company will be imperfect and I have a design upon you to morrow The old Governess perceiving that her indisposed Lady pleased her self much in the Company she was in did not at all oppose the overture she only sent a foot-Boy to acquaint her Aunt with it and afterward all the Company gathered about the fair Hollander to hear her Story which in these words she began NOVEL IV. THE HISTORY OF Madamoiselle Velzers the Chevalier de la Grancourt and the Count of Valdame I Am to tell you a Story wherein I am very much and very little concerned reconcile these two if ye can Last Carnaval was a Twelve-month having gone to the King 's great Ball I sate near a Young Stranger of a very good Meene called the Count of Valdame a Swede who had made room for me betwixt himself and the Chevalier de la Grancourt because coming too late the place that was kept for me was taken up I had there the credit to captivate the Liberty of that Young Count who eyed me much oftener than the Dancers and it is said that all of a sudden he fell so deeply in love with me when he knew that I was a Dutch Woman that it was impossible for him to live any longer without imparting to me his passion Yet the Chevalier de la Grancourt who was one of his Friends and to whom he confided his design as they went out from the Ball told them That it was not the Custome of France to discover Love so soon that though I was of a Countrey where Men express themselves freely enough to Maids yet I was brought young to this Court and that it behoved him to court me with the same ceremonies that French Ladies expect who desire that men should spend much time in Sighs before they declare their Passion The Young Count with a great deal of regret obeyed him and to say the truth the poor Soul was burnt alive He sought then all occasions to be where I was at places where Ladies met for Play at Comedies whereof I was pretty fond at Balls and in a word in all places where La Grancourt who put these
follies in his head made him believe I might be in so much that for the space of above two months wheresoever I was I saw no body but him not knowing that his design was on me In fine one Evening about the end of the Spring when I took the Air at Rombouillet in company with several Gentlemen and Ladies I was quite amazed to see a Consort of Four and Twenty Viols and Violins come and give us a Serenade and as we asked one another who it was intended for we heard a Voice sing some Verses wherein I was named which convinced all the Company that it was onely designed for me The Gentlemen that were with us ran immediately to that Voice that they might learn who gave the Serenade but the Musick not knowing themselves who it was that employed them answered onely That they were ordered to play so long as I pleased and that they were payed for the whole Night Then all the Company concluded that we must dance and one of these Gentlemen would have taken me out to begin the Ball but I was so enraged at the boldness that was taken to name me in the Song that taking him who came to desire my hand for the author of that rude Frolick I disdainfully refused it him however it behoved me to dance and patiently bear all that was said to me upon the account of my Gallant whom I knew not Afterward I lived quietly more than six Weeks without further news but in fine the Swede sent me a melting Note with a most rich German Cabinet which in my absence was brought to our house and which four hours after the Chevalier de la Grancourt came to redemand saying That there was a mistake committed and that it was not directed to me However my Father who had already read the Note though he was surprized to see it conceived in terms of Love somewhat particular would restore nothing until he had spoken with me Neither did he give back the Cabinet untill that the Swede came to our house and told him That he was mistaken in writing my Name for another that sounded like it Yet all that hindered not but that my Father took a more narrow inspection into my actions than was usual to him Now I 'le tell you the mystery of the riddle La Grancourt famous enough for many Tricks of Wit that he hath played and which another than my self would perhaps call by another name having found occasion to make a Fop of this Stranger perswaded him to give me the Serenade which as I told you I received in Rombouillet and to make to me the day following a declaration of his Love in Writing which he offered to compose for him for it was the Chevalier de la Grancourt that framed the Letter which ye have read and another which ye are still to read and whereby the poor Swede thought that he daily discovered to me his passion The Count onely transcribed them because he knew no more but to cast a bastard Letter And ye shall see said she pulling out of her pocket a Pacquet of Letters and Notes in what manner that impertinent Chevalier made me answer in the Letters that he wrote in my name I brought with me all these fooleries with a design to divert you with them as being a noveltie and to inform you of that egregious Cheat. With these words plucking one of these Letters out of the Pacquet Here said she is his first declaration of Love For Madamoiselle Velzers I Am impatient to spend my whole life in discovering to you my Passion onely by Sighs and Serenades Should I die for having declared it to you other wayes I had rather die than you should not know it Since the King's Ball where first I saw you and which shall make me say in all places That there is no Security at the Court of France for poor Strangers I have been almost a shadow that followed your steps that I might ask you what you intended to do with the Heart that you have taken from me My Eyes have a thousand times importuned you but I well perceive as to you they have spoken Swedish which is a Language you understand not I tell you then Madamoiselle in plain French that I die if you declare not speedily what Fate I am to expect You 'l say that the loss will not be great and that a great many others must die for the love of you I make no doubt of it but never shall any die more amorous nor more constant than The Count of Valdame How said the Marquess Does the Chevalier de la Grancourt write so well Yes verily answered she and you have not seen all yet for I have a great many more that have seemed to me more gallant than this And here is the Answer which I gave to that goodly Letter For Monsieur the Count of Valdame PArdon me Sir Your death would be a great loss and I shall prevent it if I can I am not so ignorant of Languages but that I know very well that the eyes of Swedeland speak love as the eyes of all other Countreys but I beseech you take it not ill that I always appear indifferent to you in Company because of my Father who is a little troublesome I shall be one day in liberty to tell you that if I caught your heart at the King's Ball you have since won mine Pretty Girl that I was continued she and for what a strange Piece would la Grancourt have had me taken All they who give such answers said the Marquess are not to be condemned and it is natural enough for a civil Maid to declare her self that way Ha! Sir answered Madamoiselle de Barbisieux I am your humble Servant and differ much from your opinions the Chevalier de la Grancourt was quite out for though we were the most amorous things in the World we confess it not so openly I believe that of you very well replied he roguishly because that Lady was suspected to be secretly in love with a Person of great quality to whom it was believed she was married but all the rest of your Sex are not like you Dispute that at another time said Madamoiselle Velzers interrupting him I have not too much time to make an end of my Story in The poor Stranger was so overjoyed when he received so favourable an Answer that I was told he was a long time transported like a fool not knowing what he did A thousand times he embraced the Chevalier de la Grancourt for the good counsel that he had given him and attributed my good inclinations to the little civilities that he was perswaded by him to shew me He protested never to have another Confident but him and never to write nor speak but what he did dictate And here I pray you observe the stupidity of this poor man in imagining though he could hardly smatter and buy and sell in French that I should believe
that all these gallant Letters were his own But la Grancourt knew very well what Sow he had by the ear and seeking one that might defray part of his expences he had good reason to cast his eyes on him In the mean time he wrote to me a second Note which ye shall hear and which is a piece of Gallantry not to be matched for in it I was no less than Mount Etna to which a Shepherd directed his Discourse And this perhaps that fool la Grancourt composed because the other had entertained such a fancy Montal who from the beginning of the Story had very familiarly fallen asleep though he appeared to be one of the most concerned to hear the Justification of Madamoiselle Velzers awoke briskly at this time when the fancy of Mount Etna made the Company laugh a little And imagining that they laughed at him Pardon me said he still very drowsie that lovely Hollander with the sweetness of her voice lulls me asleep However added he I have very well heard that ye were speaking of a Note and of Mount Etna and I have not lost so much as one word of the Discourse But for all that Madam de Moulionne and Madamoiselle de Barbisieux failed not to tell him that it was a great shame to sleep amongst Ladies and the Marquess drolling likewise said very pleasantly If he sleep by day Ladies judge what he can do by night But Velzers who knew very well that she had somewhat that would puzzle him thought it enough to give him the Note that he might read and explain it And he having a little rubbed his eyes began with this title The Shepherd of the North TO Mount Etna WHat Devil of a Monster is this said he after he had read it Is it the Swede who is that Shepherd of the North Yes indeed answered Madamoiselle de Barbisieux and Madamoiselle Velzers is Mount Etna but read it Let us read it then said he and so went on Dear Mount about which I have turned almost six months without rest May thine amorous Ecchoes always answer my inflamed sighs as they have now at length answered them I see nothing in thee but what is full of wonders Thou art covered with a Snow whose whiteness renders thee in mine eyes the most amiable Object of my Plains and thou seemest to be Ice without though within thou be filled with an immortal fire But O suffer no Shepherd in my absence to come and tumble in that Snow nor yet any Thief or Robber to russle thee to my prejudice Farewel All the Company were ready to split with laughter to see the amazement wherewith Montal read that admirable Note and in truth it was a Riddle for him who had not heard the beginning of the Story But at length looking on Madamoiselle Velzers with an odd kind of serious aspect S'lid said he Madamoiselle If you be that civil discreet Mount the things he speaks of are indeed pretty neat things A man that writes to you in that strain must needs have acted a fair Part with you and it is indeed an excellent way to justifie the Letter we saw not long ago to bring out still new Billets of this nature He had no other answer but a continued Fit of laughter until that Madam de Moulionne spake again and said That Swede must needs have had as little wit as reason in sending such a piece of Folly to a person whom he loved the second time that he wrote to her Good good replied Madamoiselle de Barbisieux A man who understood not French might take that Note for one of the finest things in the World and it was enough for him that he found Mount Etna in it do you think that he minded any thing else For the rest he referred himself to the Chevalier de la Grancourt That Villain said the Marquess pursued his sport too far and told fine tales of it afterward amongst his Friends I 'll warrant you Not amongst his Friends replied Madamoiselle Velzers but to a Mistress of his own whom he had long enriched at the cost of such Follies for ye must know that she had the benefit of a vast number of Presents which the Chevalier de la Grancourt perswaded that Stranger to make to me and that I am to tell you in due time It was a commodious fetch said Madamoiselle de Barbisieux La Grancourt never subsisted but by Fops added the Marquess The Swede then continued Velzers sent me that goodly Note or it was his intention at least And seeing the Chevalier de la Grancourt upon occasion set me out for a witty Maid for a pretty little nibler at Poetry too if that was wanting and in a word for every thing that could serve his ends he made me likewise answer to that Note in the manner you shall hear Mount ETNA TO THE Shepherd of the North. SHepherd full of Jealousies Whose silly Soul appears Disturb'd with vain and idle fears Fears that from your folly rise Know that Mountains such as I Although expos'd they stand To storms and winds on every hand Yet stand unmov'd and all defie Once more Shepherd wonder not if I shew not all my flames till our interview I am afraid lest the smoke of them should discover us and that would not be the right way to order our affairs Farewel You must observe continued Velzers that the Chevalier de la Grancourt made me pray the Stranger to take in good part that I made as if I had no commerce with him for fear we should have spoilt all if we came rogether Indeed my indifferency would have clearly convinced him that he was played upon but seeing he believed I did but counterfeit my imaginary constraint as they say made him more amorous than if I had spoken to him with all the tenderness of affection This rage of writing lasted a whole month during which he ceased not to admire my singular Wit which appeared in many such Notes but never durst for all that turn his Eyes to the place where I was The more he was seen to affect that stayedness the more I was made to take notice of it in all places where we met together yea and when sometimes I had a mind in raillery to ask him the reason he withdrew and made signs to me with his eyes whereat I was not a little amazed But at length my Lover grew weary of making love only by Tickets and Billets wherefore finding me one time at St. Germans alone in the Queens Anti-Chamber through which I was going to the Lodgings of Madam de Montauster he stopt me and made such impertinent discourses which I understood not in the least being ignorant of the tricks of La Grancourt and made such impudent Propositions to me under the name of his Mount Etna that I was forced to flie out in passion and take him up with all imaginable sharpness In the heat of this Jangling as he accused me of
to shed Tears But said Montal being in that manner alone with a young Wife did not Master Solicitor make a little Courtship to her Alas Alas Sir answered the good little man had I offered to meddle in that she would have found me as great a Cheat in Love as her Husband was in other matters for no sincerity as to that affair can be expected from my Age. But in fine continued he next day towards the Evening we arrived at the Priory and having declared the cause of my coming I was received with great joy and respect Madam de Broyonne was Lodged in the Appartment appointed for Ladies that came there by chance and for my self I was conducted with Pomp and Ceremony into the Lodgings of the Prior where if I slept not well because of the joy that I was in I slept at least better than the new Wife who could not conjecture what was become of her Husband and wherefore he was not as yet come to the Convent The Monks being ravished that their Patron had made choice of so beautiful a Wife solaced her the best way they could and told her that he would come perhaps next morning betimes and surprize her abed which was indeed true But it was not the man we looked for it being the true Monsieur de Broyonne of Thoulouse who returned from Paris much about the same time that we came from thence and who was not a little at a stand to find himself married without knowing his Wife and that he had presented a Prior and could not remember the Person He was conducted to his pretended Wife but she knew him not nor intended to know him I was likewise brought in presence and asked by what Authority I became to be Monsieur the Prior. I shewed my writings The Bulls were true indeed but the Presentation was false and therefore they told me I was a Cheat. Some youngster Monks who loved to promote the Whipping trade said I deserved honestly to fetch a walk about the Convent and afterward to be referred to the secular Magistrate that I might serve for an example But the true Monsieur de Broyonne who well perceived by our countenances that we had been cheated saved the new married Wife and me from that affront and all our remedy was Patience And this is Ladies the story that Madam de Moulionne had a mind to laugh at once more but if ye will take my advice ye shall all go to Bed it will do you more good than all the reflexions that ye can make upon my adventure The End of the Third Book Mock-Clelia OR Madam QVIXOTE c. BOOK IV. ALL the Company followed the Counsel of little good-man Tigean The Ladies a little weary because they had not slept well the night before through their change of Bed willingly withdrew in imitation of the Judge who was already gone into his Chamber without speaking a word and the Marquess of Riberville and Chevalier de Montal did the like But next morning all met again in Madam de Moulionne's Chamber that they might consult how they were to spend that day which was one of the fairest days of Summer there was none wanting but Monsieur de Lucheres whose affairs had obliged him to be gone by break of day A hundred kind of Recreations were immediately proposed but the Company seeming puzled in their choice Mr. Tigean resolved the difficulty telling them that it was best to begin with a good Breakfast Along then said the old Judge Monsieur Tigean is in the right we shall have some little thing made ready and a glass of good Wine may give us counsel Breakfast was instantly prepared in the Hall whither all the Company went and had their mirth awakened again with their appetite but the little good-man the Solicitor would not be cheated a second time with another Glass which was offered him and wherein the Wine as one carried it to his head fell down into the foot of it A Solicitor at Law is not to be cheated twice at one time said he it is his part to catch others It is true answered Madamoiselle de Barbisieux laughing how well did you catch the Man with the Priory That 's very true said Madam de Moulionne we let pass that Story last night without lamenting Mr. Tigean's misfortune Alas Poor Mr. Tigean added she he is so honest a Man Yes I am very apt to believe what you say replied Madamoiselle de Barbisieux Oh! cried Madam de Moulionne No body doubts of it and there he stands who hath never been guilty of the least trick for the space of forty years that he hath followed his profession which is a matter hardly to be thought Ye make account to jeer my Solicitor said the Judge but it is true that without disparagement to others I never knew a more conscientious Lawyer than the little good-man Tigean and therefore it is that I love him Monsieur answered he It is only your goodness that makes you entertain so good an opinion of me That 's very well said Montal who came to joyn in the Discourse but notwithstanding the good opinion you have of him you shall see that Monsieur Tigean for all his conscience will not perhaps spare to comfort himself for the loss of his four thousand Livers at the cost of Mrs. Beffemont whom he brought back to Paris and will run the hazard of cheating her by making Love to her Good God! Sir replied briskly and pleasantly the little Man I am twice your Age and am no Courtier but for all I have said perhaps I might cheat her less than you cheat your Mistresses for all is not Gold that glisters and Women are not satisfied with words At these words the Company burst forth in laughter and left Montal for a time in some confusion because he expected no such Repartie But in fine Madam de Moulionne fearing that that Challenge of the Solicitor might draw the Chevalier into a Conversation a little too free as the matter seemed to engage him to diverted him by starting another Discourse Well then said she What shall we do to day Shall we fall to our Stories again Every body hath not obeyed the Law that we made yesterday No answered the Marquess of Riberville who till then pleasantly entertained Clelia and it is your self that is in the fault Ah! For my part replied she I know not any my Husband and I made no Love to one another before we married But Madam said the Chevalier Have you never had a Lover since you were married Saving the respect that is due to Monsieur the Judge added he drollingly your eyes were never made for the face of a Lady that should live to this time without Pretenders and if I thought that you had never had any I would from this instant become your Gallant my self even in your Husband's presence Sir replied the Judge smiling Do her not that Honour I assure you she has others
my Sickness obliged me to leave the Ball that I might with all expedition return home In the mean time I met with the strangest Adventure that ever ye have heard My Lacqueys having had no time to light their Torches and being gone out to call my Coachman another Coachman who was asleep in his Box awaked at their call the Fellow thinking they called him he having the same Name with my Coachman brought up his Coach not knowing what he did so drowsie he was I being mistaken on my part as well as he and my Distemper giving me no time to ask questions I threw my self into the Coach with my Maid and in this manner a little after I was brought to the House of another Man The poor Maid that was with me was astonished when she found the mistake and that nevertheless my Distemper grew worse and worse The Coachman besides took on terribly against us fearing that that mistake might put his Master out of all patience if he came from the Ball and found not his Coach And to be short that Brute would have suffered me to die without relief but by good fortune Madam de Graumont the Mother of him whose Coach it was being still at play in her Chamber with one of her Relations sent to know why the Coachman made so much noise my Maid learning that there were Women in the House implored for me their help and told my Name and the mistake entreating them that I might be laid upon a Bed Madam de Graumont one of the most obliging Ladies in the World having heard the News came down immediately with her Cousin and causing her Son's Chamber-door to be opened which was the next and most commodious and a Fire to be kindled therein comforting and at the same time regretting my condition caused me to be laid on her Son's Bed who upon his return was much surprized to find a bucksom Woman on his Bed for said she smiling I am indifferently bucksom and so much the rather in regard her Son was the Gentleman with whom I had danced at the Ball. How Madam said the Marquess Was it the lovely Youth then of whom you spake in the beginning that was the Son of the House Yes replied she the very same and his Name was Monsieur de Graumont also Ah! said Montal I impatiently expect to hear the Complement he made you The same that perhaps you might have made me if you had been in his place answered Madam de Moulionne Y'faith Madam replied he I doubt of that and you will not say so for I know very well what I should have done if I had found you in my Bed That young Man continued she was at least as foolish as handsom who like Monsieur the Chevalier de Montal imagined that all Women ought to be in Love with him who made impudence a vertue and thought that to be the only way to speed with us who in fine had liked me at the Ball that the Adventure may be the rarer and who had committed terrible extravagancies as I have been told since when he spoke of me to his Friends came running like a mad man to his Bed so soon as he knew that I was there and whether I would or not laying his face on mine Ah! Madam said he to me softly enough but with such transport as astonished his Mother and extreamly offended me What is Love about to do with us And who could have told me an hour ago in the despair that your withdrawing from the Ball put me into that I should find you again in my Bed where perhaps added he rashly with words intercepted by sighs my heart hath many times already wished you were in secret That was a pretty violent passion said the Marquess laughing My Distemper oppressed me replied she whilst he told me all his Fopperies and my senses were almost all stupified by vapours which stifled me but I assure you that action conduced not a little to bring me to my self again and I was so surprized that I became redder than fire for all I was so pale before Sir I answered him finding strength to thrust him away yet not before he had given me as I think three or four kisses You have not I say well considered what you do and I know not whom you take me to be I attributed it only to chance that I was unfortunately carried to another House than mine own but I find now at length that the mistake of the Coaches is an Art you have devised to betray me Then finding that neither his Mother my Maid nor all the resistance that I made could hinder him from kissing me still Insolent Man cried I Hold or I shall make you know that you have not to do with the person you think of Madam de Graumont also chid him severely asked him what treachery it was that I accused him of and if he knew not that I was a Woman of Quality who ought to be treated with more respect My Maid being vexed at the affront he had done me shew'd him likewise how much she resented it so that the poor Youth whom the excess of Love and good Fortune had really blinded by offering him in his Bed a Woman whom he hated not remained in great confusion when he began to reflect upon what he had done Nevertheless he endeavoured to colour his action and would needs have it thought a premeditated piece of Gallantry that he might contribute as he said to my Cure for added he speaking to Madam his Mother as briskly as he could to be put to strive against so rude a Kiss as that which I have given the Lady is an excellent means to revive all the senses and there is nothing so good against fainting Fits But when he saw that I cast my self down to the foot of the Bed and that I prayed Madam de Graumont to compleat my obligations to her by sending me home he was as it were thunder-struck and all his Gallantry vanished I believe he had the folly to imagine that I was to be in his Bed all my life-time He conducted me not back for I would not suffer him but next morning so soon as I was up I received a Ticket from him I cannot tell if I can relate it in the same terms but however I shall do it as near as I can And this was the Address he gave it To her who hath ravished my Heart HAve you slept well last Night Madam If it be so I think you happy For my part I have done nothing but think of you and on the means to have you again in the same place where last Night you called me insolent Alas Madam you languished there for pain O that I might see you there languish for pleasure Are you one of those that are offended when men love them with transport and tell them of a sudden the thoughts that their beauty hath produced No Madam you have too much Wit
speedily to be gone This is so true that as I have already told you he himself suspected it I agree with you answered Madamoiselle Velzers but when we amuse any one it is also upon some consideration and sometimes to prevent the Follies which would not please us neither There is no doubt of that added Madamoiselle de Barbisieux and it is the men who amuse themselves interpreting often our actions in a quite contrary sense than they ought But let Madam de Moulionne make an end that we may at length know what became of her Baron de Graumont Seriously continued she he terrified me by the threatnings he made of acting Tragedies and distrusting a man of his humour whom I saw continually fall into the excesses of so strange a Folly I desired my Husband to rid me altogether of him lest at length he might do some mischievous act I was confirmed in that resolution by the late example of a Maid whom a brutish Rascal had poisoned because he could not obtain her from her Father and Mother and I thought with my self that it was no pleasure to be exposed to so dangerous Amours My Husband therefore finding one day the Baron in a convenient place told him plainly his thoughts concerning all that passed and that Discourse made the poor Youth so ashamed that he took a firm resolution to cure himself of his Love at the cost of her to whom it was made and this is the course he took to accomplish his design with greater ease There is nothing said he but empty hopes of bending that Woman that gives fewel to my flame Come let me outrage her in such a manner and out of humour do her so sensible an injury that I may never have ground to expect pardon and by consequent a reciprocal affection In this thought worthy of himself he began next day to play the Man fully dis-engaged and at liberty before me he affected a Jollity like to that wherein I saw him at our first acquaintance in the sight of every body he talked to me familiarly with a show of the greatest satisfaction imaginable and all this to the end that it might be thought my rigorous proceedings were now at an end as he had already made the report go Insomuch that being at a stand what to think of that new way of carriage I considered some time if I should be angry at it or not but I quickly resolved what to do for so soon as I had asked the cause of his Joy which was the only thing perhaps he expected that he might have occasion to shape me an answer he maliciously fell down at my knees and gave me aloud so abusive thanks that never was Woman more amazed nor in greater rage than I was Good now For what could he thank you said the Marquess For what you please answered she it is enough that I tell you he offended me so much that I gave him a Box on the ear much better laid on than that which Monsieur the Chevalier may remember Let us wave that Madam said Montal With all my heart continued she but I am indeed an enemy of such as talk idlely Yet this was not a means to put a stop to the Follies of the Baron on the contrary that Box perswading him that he ought not to observe measures any more with me he continued to tell me so many offensive things and with so much contempt that he succeeded in his design of making me his irreconcileable Enemy But I have my revenge also and it is by this that I intend to prove to Monsieur the Chevalier that my Lover did not counterfeit folly and madness that he might the better accomplish his designs with me he will judge by the sequel that when one is master of himself he never takes such desperate courses as the Baron was prompted to After that he had atchieved his great Exploit he spent nine or ten days without the least thought of Love All his thoughts ran upon his Box on the ear A short absence the design of curing himself the little appearance of obtaining his pardon the reflexion he made on my faults and cruelties on his own good aspect which deserved more favourable usage and on the pleasures that he found in his indifferency before he had seen me all this made him believe that he was perfectly cured He was the first that drolled upon himself for the Extravagancies he had been guilty of and that he could not conceive how he came to be so much and so long in Love In fine he was too happy if his ill luck had not brought him afterward to a sight of me at the House of a Lady of his Acquaintance and mine to whom by chance I payed a Visit whilst he was there but the defects that he found in me when he saw me not appeared no more at next view I appeared to him more beautiful than ever he made a wrong construction of a little disorder that my hatred put me into upon the sight of him felt a sensible remorse for having offended me and his Love being all again in flame he cast himself on his knees before me a second time without speaking a word as a man struck dumb with grief I made at first as if I had not perceived it turning as much as I could towards the Lady with whom I was entered in discourse but finding the matter last too long and that I could not any more demean my self as if I had not seen him I rose and took leave of the Lady with as satisfied a countenance as possibly I could and withdrew as if I had not so much as minded what the Baron had done I appeal to any who have had the folly to think to cure a violent passion by offending the person they loved and who have missed their aim if he was in a desperate case or not He continued like a stunn'd man as I have been told almost a quarter of an hour immoveable and the Lady whom I had been to visit after she returned from bringing me to my Coach found him still on his knees in the same place She comforted him recomposed his mind the best way she could and advised him once more to write to me which he did But I cannot exactly call to mind that Letter as I did the others because there were no more of those brisk expressions in it which for diversion I loved to read over again to my Friends and that to see him lament seriously and like a Gentleman especially after the Jirk he had given me was not the thing I required because I resolved to have no pity on him And therefore I read that fair Letter but once and when two others that were with me when I received and forced it from me out of curiosity had done the like I threw it into the fire It deserved tho to have been preserved that I might have thereby given you an instance of the various
fear not for all that to marry old men said she to the Maids if you find any for your turn I assure you I am well satisfied with mine Patience Madam answered he I do not attack you why do you defend your self So much the worse for you added he if you love an old man you are the first that has done so Commorgien then shewed the Lady the Sonnet continued he and that Conclusion of it made her smile so that being a man born with a kind of pity for all afflicted Ladies that are handsome and being perswaded by that smile that she might be inclined to receive consolation he displayed all his Rhetorick to give her what comfort he could He went shares with her at all kinds of game and especially at Beast whereat they played every Night in the Hostel de Genlis and that was said he one of those rare fetches wherein you know Mademoiselle your Cousin excells to induce her to play at another Game with him In fine there was such a certain Charm in the Money which for some dayes he laid down for her that he made her laugh more than the Sonnet Every time their Eyes met after that wheresoever it was the Lady smiling a little looked down and turned about her head as if she feared to be observed by Commorgien and on the other hand Commorgien lost no time to give her dumb signs of his passion But so soon as she found that he had guessed at her meaning she kept at a little more distance that she might make him set a value on that which she did not intend to refuse him Observe a little said Mademoiselle Velzers in her turn how these Gentlemen interpret the actions of poor women and if it concerns us not to take good heed how we converse with them You shall see replyed he that Commorgien was not mistaken The Lady then as if she had been vexed that he flattered himself in thinking that she loved him looked no more upon him but with a severe Aspect He was not at all surprized at the matter Heaven has been so kind to him as to make him very well acquainted with peoples humours He used no other Charm to bring her to her self again but to seem as haughty as she She was more troubled at that than he had been at all her affected Cruelties and the truth of this appeared three dayes after for as he met her en passant It is very base said she to him for one to entertain a grudge against their Friends and not to tell them the reason of it Commorgien would have answered but the fair one seeing her Husband coming at a distance gave him no time for it Go continued she that way of carriage lessens much the esteem that I had of you and I wish you concealed nothing in your thoughts that might displease me Afterward she went into her Chamber and Commorgien withdrew that I might write her a short Letter which the same Evening as they were at Table he slipt into her Pocket These were the words of it for I have remembred them better than the Sonnet because the Letter seemed to me to be of a better strain For a witty Lady SInce it is your pleasure Madam that one should keep nothing in his heart which may displease you I make haste to tell you that I am passionately in love with you This is the thing that I keep in my heart which I think offends you most and which may draw upon me your hatred if it be longer concealed I know not Madam how you will receive this Declaration but you might have very well expected it the very first day I saw you Affect not I beseech you a cruelty which makes us lose the most precious thing in the World that is Time The unlucky gaining of the Law suit which keeps you here will be enough perhaps to separate us and then our esteem for one another will be fruitless To be short Madam I have but three or four good words to adde My Heart my Life my Money my own and Friends credit are at your Service and besides that I promise you an inviolable Fidelity There is Just a Baron de Granmont said Madam de Moulionne Yes answered the Chevalier but he had not to doe with a wife of an old Judge I assure you This Love-note continued he speaking to all the company was free enough as ye see However it gave no distaste and by that it appears that whatever that fair Lady is pleased to say the best way to speed is to set roundly to work The Lady wrote another to Commorgien wherein she indeed told him that he was not discreet nor modest to write to her in such terms but she afterward subjoyned that she pardoned his folly however and that was enough Afterwards they found the secret of pleasing one another for some dayes Happy had he been if the Law-suit that is mentioned in the Note had not obliged the Husband to follow the Court to St. Germains and if she had not been forced to go thither with him But there was a necessity for it and to compleat his grief that old Impertinent lodged in a Citizens house where Commorgien could find no accommodation and perhaps he did so purposely because he began to be a little Jealous It behoved them then to find out extraordinary Strategems to come together in private which Love at length suggested The Lady talked of a Spirit that had frighted her in a Dream whether truely or no I know not yet I think it was but a fetch to give her Gallant a hint of what he was to doe because she could not speak to him but in company She thought she said that the Spirit came sometimes to her bed and pulled the Cloaths off of her sometimes lay down by her and to be short did all that ye may honestly imagine fair Ladies a Spirit is able to doe in imitation of a Body One of her Lovers who was a gallant Abbot whom she met with frequently composed some Stanza's on that occasion which perhaps ye will be willing to hear read I have a Copy of them in my Pocket and I hope the digression will not be tedious He pretended that that Spirit was the effect of a Charm which he made use of that he might come himself and see her in bed and the thought is not unpleasant STANZA'S Ah Madam must the wretched slaves you please To fetter ever bathe in tears their smart Is there no way to purchase any ease But by recourse to Charms and Magick Art While your best Lovers innocent remain They find no Cure to their afflicted Mind They must be wicked not to Love in vain Or use the Devil or you 'l ne're be kind Well since so desperate our Fortune is I cannot one of all your Servants tell But so esteems your Love to gain that Bliss He 'd damn himself by seeking aid from Hell For Proof of this know
to give testimony to the truth We have made a pretty long digression said Madam de Moulionne and it hath hindered you to make an end of your story What did it not end by the marriage replied Montal that would be against the rules of a Romance Not so said the fair Hollander a Marriage of Conscience cannot serve for a good conclusion They were married then continued she so as I have said and had two Children After that the Lady had a mind to come see her Husbands Father under the pretext of some other business that she had to do in France When she arrived at his House the good Man asked his Son where they might most honourably lay the Princess The Son answered that she should lie with him The Father who knew nothing of the Marriage was offended at the reply which he thought was too free and gave the Marquess a Box on the Ear all these circumstances belong to the story The Princess to hinder him from giving him a second told him that his Son might lie with her and the reason why which filled him with a joy proportionable to the honour he received Three or four years after the Princess died and the Marquess of Mirestain was by her Heirs sent back to France His two Children were poisoned and that is the conclusion of his adventures let us now go meet him when you please he has perhaps some other later story to tell us Presently after they came to the end of the Alley and entered into another where the Marquess of Mirestain was walking with Lusigny they joined all together and continued their walk Gentlemen said Mademoiselle Velzers by what happy adventure is it that we meet you here to day A Fool has brought us hither answered the Marquess of Mirestain and we accompanied him to see a Spirit which as he says walks in these Alleys Ho ho Gentlemen replied she is the rumour of that Apparition then come to your Ears is he then to whom that Spirit hath appeared a Courtier Without doubt replied he for it is the Marquess of Kimperbel How is it he said she and was he so near us the other day At this present replied he he is a little below and very desirous that the Spirit might appear to him once more we left him there all alone How said Madam de Moulionne would he see the Spirit again I was told that when he saw it before he fainted away for fear It was not for fear Madam answered little Lusigny it was for joy and love for you may please to know the Spirit was the Ghost of his deceased Mistress But really Madam said Mademoiselle Velzers at these words Vaux is a rare place for adventures and I fancie that the soil of its Park has some secret virtue to produce them They continued for some time in this discourse and then fell to speak of other matters and seeing Mademoiselle de Barbisieux who had written her Letter coming at a distance they went all to meet her except Mademoiselle Velzers whom Mademoiselle de Kermas perswaded to draw aside to the place where the Marquess of Kimperbel was left to the end said she that we may surprise him and put him in a fright How answered the Holland-Lady can you then resolve at length to shew some trick you who can hear whole stories and never speak a word And what would you have me say replied the lovely Breton is it not enough that I hear you all and that I am pleased with your stories With that she pressed her again to go to the place where the Marquess was the reason is because I know him as well as you do added she and we shall be pleased if we can engage him to tell the story of his deceased Mistress who hath appeared to him With all my heart said Mademoiselle Velzers but what if it come whilst we are with him what a Fool are you replied Kermas are you so weak as to believe such fopperies How cried Mademoiselle Velzers you are one of our undaunted wits then Ah! really continued she I wonder at it no more that your grave and severe women are said to be the more dangerous that they pretend to so little You must needs be a good soul since you are not afraid of Spirits They advanced still towards the Marquess of Kimperbel The fair Breton had on a mask and that she might not at all be discovered she prayed her friend not to name her and more particularly not to engage her to speak Her reason was that they would obtain more satisfaction from the Marquess if he should not know who she was There must be some great mysterie in that replied Velzers but it 's all one let 's go on Afterward they joined the poor Lover whom their presence put out of a great fit of musing He was sitting on a little bench by the side of the Pales still expecting the return of the dear Ghost of a person whom he adored whilst she lived We come to disturb your solitude cried Maidemoiselle Velzers to him at a pretty distance We interrupt the sweet entertainment that perhaps you enjoy here with your own thoughts but you must pardon that indiscretion and impute it only to the curiositie that we have to see rarities A Lover who loves a woman even after she is dead seems in our opinion so extraordinary a thing that we could not forbear to come and admire you He rose and saluted Mademoiselle Velzers taking no more notice of the other than he thought she desired because she had not pulled off her mask and answering the lovely Hollander with a forced smile I well deserve to be jeared by the fair ones for my extravagance said he but Madam that fancy must have its time Never was man or woman who at least once in their lives have not been in love To think we jear you because you are a civil Gentleman replied Mademoiselle Velzers is to interpret ill the reason of our coming However continued she is it not to put us in fear that you have spread the report of that Apparition knowing that we were here for to be short we believe it not to be true Ah! said he Mademoiselle I am ready to take any oath imaginable that there can be nothing truer I was in this same place on Thursday last staying for my Valet de chambre whom I had sent to a place a quarter of a League off to learn if a friend of mine was there before I went thither my self And as I cast my eyes without minding any thing into that little Arbour which you see there below I saw the Ghost come out of the ground stand up on its legs and then vanish The sight so discomposed me that my Valet de chambre at his return found me almost without life or sense He was forced to run into the House and call for help We have a Gentleman with us said Mademoiselle Velzers not unknown to you it
is the Chevalier de Montal I wish he heard you averr what you saw to be true for it cannot be beat into his brains that any such thing is possible withal added she we come to take you out of this place which is too Melancholick for you Besides I am a little too fearful to abide here any longer You must go to another place and must tell us the History of these fair amours which death it self cannot cool Ah! Mademoiselle cried he smiling as he had done before do not engage me to that We will never leave you till you do it replied she and it is but lost labour to refuse That is a trick continued he put upon me by Mirestain and Lusigny they have sent you hither to jear me at this rate Why to jear you answered she It is not jearing to pray people to tell their stories At these words they withdrew from the Arbour and as they walked he said to Mademoiselle Velzers NOVEL XVII THE HISTORY OF THE Marquess of Kimperbel THough you be of the number of my friends you are nevertheless as severe to me as others and to tell an indifferent person such as you are that one has been deeply in love is to give a fair occasion of diversion It 's no matter added he it was my luck to have been so before I married Madam de Kimperbel and though I be married and have all the esteem and complacency for my Wife she can desire yet still I love her memory whom I adored before I became her Husband my heart feels still a perpetual regret for her death and my passion is so great that I had rather see often the Ghost that you have been told appeared to me than the most delightful objects in the world With these words tears came in his eyes which in spight of the endeavours he used to repress them were perceived by the Lady who told him laughing I take no notice Sir weep boldly Ah! jearing Lady answered he you have already your hearts desire and nothing is now wanting to your mirth and so went on That poor Maid was called Mademoiselle de Kermas of one of the most illustrious Families in Brettanie but ruined by time and fortune I grew acquainted with her by means of her Brothers with whom I had contracted some kind of friendship in an Academy where we learnt our exercises I fell all of a sudden almost as passionately in love with her as I continued to be for the future And it was no wonder for she was indeed very lovely a brown Complexion of a most exquisite shape her eyes filled with a languishing sweetness beyond compare her features delicate her neck divine and as witty as ever was Lady but a little more inclining to seriousness than mirth When he had so said Mademoiselle Velzers turned to the lovely Breton whom she had several times already jog'd with her elbow as Monsieur de Kimperbel spake What strange adventure is this then said she whispering her in the ear I hear both your name and description and it seems he designs you by his discourse but you are still alive Kermas made her no answer but by jogging her likewise that she might give her a sign not to interrupt the Marquess These little gestures Ladies said he make me suspect that ye have a design in making me relate my story perhaps I know that masked Lady but however I am resolved to divert you I fell then extreamly in love at first sight and used all imaginable wayes to make her sensible of it I was even so happy as to perswade her not to hate me and after a months conflict to bring her to consent to marry me privately Having taken our measures we were married in presence of her two Brothers and three or four other Considents We lived together three months after with all imaginable tranquillity and content without the least cross or suspicion I conveyed my self secretly out of doors every night by a back Gate of the Garden where the Brothers of Mademoiselle de Kermas stayed for me guarded me to their Sisters Lodgings and brought me back again before day these were amiable difficulties which did no injury to our love But our secret was at length discovered for my Father being Governour of the Town and it being very difficult to abscond our selves in a place where every body knew us and we not every body notwithstanding all my circumspection without doubt some body observed my night walks It began to be whispered about that I was in love and that I went every night to try my fortune The rumour of this came to my Fathers Ears and he set a watch over me yet in the beginning more out of curiosity to learn who was his Sons Mistress than for any other reason he was not so nice as some Fathers are and would have willingly allowed me a little Gallantry However I ordered my affairs so well that I disappointed all his Spies He discovered nothing by my intrigue but that I was fit to be married since I had a Mistress and upon that account he plied me some days after He designed me from my Childhood for Madam de Kimperbel and I had long expected that storm But could not see it so ready to break out without terrible apprehensions I trembled at the proposition my Father made to me of marrying Madam de Kimperbel Sir answered I what would you have me do with a Child she that you would give me for a Wife is but ten years of age and I my self but fifteen or sixteen are we at that age capable of love You are fit to love replied he since you are able to reason so well about it and besides the little de Kimarez whom I design for you is not only the richest match in the Country but within a year or two will be also one of the greatest beauties in France All that is true Sir answered I but notwithstanding thereof I know not if I can love her so much as you would And why not replied he ye have been bred together from the Cradle and have loved one another well enough hitherto Yes said I immediately but the love that I had for her is changed into a fraternal kindness In such a case conjugal love is looked upon as a kind of incest and to change from the one to the other though it be lawful and consonant to order yet is almost impossible to nature You laugh said he interrupting himself because I tell you all even the discourses that I had with my Father On the contrary said she it is because I love to hear them and the truth is for a stripling of fifteen you were very knowing I run out insensibly said he and inlarge in a relation that I would willingly make short but I cannot help it what is past is always present to me and pleases me still But however think it was I then or I now that was so knowing it is all