ftructors. From thefe inftances I take the most certain omens of our perpetual and increafing happiness; fince her affection is not founded on my youth and perfon, which muft gradually decay, but The is in love with the immortal part of me, my glory and reputation. Nor indeed could lefs be expected from one who had the happiness to receive her education from you, who in your house was accustomed to every thing that was virtuous and decent, and even began to love me by your recommendation. For, as you had always the greatest refpect for my mother, you were pleased, from my infancy, to form me, to commend me, and kindly to prefage I fhould be one day what my wife fancies I am. Accept, therefore, our united thanks; mine, that you have bestowed her on me; and hers, that you have given me to her, as a mutual grant of joy and felicity. $85. PLINY to CATILIUS. not. You'll tell me I talk riddles to you, and fo I do, till I explain to you more diftinctly what my meaning is. In fhort, the letter you fent me fhews you did not study for it, so easy and negligent it appears to be; and yet, at the fame time, 'tis fo polite, that 'tis impoffible any one should write it, who did not weigh every word; or else you are certainly the happiest man in the world, if you can write letters fo juft and exact, without care and premeditation. $87. VOITURE to Monf. DE LIONNE, Sir, at Rome. Though no man treated me fo ill at Rome as yourfelf, and I muft place to your account fome of the most disagreeable hours I paffed in all my travels; yet be affured, I never faw any perfon in my life that I had fo ftrong an inclination to revifit, or to whom I would more willingly do the beft fervices in I accept of your invitation to fupper, my power. It is not very ufual to gain but I must make this agreement before. a man's friendship, at the fame time hand, that you difmifs me foon, and that one ruins his fortune. This fuctreat me frugally. Let our entertain- cefs, however, you have had; and your ment abound only in philofophical con- advantage was fo much more confideraverfation, and even that too with mo- ble than mine in all refpects, that I had deration. There are certain midnight not the power to defend myself against parties, which Cato himself could not you in either of thofe inftances, but fafely fall in with; though I must con- you won both my money and my heart fefs at the fame time, that Julius Cæfar, at the fame time. If I am fo happy as when he reproaches him upon that head, to find a place in yours, I fhall efteem exalts the character he endeavours to that acquifition as an over-balance to all expofe; for he describes those perfons my loffes, and fhall look upon myself as who met this reeling patriot, as blufh- greatly a gainer in the commerce that ing when they difcovered who he was; paffed between us. Though your acand adds, You would have thought that quaintance indeed has coit me pretty Cato had detected them, and not they dear, I do not by any means think I Cato. Could he place the dignity of have paid its full value; and I would Cato in a ftronger light, than by repre- willingly part with the fame fum to fenting him thus venerable, even in his meet with a man in Paris of as much cups? As for our felves, nevertheless, merit as yourfelf. This being the litelet temperance not only befpeak our ral truth, you may be well affured, Sir, table, but regulate our hours; for we that I fhall omit nothing in my power are not arrived at fo high a reputation, to preferve an honour I fo highly ef that our enemies cannot cenfure us but teem; and that I fhall not very early to our honour. Farewell. give up a friend whom I purchafed at fo dear a price. I have accordingly performed every thing you defired in the affair about which you wrote to me; as I fhall obey you with the fame punc tuality in every other inftance that you § 86. From PLINY to his Friend FEROX. Your last letter is a convincing argument that you ftudy, and that you do fhall begun fo grandly, and gone on more My Lord, I am fo far from wondering at your taking Dunkirk, that I am of opinion that you could take the moon by the teeth, if you once went about it. Nothing can be impoffible to you. I am I am only uneafy as to what I shall fay to your Highness on this occafion, and am thinking by what extraordinary terms I may bring you to reach my conceptions of you. Indeed, my lord, in that height of glory to which you have now attained, the honour of your favour is a fingular happiness; but it is a troublefome talk to us writers, who are obliged to congratulate you upon every good fuccefs, to be perpetually on the hunt for words, whofe force may anfwer your actions, and to be daily inventing fresh panegyrics. If you would but have the goodness to fuffer yourself to be beat fometimes, or to rife from before fome town, the variety of the matter might help to fupport us, and we fhould find out fome fine thing or other to fay to $89. BALZAC to Madam DE LA CHEyou upon the inconftancy of Fortune, and the glory which is gained by bearing her malice courageoufly. But the having, from the very firft of your actions, ranked you equal with Alexander, and finding you rifing upon us continually, upon my word, my lord, we are at a loss what to do, either with you or ourselves. Nothing we are able to utter can come up to that which you do; and the very flights of our fancy flag below you. Eloquence, which magnifies the minuteft things, cannot reach the height of thofe which you do; no, not by its boldeft figures. And that which is termed hyperbole on other occafions, is but a cold way of fpeaking, when it comes to be applied to you. Indeed it is difficult to comprehend how your highness has, each fummer, ftill found out means to augment that glory, which, every winter, feemed at its full perfection; and that, having Madam, TARDIE. I cannot taste of your bounty without expreffing at the fame time my gratitude. You have feafted me indeed thefe four days in the most delicious manner; and either there is no pleasure in the palate, or your cheeses afford a relish of the most exquifite kind. They are not merely an artful preparation of cream; they are the effect of a certain quinteffence hitherto unknown; they are I know not what kind of wonderful production, which, with a most delicious fweetness, preferve at the fame time a moft pleafing poignancy. Undoubtedly, Madam, you must be the favourite of Heaven, fince you are thus bleffed with a land that flows with milk and ho ney. It was in this manner, you know, that Providence formerly regaled its chofen people; and fuch were once the riches of the golden age. But methinks you you ought to limit the luxury of your table to rarities of this kind, and not look out for any other abundance, in a place which affords fuch charming repafts. You ought long fince to have purified your kitchen, and broke every inftrument of favage deftruction; for would it not be a fhame to live by cruelty and murder, in the midst of fuch innocent provifions? I am fure, at leaft, I can never eftcem them too much, nor fufficiently thank you for your prefent. It is in vain you would perfuade me, that it was the work of one of your dairy-maids; fuch coarfe hands could never be concerned in fo curious a production. Most certainly the nymphs of Vienne were engaged in the operation; and it is an original of their making, which you have fent me as a rarity. If this thought appears to you poetical, you must remember that the fubject is fo too; and might with great propriety make part of an eclogue, or enter into fome corner of a paftoral. But I am by no means an adept in the art of rhyming: befides, it is neceffary I fhould quit the language of fable to affure you, in very true and very ferious profe, I fo highly honour your virtue that I should always think I owed you much, though I had never received any favour at your hands; and if you were not my benefactrefs, I fhould nevertheless be always, Madam, Your, &c. day before yesterday that I had like to have been loft in it, and was in imminent danger of being caft away in a ter rible flough. Had it indeed been in the open fea, and in a fhattered veffel, expofed to the fury of the winds and waves, the accident would have been nothing extraordinary; but to fuffer fuch a misfortune upon land, in a coach, and during the very time of your mayoralty, would have been beyond all credit and confolation. Two or three words of an order from you would put this affair into a better fituation, and at the fame time oblige a whole country. Let me hope then that you will give occafion to thofe without your district to join in applaufes with your own citizens, and not fuffer your province, which you have embellished in fo many other parts, to be disfigured in this by fo vile a blemish. But after the intereft of the public has had its due weight with you, will you not allow me to have fome share in your confideration, and be inclined to favour a perfon who is thought not to be ungrateful for the good offices he receives? There are who will fay even more, and affure you that you have an opportunity of extending your reputation beyond the bounds of your province, and of making the remembrance of your mayoralty laft longer than its annual period. I shall learn by the return of the bearer, if you think my friends fpeak the truth; and whether you have fo high an opinion of the acknowledg $ 90. BALZAC to the Mayor of Angou- ment I fhall make to you, as to comply Sir, lême. I perfuade myself that the request which the bearer of this will make to you on my behalf will not be disagreeable. It concerns indeed the public intereft as well as mine; and I know you are so punctual in the functions of your office, that to point out to you a griev ance is almoft the fame as to redrefs it. At the entrance of the Fauxbourg Lomeau, there is a way of which one cannot complain in common terms. It would draw imprecations from a man that never used a ftronger affirmative in all his life than Yea verily; and raise the indignation even of the mildeft father of the oratory. It was but the with the request I have already tendered; to which I have only to add the affurance of my being, with great fincerity, Sir, yours, &c. Balzac. § 91. ST EVREMONT to Madam I remember, Madam, that when I went to the army, I begged that the Chevalier de Grammont might fucceed me in your favour, in cafe I fhould be fo unfortunate as to meet my death there; in which particular you have fo well obeyed, that you love him whilft I am alive, to learn to do it better after my death. You are very punctual in obeying my orders; and fhould I conti nue to give you the fame commiffion, in make the most on't. Permit Madam all appearance you would fee it carefully executed. You may imagine, Madam, that I defign to hide a real grief under a pretended banter; and being fo well acquainted with my paffion, you cannot eafily perfuade yourself, that I can fuffer a rival without jealoufy. But perhaps you don't know, Madam, that if I dare not complain of you, because I love you too much, I dare not complain of him because I love him little lefs. And if I must of neceffity be angry, tell me whom I am to be moft angry with; whether with him who goes to rob me of my mistress, or you who fteal my friend from me. Let the matter be how it will, you need not give yourfelf much trouble to appeafe my indignation. My paffion is too violent to indulge my refentment in the leaft; and my tendernefs will always make me forget the injuries I have received from you. I love you, tho' perfidious: I love him, tho' treacherous; and only fear that a fincere friend is no favourite of either of you. Farewell. Let us enter, I beseech you, into a new unknown fort of confederacy; and by a ftrange mystery, let his, let your and my friendship, be only one and the fame thing. $92. ST. EVREMONT to Madam You are upon the point of making a very forry gallant of a very good friend; and I perceive that what I called fatisfaction, when I was with you, is now become infenfibly fome fort of a charm. I talk no more of turning into ridicule; and the very fame perfon who fet fuch a value upon your malicious fancies, now difcovers in you more affecting qualities, which give him a difguft for your first endearments. You always appeared very engaging to me; but now I begin to feel with emotion, what I was used to see only with pleasure. To fpeak plainly to you, I am afraid I may be in love with you, if you will fuffer me to love you; for at this prefent writing I am in fuch a condition, that I can let it alone, if you don't like it. You must not expect from me any fine thoughts, or noble raptures: I am wholly incapable of them, and freely leave them to the admirers of Madam C***. Let the drawing-rooms D to define love by her own fancy; and don't envy the vain imaginations of thofe miferable creatures who, when their beauty is decayed, value themfelves upon the wit that ftill continues with them, at the expence of the face they have loft. Finding me fo clownish in the contempt of refined fentiments, you'll imagine, perhaps, that I am a hero as to the exercifes of the body; pray hearken how the cafe ftands with me: I am indifferent in every thing; and neither nature nor fortune has done any thing for me but what is common. As I cannot fee, without envy, those people that are fumptuous and magnificent in their expences; fo I cannot, without fome difpleasure, behold thofe that are too much given to their pleasures; and if I dare fpeak my thoughts, I hate, in fome meafure, the Vivonnes and the Saucours, because I cannot resemble them. My affairs go always at the fame rate: I never allow myself any extravagance and I ftand in need of a little œconomy to make things even at the year's end, and pafs a winter's night. Not that I am reduced either to want or infirmity: But to explain myself frankly, my experience is fmall, and my efforts indifferent. Tell me now, whether with thefe qualities, I may prefume to fet up for your lover, or whether I am still to continue your friend? As for myself, I am refolved to take what part you affign me; and if I pafs from friendship to love without difficulty, I am able to return from love to friendship, with as little violence. $93. ST. EVREMONT to the Duchefs of MAZARIN. I beg of you, Madam, to tell the Duchefs of Bouillon, that no person can be more fenfible than I am of the honour that fhe does me by remembering me. I don't much pity La Fontaine's condition, fearing left my own may ftand in need of pity. At his and my age, nobody ought to wonder that we lose our reafon, but that we keep it. The prefervation of it is no great advantage; 'tis an obstacle to the quiet of old people, and a bar to th pleafures of the young. La Fontaine feels not that diforder which Perhaps you are not at Paris; perhaps you are; and in this laft cafe, your filence may be rather the effect of your forgetfulness, than of your abfence. But, fuppofe it were, I am too much beholden to you for your paft fervices, to complain of your prefent indifference. I don't enquire after you, to fatigue you for an anfwer, or renew a correfpondence that would rob you of fome hours, which you know how to bestow to better purpofe. But, Sir, you ftill owe fomething to our friendship, and you will discharge the obligation, if you can find fome way, either by yourself, or any body elfe, to let me know that you are in health. This piece of news will give me a joy, in which you are more concerned than any other; and if you were of my temper, you would be of my opinion, that to be well is better than to command the whole world. No treasures are worth one year's health. Pardon, Sir, the chat of an infirm man, who enjoying a quarter of an hour's health, thinks no other subject so proper to be talked on. You were, perhaps, of my humour, when you enjoyed fome ease of the pains occafioned by your broken arm, and your other wounds. Now you are perfectly cured, relish the pleasures of it, and let me make melancholy reflections on the fong you have taught me : But oh! when age benumbs our veins, No longer sprightly joy remains. If there be any airs as agreeable as this in the mufic of the Feast of Versailles, I defire you to fend them me, and you will oblige one who is more than ever, &c. $95. Mr. LOCKE to Mr. MOLYNEUX, quire, has been the friendship of inge. nious and worthy men ; and therefore, you cannot blame me if I fo forwardly laid hold of the firft occafion that opened me a way to yours. That I have fo well fucceeded in it, I count one of my greateft happineffes, and a fufficient reward for writing my book, had I no other benefit by it. The opinion you have of it gives me farther hopes; for it is no fmall reward to one who loves truth, to be perfuaded that he has made fome difcoveries of it, and any ways helped to propagate it to others. I depend fo much upon your judgment and candor, that I think myself fecure in you from peevish criticifm or flattery; only give me leave to fufpect that kindnefs and friendship do fometimes carry your expreffions a little too far on the favourable fide. This, however, makes me not apprehend you will filently pafs by any thing you are not thoroughly fatisfied of in it. The ufe I have made of the advertisements I have received from you of this kind will fatisfy you that I defire the office of friendship from you, not out of compliment, but for the ufe of truth, and that your animadverfions will not be loft upon me. Any faults you fhall meet with in reasoning, in perfpicuity, in expreffion, or of the prefs, I defire you to take notice of, and fend me word of; efpecially if you have any where any doubt; for I am perfuaded, that upon debate, you and I cannot be of two opinions; nor, I think, any two men ufed to think with freedom, who really prefer truth to opiniatrety, and a little foolish vain-glory of not having made a mistake. I fhall not need to justify what I have faid of you in my book: the learned world will be vouchers for me; and that in an age not very free from envy and cenfure. But you are very kind to me, fince, for my fake, you allow yourself to own that part which I am more particularly concerned in, and permit me to call you my friend, whilft your modefty checks at the other part of your character. But affure yourfelf, I am as well perfuaded of the truth of it, as of any thing else in my book; it had not elfe been put down in it: it only wants a great deal more I had PP to |