Nevv epistles of Mounsieur de Balzac. Translated out of French into English, by Sr. Richard Baker Knight. Being the second and third volumes

To Madam d'Anguitur. LETTER XVIII.

MAdam, It shall never be laid to my charge, that you speake of me with honour, and that I understand it without feeling. A good o∣pinion is obligatory, from whence so ere it come, but infinitely more, when it comes from an exquisit judgement, as yours is; and I doubt not, but Socrates was more touched and tick∣led with that one word the Oracle spake of him, than with all the prayses the world had given him. The favourable discourses you have held of me, ought not to be held of me in lesse acoūt than words indeed inspired, & if I should place them in the number of humane testimonies, I should sh•…•…w my selfe ignorant, that it is Hea∣ven which hath been your Instructour; and that from thence, you have received those cleere lights, whereof the Starres are but shadowes.

I doe not amplifie any thing at adventure, nor suffer my selfe to be swayed with flattery; but in this point of Illumination, Madam, I alwayes except matters of Faith, least your Ministers should take advantage of my words. We must needs, I say, hold for certaine, that either you have been instructed by an extraordinary way, or confesse that you owe it all to your selfe, and that comming to know the truth, without stu∣die and discipline, your vertue is a meere work of your owne making. It is no small matter for one that lives in parts remote from the Court, to be but tolerably reasonable, & able to main∣taine his common sence against so many oppo∣sites and oppositions, as he shall meet with; but in those remote parts, where you have no choice of Examples, there to discover the Idaea, from whence Examples are taken, to breath in an infected Ayre, and full of Errours; and yet reteine still sound opinions; to be continually opposed with extravagant questions, and yet alwayes returne discreet answers; To take pit∣tie of silly Buffons, when others admire them; to make a difference between jeasts picked up here and there, and those that come from the Spring it selfe; between wise discourses, and harmonious fooleries; between a sufficiency that is solid, and that which is onely painted; to doe these things Madam, ought to be called even halfe a miracle: and no lesse a raritie in these dayes than in former times, it was to see a white Aethiopian, or a Scythian Philosopher. Our Country may justly be proud of so admira∣ble

a birth; It is the great worke of her famous faecunditie, and wee may boldly say, there is that found in Saintoigne, which is wanting in the Circle; that which hinders the Court from be∣ing compleat, and that which is necessary for the perfecting of Paris it selfe. But as well here as there Madam, if ever you will heare the vowes of those who wish your happinesse, I would thinke it fit, you should not make your selfe a spectacle for the vulgar, nor suffer your enter∣tainment to be a recreation for idle persons. It deserves not to be approached unto without preparation; & that they should examine them∣selves well, who present themselves before it. All spirits at all times, are not capable of so wor∣thy a communication, and therefore, let men say what they will, I account the reservations you make of your selfe, to be very just, and it cannot be thought strange, that being as you are of infinite value, you take some time to possesse your selfe alone, and not to loose your right of reigning; which admits, as no division, so no Company. To use it otherwise Madam, would not be a civilitie, or a courtesie, but indeed an ill husbanding of your spirit, and a wastfull pro∣fusion of those singular graces, of which, though it be not fit you should deprive them that ho∣nour you, yet it is fit you should give them out by tale, and distribute them by measure. It is much better, to have lesse generall designes, and to propose to ones selfe, a more limited reputa∣tion, than to abandon ones spirit to every on•…•… that will be talking, and to expose it to the cu∣riositie

of the people, who leave alwayes a cer∣taine taynt of impuritie upon all things they looke upon: by such vitious sufferance, we find dirt and mire carried into Ladies Closets: if there come a busie fellow into the Countrey, presently honest women are besieged, there is thronging to tell them tales in their eares; and all the world thinkes, they have right to torment them: and thus, saving the reverence of their good report, though they be chast, yet they be publike; and though they can spie the feast sul∣lying upon their ruffes, yet they willingly suffer a manifest soyling of their noblest part. You have done Madam, a great act, to have kept your selse free from the tyrannnie of custome, and to have so strongly fortified your selfe a∣gainst uncivill assay lants; that, whilst the Louver is surprized, your house remaines impregnable. I cannot but magnifie the excellent order, with which you dispose the houres of your life; and I take a pleasure to thinke upon this Sanctuary of yours, by the onely reverence of vertue made inviolable: in which, you use to retyre your selfe, either to enjoy more quietly your repose, or otherwise, to exercise your selfe in the most pleasing action of the world, which is the con∣sideration of your selfe. If after this your hap∣pie solitnde, you come sometimes and cast your eyes upon the Book I send you, you shall there∣in Madam, doe me no great favour: the things you shall have thought, will wrong those you shall reade; and so it shall not be a grace, but an affront I shall receive. I therefore humbly en∣treat

you, there may be some reasonable inter∣mission, between two actions, so much diffe∣ring: Goe not streight from your selfe to me, but let the rellish of your owne meditation be a little passed over, before you goe to take re∣creation in my worke. To value it to you, as a piece of great price; or otherwise, to vilifie it, as a thing of no value, might justly be thought in me an equall vanity. They who praise them∣selves, desire consent, and seeke after others ap∣probation; they who blame themselves, seeke after opposition, and desire they may be con∣tradicted. This latter humilitie, is no better than the others pride. But to the end, I may not seeme to goe to the same place, by a third way, and desire to be praysed, at least with that in∣differency I ascribe to you; I entreat you Ma∣dam, that you will not speake the least word, either of the merit of my labour, or in default of merit, of the fashion of language I have u∣sed in speaking to you: I meane not to put this Letter upon the score; to speake plainly, I en∣treat you to make me no answer to it; so farre I am off, from expecting thankes for it. It is not, Madam, a Present I make you, it is an ho∣mage I owe you; and I pretend not to oblige you at all, but onely to acquit my selfe of the first act of veneration, which I conceive I owe you, as I am a reasonable creature, and desiring all my life to be

Madam,

Your, &c.

At Balzac 4. May, 1634.