Letters of affaires love and courtship. Written to several persons of honour and quality; / by the exquisite pen of Monsieur de Voiture, a member of the famous French Academy established at Paris by Cardinall de Richelieu. English'd by J.D.

The Letter of Monsieure de Balzac; To Monsieur de VOITƲRE. LETTER I.

SIR,

THough one half of France lye between us, yet are you as present to my Thoughts as the Objects I see; and you are concern'd in all my imaginations. Rivers, Plains and Cities, may well oppose my content, but cannot take off my memory from the entertainment of, and a frequent reflection on those excellent Discourses you have honored me with, till I recover the happiness of hearing them again. Should you grow proud of any thing, I must confess, it should be only of those seeds you have scattered in my soul; and your company, which at first was extreamly pleasing, is now become absolutely necessary to me. You may therefore well think it is much against my will that I leave you so long in the Embraces of your Mistress, or suffer her to enjoy what is mine, and not be accountable to me for it. Every mo∣ment she allows you of entertainment, are so many usurpations made

upon me; your whisperings are secrets conceal'd from me; and to enjoy your conversation in my absence, is for her to inrich her self to my disadvantage: But there is no reason I should envy so fair a Ri∣val, were it only because you are both equally happy; or build my affection upon your mutual enjoyments; provided (at my coming) I find my self after four Moneths absence fairly character'd in your me∣mory, and that Love hath there assign'd some place for Friendship, and thence hope your condoleances for the miseries of the times, and injustice of mankind. In the interim, as my joys, where I now am, are but slender, so are my afflictions inconsiderable; I am at an equal distance from good and bad Fortune; that fickle Goddess, who is employed in the depopulations, and subversions of States and Cities, is not at leisure to do mischief in mean places. I converse with Shep∣herdesses, who can say I and no, and are too dul to be deceaved by understanding persons; and though they are equally strangers to Painting and Eloquence; yet because I am master of them, they would suffer me to shew how small a distance there is between Power and Tyranny. Instead of the fine words, and quaint discourses wherein your Ladies abound, there issues from their mouths a pure and innocent breath, which incorporating it self with their Kisses, affords a taste, which ordinarily the Court does not. If therefore you prove not happier in your choice there, then I shall here, I make over-particular profession to rely on your judgment, and be

SIR,

Your most humble Servant,
BALZAC.