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.

To Monsieur de Puy-Laurens. LETTER XXXIII.

SIR,

I Have received the Letter you did me the honour to write to me, with more joy then I ever expected to meet with here, insomuch, that though I have abundance of things in de∣sire, am at so great a distance from the place where I wish my self, am here in a languishing condition, and cannot without infi∣nite difficulty get hence, yet was I satisfy'd as to all, when I once perceiv'd your tenderness towards me. And since, as you tell me, I have an interest in your Friendship, I look on it as a hap∣piness that out-weighs all others, and that those on whom you have bestow'd Riches and Honours, have not been so well dealt with as I. I assure you Sir, it is the only consolation I have receiv'd in this Countrey, where the continual want of health makes me incapable of any diverssion, and where I have not seen any women unlesse it were in the Prade, or upon the Stage. I shall therefore without any violence agree with you, as to what you say in disparagement of the Ladies of Madrid in comparison of those of Brussels; and before either your presence or theirs ob∣lige me thereto, I now subscribe to whatever you can say to their advantage; Innocency, Youth, and Beauty, for which you say you so much esteem them, are Qualifications, which here never met together, and which yet are not so common where you are, but they give me occasion to guess at the reason, why you take that side with so much earnestnesse. If it happen to be the same person I mean, I should cross my inclination and my

judgment, were I not of your opinion, and acknowledg, that though Xarifa, Daraxa, and Galiana should return into the world again, Spain would not have any thing comparable to the other. The artifices they use on this side, and the illusions wherewith they would appear what they are not, cannot represent any thing so beautiful; and the very white it self of this place, is not so white as she. The most accomplish'd beauties that are here can no more compare with hers, then brasse and ebony can Gold and Ivory, and between the handsom faces of this place and hers, there is a difference proportionable to that between a light Night and a fair day. So that, Sir, whereas I have often affir∣med that of all the Ladies, the Spanish only deserv'd to be cour∣ted, I now acknowledg that a single Lady of the Court where you are, were enough to baffle them all, and that the only advan∣tage they have over those of that side, is, that they can be more amorous: nor do I think that to be generally true, and that if the same fortune which you meet with every where, attends you in Flanders, you have taught some not to yield to them even in that. But this discourse should have been reserv'd for the con∣fidence you promise me when I shall be neer you, the hopes whereof augments the impatience I have to return. I therefore humbly beseech you, Sir, to remember that promise, and be pleas'd to have a care that the multitude of your adventures make you not forget any circumstance of it. For my part, whereas all those that approach you do it to advance their For∣tunes, and beg either employments or pensions of you, I shall never desire any thing of you so affectionately, as the honour of your conversation, nor do I beleeve you can bestow any thing on me of greater value. I know it is an iudulgence, whereof you are much lesse liberal, then any of the other, and that there are very few persons, to whom you easily communicate it; but the passion I have for all yours, gives meadmittance into that n••••••∣ber, together with the extraordinary sincerity, wherein I am on all occasions,

Sir,

Yours, &c.

Madrid. March. 13. 1633.