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 my Lord Cardinal de la Vallette. LETTER. LI.

MY LORD,

I Cannot but imagine, when you writ the Letter you have been pleas'd to honour me with, it was your opinion, that he esteem I have ever had for you, had gain'd you some repu∣tation in the world; that upon all occasions, I had given you ex∣traordinary assurances of the honour of my Friendship; and that in consequence thereof, I had lent you 2000. Crowns upon a Business of great importance, and at a time when your credit lay extreamly at stake. At least according to the rate that you thank me, and speak of your self and me; I have some ground to think, that not minding what you did, you mistook one for the other, and una∣wares put your self in my place. Otherwise my Lord, you had not writen as you have, unless it be, haply, that not conceiving there can be any greater good in the world then to do it to others, you think your self oblig'd to those who give you occasion to ob∣lige them, and imagine you have receiv'd the good offices which you have done. If it be so, I must need confess, there is not any man you are so much oblig'd to as my self, and that I deserve all those returns you afford me, since I have given you greater occa∣sions then any man, to exercise your Generosity, and to do those actions of Goodness, which certainly are to be esteem'd be∣yond all the wealth you have, or can ever bestow on me. Amidst the great number of good offices I have receiv'd from you, and so many favours you have been pleas'd to shed on me, I assure your Lordship, there is not any I more highly esteem then the Letter you

have honoured me with. But if amidst the many things I have w••th so much satisfaction observed therein, there be any passage hath entertained me with more pleasure then ordinary, be pleased to give me leave to tell you, it is that where I conceive you speak of these two persons which at this day make up the most inestimable part of the world, and to whom, if they be not compared one to another, there is not any thing under Heaven that may. When ever I do but think my self in their remembrances, there ensues for that moment a cessation of all my sufferings; and when I re∣present to my self the faces of the one or the other, me thinks that of my Fortune is changed, and that imagination forces out of my mind the obscurity it is clouded with, and fils it with light. But a greater happiness is, that being so far from ever hoping to me∣rit the honour of their good inclin••tions, I cannot but think my self much interessed therein, and am so happy as to believe what you tell me as to that particular. I am well acquainted with one, My Lord, who were not so easily perswaded, were he in my place, and who, after so great a distance for two years, would not live in so much tranquillity, and so great confidence. According to the satisfaction this faith affords me, be you judge, whether I am to be much bemoaned, and if there be not a many whom the world calls happy, are much less such then I: Were it not for this, I would not certainly ward that distraction which presents it self here of all sides, nor oppose the melancholy of Monsieur de C— which I am fain to beat up perpetually, and which, to tell you truely, is greater then is imagined. Besides that, he is got into an humour to let his beard grow, which already reaches his girdle; he is fallen into a tone much more severe then ever, and sounds somewhat like Astolfos Horn; unless it be on some discourse con∣cerning the immortality of the Soul, or the Chief Good; or to carve up some of the most important Questions of Moral Philoso∣phy; he can hardly be gotten to open his mouth. If Democritus ••hould revive, notwithstanding his great Philosophy, he would not endure him, because of his Laughing humour: He hath un∣dertaken to reform Zeno's doctrine, as being too mild, and he will institute a Sect of Stoicks Recollects. So that, My Lord, you desire not any thing advantageous for the Nations, over which you wish him Governour—