PARIS, April 17, 1682.
If you are alarmed at the appearance of my neglect, be assured, sir,
it is a false alarm, and that appearances are deceitful; you do not
suffer yourself to be forgotten; Rochecourbières, Livri, and the days
in which we have seen you, are faithful guarantees of what I say; and
I am certain you believe it, and that, being so well informed on every
other subject, Christian humility does not prevent you from knowing
your own worth. It is a truth, therefore; you can not be forgotten.
Our _friend_ and I have said a thousand times, “Let us write to this
poor _reprobate_”; but by continually delaying it, we have embarrassed
ourselves by our miserable security. It seems to me as if Montpellier
has given a great deal to the jubilee. You know what a horror
Corbinelli has of this sort of parade, which he calls hypocrisy. I do
not know exactly how he has acted upon the occasion, and I have not
dared question him; but, considering the extreme respect he has for
this holy mystery, and how rigorously he enters into the preparations
for it, of which he will not abate a single iota, I have long been
tempted to say to him, _basta la meta_ (the half is sufficient); for,
in fact, if all the faithful were to follow his ideas upon the subject,
the ceremonials of religion would be done away. This is the inspiration
of God, and whether it be light or dereliction, some great change must
happen to alter his opinion. M. de Vardes has put the same question to
him, that you put to me on his jubilee; he has answered very honestly,
and has given him a _probet autem semetipsum homo_, which may occasion
great reflections. This is all I can tell you; you know and love the
soil, for, indeed, the more his heart is known, the more it must be
admired. I perceive his departure approach, and I perceive it with
sorrow; but what may not Providence reserve for M. de Vardes? M. de
Bussy is recalled after an exile of eighteen years; he has seen the
king, who received him most graciously: these are times of justice and
clemency; we not only do what is well, but what is perfectly well; I
doubt not, therefore, that this poor exile’s turn will come, and every
one else believes it so firmly that if any thing can do him injury,
it is this general report. You tell me the most agreeable truth I can
hear, in assuring me the young people will bring from Languedoc all
the politeness which failed them here.[303] They appear to me like the
Germans who are sent to Angers to learn the language; they were Germans
in manners, and if they had not learned them out of court, would seem
to conduct themselves ridiculously. It is easy to comprehend that,
having had so good a master as M. de Vardes for six months, they must
have profited more than they had done during their whole life.
[303] This refers to the daughter and son-in-law of M. de Vardes
(M. and Madame de Rohan), who had spent six months with him at
Montpellier.