GRIGNAN, June 5, 1695.
I intend, sir, to bring an action against you, and thus I set about
it. I wish you to judge it yourself. I have been here for more than
a year with my daughter, for whom I have as much love as ever. Since
that time you have no doubt heard of the marriage of the Marquis de
Grignan to Mademoiselle de Saint-Amand. You have seen her often enough
at Montpellier to be acquainted with her person; you have also heard
mention of the vast wealth of her father. You are not ignorant that
this marriage was solemnized with great pomp in the château which
you know. I suppose you can not have forgotten the time when the
true esteem we have always preserved for you began. On this subject
I measure your sentiments by my own, and I judge that, we not having
forgotten you, you can not have forgotten us.
I even include M. de Grignan, whose date is still more ancient than
ours. I collect all these things, and I find myself injured on every
side; I complain of it here, I complain of it to our friends, I
complain of it to our dear Corbinelli, the jealous confidant and
witness of all the esteem and friendship we bear you; and at length,
sir, I complain of it to yourself. Whence proceeds this silence? is it
from forgetfulness? from perfect indifference? I know not which to say:
what would you have me think? What does your conduct resemble? Give a
name to it, sir; the cause is now ready for your sentence. Pass it: I
consent that you should be both party and judge.