scholars and learned men of his time.
[126] By this bishop some say was meant M. de Harlay (1625-1695),
archbishop of Paris; others think the archbishop of Rheims, Le Tellier
(1642-1710), the brother of Louvois, was designated. See also page 141,
note 1.
[127] The original has _collier dʼordre_, the collar of the order of
the Holy Ghost.
[128] Trophime, it was supposed, stood for our authorʼs friend Bénigne
Bossuet (1627-1704), the eminent theologian, preacher, and bishop of
Meaux, but he never became a cardinal. So general was this supposition,
that in all editions of the “Characters” published after the authorʼs
death the name of “Bénigne” was put instead of “Trophime.” Some “Keys,”
however, mention the name of Etienne le Camus (1632-1707), bishop of
Grenoble, who became a cardinal in 1686.
[129] Lord Stafford is meant here; he was a relative to the Duke of
Norfolk, very rich and very eccentric, and married in 1694 a daughter
of the Count de Gramont. Some think the Count dʼAubigné, the brother of
Mdlle. de Maintenon, is spoken of.
[130] La Bruyère adds in a footnote, “an agate.”
[131] In the original _il ne se plaint non plus_. _Plaindre_ had
sometimes the meaning of “to be sparing,” and Le Sage employs it in
_Gil Blas_ in that sense.
[132] This is said to apply to a certain M. de Mennevillette,
_receveur-général_ of the clergy, whose son married Mdlle. de Harlay.
[133] In the original _drap de Hollande_, because the best cloth came
from Holland. Colbert induced some Dutch and Flemish weavers to settle
in France, where they made a cloth called _Toile Colbertine_, of which
Molière wore a doublet as the Marquis in _les Fâcheux_. Colberteen is
also mentioned in “The Fopʼs Dictionary” (1690), and in Congreveʼs “The
Way of the World.”
[134] The _lumen gloriæ_ is, according to Roman Catholic theologians,
“The help God affords to the souls of the blessed, to strengthen them
that they may be able to see God ‘face to face,’ as St. Paul says
(1 Cor. xiii. 12), or by intuition; as they say in the schools; for
without such a help they could not bear the immediate presence of God.”
[135] A certain preacher, Charles Boileau, was meant; others think it
was a canon of Notre-Dame, called Robert.
[136] The man of learning is Mabillon (1632-1707), a scholarly
Benedictine, and author of _De Re diplomatica_, _De Vetera analecta_,
and other works.
[137] The original has _homme de bien_. See page 43, note 2.
[138] Montaigne, Saint-Evremond, and the latest French writer on
Alexander, M. Jurien de la Gravière, happily still alive, and formerly
Minister for the French Navy, think more favourably than La Bruyère did
of the talents of the youthful king of Macedonia.
[139] Æmilius is the Prince de Condé (1621-1686). The whole of the
above paragraph is filled with reminiscences from Bossuetʼs _Oraison
funèbre du Prince de Condé_, delivered in the year 1687.
[140] The battle of Rocroi was won in 1643, when Condé was only
twenty-two years old, whilst those of Freiburg, Nordlingen, and Lens
were gained, respectively, in 1644, 1645, and 1648.
[141] An allusion to the siege of Lerida, raised by Condé in 1647.
[142] La Bruyère forgets the wars of the Fronde (1648-1653) and the
part Condé took in them, as well as in the wars of Spain against
France, from 1652 till 1659.
[143] His grandson and his nephew married illegitimate daughters of
Louis XIV.
[144] An allusion to his bad and hasty temper.
[145] La Bruyère adds in a note, “Sons and grandsons, descendants of
kings.” This seems a reminiscence of the Homeric Διογενῖς, Διοτρεφεῖς,
Βασιλεῖς.
[146] This compliment was addressed to the princes of the Condé family,
of whom one, the Prince de Conti (1629-1661), was in command of the
army in Catalonia, though he had never served. Compare the saying of
Mascarille in Molièreʼs _Les Précieuses Ridicules_: “People of quality
know everything without ever having learned anything.”
[147] Charles Castel, Abbé de Saint Pierre (1658-1743), a member of
the French Academy, whence he was ejected in 1718 on account of his
_Discours sur la Polysynodie_, a work in which he proposed a kind of
Constitution for the French nation.
[148] Celsus is the Baron de Breteuil, who was sent in 1682 on a
diplomatic mission to the dukes of Parma and Modena, but failed, and
was disowned.
[149] The “two brothers” are said to have been the counsellors of the
parliament, Claude and Michel le Peletier, and the quarrel was about a
question of precedence.
[150] The “two ministers” were Louvois and de Seignelay, a son of
Colbert, and the chief cause of their falling out seems to have been
the more or less assistance which should be given to James II. against
England.
[151] Menippus is the Marshal François de Villeroy (1644-1730), the
favourite of the king and of Mademoiselle de Maintenon, only known as
a perfect courtier when La Bruyère published his book, but who later
on proved himself an incapable general. In the _Mémoires_ of the Duke
de Saint-Simon, he is called _glorieux à lʼexcès par nature_. See also
page 43, note 1. Some commentators say Menippus was the Marquis de
Cavoye (1640-1716), one of the handsomest men and one of the greatest
duellists of the court.
[152] The original has _de mise_, which was also used by Voltaire and
Rousseau, but seems now to have become antiquated.
[153] _Montre la corde_ in the original.
[154] When the “Characters” first made their appearance in 1689, Louis
XIV. no longer resided in the Louvre, but at Versailles. The greatest
nobles, in order to pay their court to the king, lodged in some
wretched rooms in the palace.
[155] The first part of this paragraph, referring to “false greatness,”
is said to apply to the Marshal de Villeroy; the second, alluding to
“true greatness,” to Marshal Turenne (1611-1675).
[156] An allusion to a fashion of the time La Bruyère wrote, when the
ladies wore shoes with very high heels and enormous head-dresses,
called _Fontanges_; the latter were invented by Marie-Angélique
Scoraille de Roussille, Duchesse de Fontanges (1661-1681), who was
one of the mistresses of Louis XIV. Our author refers to them in his
chapter “Of Fashion,” § 12.
[157] Some of the ladies at court, in order to hide the hollowness of
their cheeks, used, it is said, to hold small balls of wax in their
mouths.
[158] Lise is generally supposed to have been Catherine-Henriette
dʼAngennes de la Loupe, Countess dʼOlonne, one of the most dissolute
ladies of the court of Louis XIV., who was fifty-five years old when
this paragraph appeared (1692), and died in 1714. Many particulars
about her are related in Bussy-Rabutinʼs _Histoire amoureuse des
Gaules_.
[159] This is said to allude to a certain Mademoiselle de Loines, who
fell in love with a crooked, ill-looking, dwarfish limb of the law.
[160] The memoirs of the time of Louis XIV. teem with examples of young
men of the highest families who considered it no disgrace to live at
the expense of rich and amorous old crones, and even to receive money
from young ladies.
[161] The original has _dans une ruelle_. _Ruelle_ means literally “a
small street,” hence the narrow opening between the wall and the bed,
on which bed superfine ladies, gaily dressed, were lying when they
received their friends, and thus _ruelle_ came to mean “any fashionable
assembly.” In Dr. Ashʼs “Dictionary of the English Language,” London,
1755, _ruelle_ is still defined “a little street, a circle, an assembly
at a private house.”
[162] _En cravate et en habit gris_, says the French, which was the
usual dress of dandified magistrates, although they were strictly
forbidden to wear any other clothes but black ones.
[163] Only officers of the kingʼs household were allowed to wear
gold-embroidered scarfs.
[164] This alludes to the Count dʼAubigné, a brother of Madame de
Maintenon, who was no favourite at court. See also the portrait of
“Theodectes” in the chapter “Of Society and Conversation,” § 12, page
106.
[165] The “lady” is said to have been Madame de la Ferrière, the wife
of a _maître des requêtes_, and Dorinna a certain Mdlle. Foucault, a
relative of some well-known _conseiller au parlement_, who was in love
with a Doctor Moreau.
[166] The original has _questionnaire_, a word then already antiquated,
and which meant a man applying the _question_ or rack.
[167] Roscius seems to have been intended for a portrait of the
celebrated actor Michael Baron (1653-1729), whilst the names of Lelia,
Cesonia, Claudia, and Messalina probably allude to some of the ladies
of the court who intrigued with actors. During the eighteenth century
the names of the Maréchale de la Ferté, and of her sister the Countess
dʼOlonne (see page 61, note), both of very dissolute manners, were
mentioned as having been the originals of Claudia and Messalina, whilst
Claudia was also, according to some, a portrait of Marie-Anne Mancini,
Duchesse de Bouillon, though it is not probable that La Bruyère
intended to allude to her. Bathyllus and Cobus stand for Le Basque,
Pécourt, or Beauchamps, dancers at the Opera; Draco is Philibert, a
German flute-player of those times; Lelia or Cesonia are supposed to
have been a certain widow of the Marquis de Constantin.
[168] Is this not an allusion of our author to some nunneries not in
very good repute at the time?
[169] This applies, it is said, to the Maréchale de la Ferté, mentioned
on page 67, note 2, and to the Duke dʼAumontʼs second wife, who died in
1711, sixty-one years old.
[170] At the time La Bruyère wrote, nearly every fashionable lady had,
besides her father-confessor, a spiritual director, who was her “guide,
philosopher, and friend.” Boileau, in his tenth satire, says:—
“Mais de tous les mortels, grâce aux dévotes âmes,
Nul nʼest si bien soigné quʼun directeur de femmes.”
[171] _Placer des domestiques_, in the original; _domestique_ was used
for any person belonging to the household of some great nobleman, even
if he were himself a noble; it also meant “a household.”
[172] A note of La Bruyère says that this refers to “assumed piety.”
[173] Those ladies are supposed to have been the Duchesse dʼAumont,
already mentioned; the Countess de Lyonne, the wife of a minister of
state; the Duchess de Lesdiguières, and the Countess de Roucy.
[174] Our authorʼs note says, “A pretended pious woman.”
[175] It was then the custom for people who had a lawsuit to go and
solicit their judges in person.
[176] In La Bruyèreʼs time many ladies had a great reputation for
learning, such as Madame de Sévigné, and her daughter, Madame de
Grignan, who greatly admired Descartesʼ philosophy; Madame de la
Fayette; and a sister of Madame de Montespan, who was Abbess of
Fontévrault. Montaigne was of opinion that women had no need of
learning, and Molière, in his _Femmes Savantes_, holds the golden mean.
[177] Such were, for example, the heroines of the Fronde, who only
cared for ambition. Saint Simon in his _Mémoires_ speaks of the
Maréchale de Ciérambault, “who only left off gambling whilst at meals;”
the Princess de Harcourt, who took usually the sacrament after having
gambled until four in the morning; and the Duchesse dʼAumont, whom we
have already mentioned.
[178] “Most women have no characters at all,” says Pope in the Second
Epistle “Of the Characters of Women.” The late Rev. Whitwell Elwin
thinks this “a literal rendering” of La Bruyèreʼs § 65 “Of Men.” I
imagine it inspired by the above paragraph.
[179] To deceive some one is now in French _en imposer à quelquʼun_,
but until the last hundred years _imposer_ was used, which meant “to
deceive” and “to impose respect.”
[180] Glycera is said to have been Madame de la Ferrière, whom we have
already mentioned. See page 66, note.
[181] Pierre du Puget, lord of Montauron, who died in 1664, first
president of the _bureau des finances_ at Montauban, was celebrated for
his riches and vanity. P. Corneille dedicated his tragedy _Cinna_ to
him. Michael Particelli, lord of Esmery, became, through the patronage
of Cardinal Mazarin, _surintendant des finances_, and died in 1650.
[182] Venouse is not Venuzia, the native town of the Roman lyric poet
Horace, but Vincennes; the road from Paris to Vincennes was a favourite
spot for walking.
[183] The Faubourg Saint-Germain is meant by the “grand suburb.”
[184] Canidia, a Neapolitan lady, is said to have been loved by Horace,
and to have deserted him. Out of revenge the poet, in his _Epodes_ v.
and xvii., depicted her as an old sorceress who could unsphere the
moon. Canidia is supposed to allude to La Voisin, who was burned at the
stake in Paris, in 1680, for having poisoned several people.
[185] In the original _affranchi_, freedman.
[186] All the “Keys” say that “the husband” of this paragraph and the
following one was a certain Nicolas de Bauquemare, _président de la
deuxième chambre des requêtes au palais_.
[187] Wives of a similar kind seem to have been Madame de Montespan,
Madame de Sévigné, and Madame de la Fayette.
[188] This paragraph refers again to the _président_, mentioned on page
80, note 2, and to his wife, who was always called “DʼOns-en-Bray,”
pronounced “DʼOsembray,” after a property belonging to her husband.
[189] _Stupide_ had, in La Bruyères time, the meaning of “stupefied” as
well as of “stupid.”
[190] It might have been expected that some of the “Keys” would have
told us who Emira was, but this anecdote is either invented by La
Bruyère or founded on a fact only known to him.
[191] La Rouchefoucauld, in the _Maximes_ (1665), makes almost the same
remarks, and so does Pascal in the _Pensées_ (1670). It often happens
that those two authors agree in their expressions and thoughts with La
Bruyère, who carefully studied them before publishing his _Caractères_.
[192] _Discordia fit carior concordia_ is a saying of the Latin poet
Publius Syrus (104-41 B.C.)
[193] In the chapter “Of the Affections,” La Bruyère has borrowed a
goodly number of ideas of Senecaʼs treatise _De beneficiis_; this is
one of them.
[194] An imitation of another line of Publius Syrus: _Ita amicum
habeas, posse inimicum fieri ut putes_.
[195] This paragraph was not very clear in the original. We have
followed M. Destailleurʼs explanation.
[196] In the original _déterminément_, an adverb employed by the best
authors of the seventeenth century, but now antiquated.
[197] This is called _la légitime_ in French.
[198] All commentators are agreed that by Drance the Count de
Clermont-Tonnerre, first gentleman-in-waiting of the Duke of Orléans,
brother of Louis XIV., is meant.
[199] Montesquieu has developed this idea of the influence of climate
on the mind and race in his _Esprit des Lois_, as well as H. A. Taine
in his “History of English Literature.”
[200] Arontius is said to be Perrault (See page 14, note 2.) Who
Melinda was has never been discovered.
[201] _Phébus_ is nonsensical and exaggerated language, so called
after Phœbus, the sun-god, on account of his brilliancy. The poet
M. Regnier (1573-1613) had already made use of this word; it was
something like the language employed by the Englishman, John Lily, in
his “Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit,” etc., published 1578-1580.
[202] La Bruyère says in a note, “They would call them ‘Sir.’” He also,
and on purpose, leads the reader astray by using the names of three
courtiers who died some time ago: Zamet, a favourite of Catherine de
Medici and Henri IV., who died in 1614; Ruccellaï, one of Conciniʼs
partisans, who lived till 1627; and Concini, Maréchal dʼAncre,
assassinated in 1617.
[203] Some traits of this character apply to Saumery, a
gentleman-in-waiting of the Duke of Burgundy, a grandson of Louis XIV.
[204] Such an adventure is said to have happened to a certain
_conseiller au châtelet_, Robert de Châtillon. Montesquieu, in his
_Lettres Persanes_, describes a similar character.
[205] Theodectes is the Count dʼAubigné. See page 65, note 4.
[206] It was the custom in La Bruyèreʼs time, even among the upper
classes, to throw on the floor what was left on the plates or in the
glasses. See also the character of Menalcas, chapter xi., “Of Men,” §7.
[207] _Il est au-dessus de vouloir se soutenir_, literally, he is above
wishing to keep himself up. This expression seems to be peculiar to La
Bruyère.
[208] No suggestion has ever been made as to what person is portrayed
as Troïlus; still it seems to have been intended by our author for one
of his contemporaries.
[209] A certain boasting Abbé de Vassé is meant, who refused the
bishopric of Mans, and died in 1716 at the age of sixty-five.
[210] The authorʼs note says, “A kind of people who pretend to be very
nice in their language.”
[211] _Proprement_, in the original, was in La Bruyèreʼs time generally
used for “elegantly,” “correctly.”
[212] Oaths were more commonly used by the upper classes in the
seventeenth century than they are now.
[213] Cléon is supposed to have been a certain financier Monnerot, who
died in prison rather than pay a fine of two million francs, to which
he had been condemned by a court of justice.
[214] This personage is said to stand for Constantin Heudebert du
Buisson, appointed _intendant des finances_ the same year (1690) the
seventh edition of the “Characters” was published. See also page 153,
§63.
[215] The _livre parisis_, probably meant here, was equal in value
to the _franc_, first coined in 1573, under Henri III. An income of
ten thousand francs in La Bruyèreʼs time would represent one of fifty
thousand francs now.
[216] The original has _congratuler_, now only used with a ridiculous
meaning attached to it.
[217] It is generally supposed Theodemus was a certain Abbé de Drubec,
who stopped short in the middle of a sermon preached before the court
of Louis XIV.; others imagine it was a hit at the Abbé Bertier, who
became bishop of Blois in 1697.
[218] In this paragraph, as well as in the preceding one, some
commentators imagine there is an allusion to the President Achille de
Harlay, so bitterly attacked by St. Simon in his _Mémoires_. See also
page 45, note 1.
[219] Our author says in a note, “Written in imitation of Montaigne.”
[220] The principal antiquated words in this imitation are _estriver_,
to strive, to quarrel; _se ramentevoir_, to call to mind, used by
Molière in the _Dépit amoureux_ (iii. 4); and _succéder_, to be
successful, which, of course, is at present in French _réussir_.
[221] According to all the “Keys,” this paragraph refers to a
separation of two old friends, Courtois and Saint-Romain, both
councillors of state; but they were still friends when the “Characters”
were published.
[222] Some persons, now totally unknown, have been supposed to
represent Cleantes: such as a certain M. Loyseau, _receveur général des
finances_ in Brittany; a M. de lʼEscalopier, _conseiller au parlement_,
and others.
[223] Such a contract was called _les nourritures_ in French legal
phraseology.
[224] G ... is supposed to stand for François Vedeau de Grammont,
_conseiller au parlement_, or for his father-in-law, Philippe Genoud de
Guiberville, and H ... for Charles Hervé, _doyen du parlement_; and the
quarrel arose about the right of fishing in a brook. Vedeau lost his
case, and was convicted of having falsified certain legal documents.
Only a few years before La Bruyèreʼs death he fired at different times
on a legal officer and some soldiers who were attempting to arrest him
in his house in Paris, killed one and wounded another, was finally
imprisoned, dismissed from his office, and banished from the kingdom.
[225] _Lʼoffrande, lʼencens et le pain benit_, in the original. In
small Roman Catholic towns there were formerly always quarrels about
the sum to be given to the vicar when kissing the “patena,” about the
carrying of the censer, and above all, whose turn it was to give a cake
to be consecrated by the officiating clergyman.
[226] A _bailli_ was a magistrate who judged certain cases, an _élu_
a sort of assessor of various taxes, and an _assesseur_ an assistant
magistrate.
[227] This is an allusion to the society of the Hotel de Rambouillet
and to the so-called _précieuses_.
[228] It is generally supposed that here Isaac de Benserade (1612-1691)
is meant, who was pre-eminently a court poet, and wrote a great deal of
namby-pamby poetry, now deservedly forgotten. His “Character” appeared
for the first time in the sixth edition of La Bruyèreʼs work, only a
few months before his death, when he was seventy-eight years old.
[229] Our author draws a distinction between gentlemen in town and
at court, though he mentions those in town first. The silly novels
he attacks were those of Gomberville (1600-1647), of La Calprenède
(1610-1663), and above all those of Mdlle. de Scudéri (1607-1701), one
of the _précieuses_ of the Hotel de Rambouillet, and author of the
_Grand Cyrus_ (1650), _Clélie_ (1665), and of many other works.
[230] It seems to have escaped all commentators of La Bruyère that in
his time it was the fashion for the ladies at court to call a spade a
spade with a vengeance, and to use very plain and realistic language,
whilst the “city ladies” were not quite so daring; moreover, some of
the streets, squares, etc., of Paris had very peculiar names, quite
unfit for the mouth of any modest woman.
[231] By “silly things,” our author means “plays on words” called in
his time _équivoques_ or _turlupinades_.
[232] Marcus Annæus Lucanus, a Latin poet, who died in the year 65, was
put to death for his share in Pisoʼs conspiracy, at the early age of
twenty-seven.
[233] Claudus Claudianus (365-408), a Latin poet.
[234] L. Annæus Seneca, a stoic philosopher, and tutor to Nero, was
also put to death in the year 65 by order of his former pupil.
[235] Hermagoras is, according to all commentators, Paul Perron, a
learned Benedictine, and author of _LʼAntiquité des temps rétablie_,
etc. The old English translations name, however, also Isaac Vossius
(1618-1688), an able Dutch philologist, and a well-known French
literary man, Urbain Chevreau (1613-1701).
[236] In 1687, when this paragraph was first published, there was no
longer an independent kingdom of Hungary, for three years before the
crown had been declared hereditary in the House of Austria, which had
ruled Bohemia as well since 1525.
[237] These wars, interrupted by the peace of Nymeguen (1678), were
going on whilst our author wrote.
[238] Henri IV. (1553-1610), or _Henri le Grand_, according to La
Bruyèreʼs own note, was not the son of the last of the Valois, Henri
III. (1551-1589), but after the latterʼs death became heir to the
French throne, because Henry IV.ʼs father, Antoine de Bourbon, was
descended from the Count de Clermont, the fifth son of Louis IX.
[239] Those names La Bruyère found in the _Histoire du Monde_ of
Chevreau (see page 124, note 5); and nearly all of them are so wrongly
spelt that it is almost hopeless to discover whom they meant.
[240] In the month of December of the same year this paragraph had been
published, Joseph I. (1678-1711), emperor of the Romans, was crowned
king of Hungary, in virtue of his hereditary right. See page 215, note
1.
[241] Ninus was the husband of Semiramis, about 2182 B.C., and founded
with her Nineveh, of which empire she became queen; she abdicated after
a reign of forty-two years in favour of her son Ninyas. All these
persons seem, however, to have been mythological, and to have had no
foundation in history. The Semiramis of Herodotus lived 810-781 B.C.
[242] The passage in Josephus containing Manethosʼ tradition says,
“Mesphratuthmosis drove the Hyksos [or shepherd kings] as far as Avaris
[San in Egypt], and shut them up in it. His son Tuthmosis obliged them
to evacuate it.” Tuthmosis is really Aahmes, the founder of the 18th
dynasty, who drove the shepherd kings out of Egypt. Misphratuthmosis,
sometimes written Misphramuthosis, and Alisphragmuthosis, his relative
or ancestor, is meant by this name Alipharmutosis, but he has not been
recognised in Egyptian records.
[243] Sesostris is the Greek name of the conqueror Rameses II., the
third king of the 19th Egyptian dynasty.