Vincennes.... A long time before he had asked that he might be placed
there in order to have better air. M. de Modène said to him that, mindful
of that, he had pressed the king so much upon the subject, that at last
he had obtained it. M. the Prince responded that in the mean time he had
become accustomed to the air of the Bastile; and thereupon resisted all
that he could, until it was necessary to go. Madame the Princess also
went with him in a coach, having been unwilling to enter a litter. It is
said that in the beginning M. the Prince only thought it was desired to
deprive him of his wife. M. de Vitry, M. de Persan, M. de Modène, were
with him in the coach. After his arrival at the wood of Vincennes, it was
permitted him, about the beginning of October, to walk upon the top of a
thick wall, which is in the form of a gallery. M. de Persan dwelt in the
tower of the wood of Vincennes, in order to guard the prince with the
greatest part of the soldiers that he had with him in the Bastile, and M.
de Cadenet (afterwards Duke and Marshal de Chaulnes, brother of Constable
de Luynes), with a dozen companies of the regiment of Normandy, kept
guard in the court of the château, which the soldiers are not permitted
to leave.
“About December 20, 1617. Madame the Princess very sick. She is put to
bed in the wood of Vincennes, at seven months, of a still-born child,
and was more than forty-eight hours without motion or feeling. Never was
a person in greater extremity without dying. Among other physicians, M.
Duret and M. Pietre assisted her with extreme care. When M. the Prince
desired that there should be obsequies for this little infant, M. the
Bishop of Paris assembled some theologians, who judged that, since,
not having received baptism, it had not entered into the Church, no
ceremonies ought to be used on the subject of its death.
“September 5, 1618. Madame the Princess is put to bed of two dead
boys. The king shows great displeasure thereupon. Several persons had
permission to go to see her.
“March 21, 1619. M. the Prince falls sick. Tuesday, April 2. MM. Hatin,
Duret, and Seguin came to the Louvre to represent the state of the
malady. The cause was attributed to profound melancholy. For several days
he was regarded as hopeless. Madame his mother, Madame the Countess,
Madame de Ventadour, Madame the Countess d’Auvergne, Madame de la
Trémouille, Madame de Fontaines, Madame la Grande, etc., were allowed to
go and visit him. Monday, April 8, the king sent to him his sword by M.
de Cadenet, and wrote to him: ‘My cousin, I am very much grieved at your
illness. I pray you to be comforted. As soon as I shall have set in order
my affairs, I will give you your liberty. Be rejoiced then, and have the
assurance of my friendship. I am, etc.’
“August 28, 1619. Between midnight and one o’clock, Madame the Princess
was put to bed of a daughter, in the wood of Vincennes.
“October 17, 1619. Council held, in which is taken the final resolution
of releasing M. the Prince.
“October 18. The king goes to Chantilly, to await there M. the Prince.
“19th. M. de Luynes goes to find M. the Prince at the wood of Vincennes.
“20th. M. de Luynes goes early in the morning to the wood of Vincennes,
and gets into a carriage with M. the Prince and Madame the Princess, in
which were also MM. de Cadenet and de Modène. He goes to Chantilly to
find the king, and sees him in a cabinet, where, it is said, he falls
upon his knees, and makes extreme protestations of fidelity, and feeling
of obligation, which he had for him.
“22d. The king returns to Compiègne, accompanied by M. the Prince. Madame
the Princess arrived there and saw the queen the same day.”
In the xvi. vol. of the same manuscript, p. 933, a French diplomatic
agent transmits the reports spread abroad in the Low Countries, on the
subject of the Prince and Princess de Condé, prisoners at the Bastile
or in Vincennes: “The Princess de Condé, the younger, has written from
there to her own _femme de chambre_ married in that city, that M. the
Prince de Condé was under the impression that he had been poisoned by
his head-cook, named Baucheron, who had practiced and received money for
that purpose, and had escaped; and because he might take refuge in that
country, she charges her to inform the Prince and Princess of Orange, in
order to arrest him if possible. The people of the so-called Prince of
Orange also say, that M. the Prince de Condé has thought of escaping, and
has been betrayed and discovered by one of his domestics, but that he has
still other means for regaining his liberty.”
[75] _Mémoires de Lenet_, collection of Michaud, 3d series, v. ii., p.
448.
[76] _Mémoires de Lenet_, Michaud, 3d series, vol. ii., p. 458.
[77] _Mémoires de Lenet_, Michaud, 3d series, vol. ii., p. 455.
[78] His eldest brother, who, having taken his title after his death, was
also distinguished for his beauty, his bravery, his gallantry, played an
important part in the life of Madame de Longueville, and perished in a
senseless duel with the Duke de Beaufort, his brother-in-law.
[79] Paris, 1800, in-8ᵒ.
[80] There is a constant demand for a collection of the cartularies
of the old abbeys. Why will not some friend of religion and letters
occupy himself with filling up the lacunes, so much to be regretted, of
the _Gallia christiana_, by bringing together, under the name of the
Cartulary of the convent of the Carmelites of the Faubourg Saint-Jacques,
a multitude of pieces which we have held in our hands, which would
establish, upon authentic monuments, the history of that interesting
congregation, from the first years of the seventeenth century to the
French Revolution? All the notes, extracts, and copies, that we have
amassed, belong to him who will undertake to enrich with a new volume of
this kind the _Collection des documents inédits relatifs à l’histoire de
France_.
[81] For example, Guido, Champagne, and Lebrun.
[82] Among others, a statue, in white marble, representing the Cardinal
de Bérulle on his knees. This beautiful work is by Jacques Sarrazin, and
is still to be seen in the chapel of the Carmelites.
[83] General Archives, demesnial section, 1st file, letter C:
“Letters-patent of King Henry IV. for the establishment of the order of
the nuns of Nôtre-Dame of Mount Carmel, verified in parliament October
1, 1602, at the very humble petition of our dear well-beloved cousin,
Demoiselle de Longueville.” And in other pieces it is also said: “The
said lord (King Henry), favorably disposed to the petition of Catherine
d’Orleans, daughter of the late Henri d’Orleans, Duke de Longueville and
de Touteville....”
[84] Since that time the convent of the Rue Saint-Jacques has been called
the Great Convent, to distinguish it from the house in the Rue Chapon.
[85] The act of donation which is in the General Archives, was made in
the name of the duchess dowager de Longueville, as well as in the name
of her son, the future husband of Anne de Bourbon. “Madame Catherine
de Gonzagues and de Clèves, Duchess de Longueville and de Touteville,
widow of the late very powerful prince Henri d’Orleans, during his life,
Duke de Longueville and de Touteville, sovereign Count of Neufchâtel and
Valengin, in Switzerland, also Count of Dunois and Tancarville, etc.,
dwelling at Paris, in his hôtel de Longueville, Rue des Poulies, parish
of Saint-Germain de l’Auxerrois, as well in his own name as in that of
Monseigneur Henri d’Orleans, his son, also Duke de Longueville and de
Touteville.” ... Catherine de Gonzagues and Clèves was sister of Charles
de Gonzagues, Duke de Nevers, the father of Marie and Anne de Gonzagues,
the queen of Poland and the Palatine. Her son, Henry II., exercised
himself much in playing at tennis, and one of his shoulders became larger
and more elevated than the other. All the skill of the physicians was
powerless. The desolate mother addressed herself to Madame Acarie, then
sister Marie de l’Incarnation. She engaged in prayer previous to the holy
sacrament, and the next day the form of the youth was very much improved.
Through gratitude, the mother and son founded the house of the Rue
Chapon, endowed it with ten thousand crowns in silver, and two thousand
livres a year. The Duke de Longueville testified to this fact before
the Apostolic Commissioners, charged with the beatification of Madame
Acarie. Catherine de Gonzagues died in 1629. We find in the Archives
different acts which prove that the niece of Richelieu, Madame the
Duchess d’Aiguillon, was also one of the benefactresses of both convents.
“Marie Vignerot, Duchess d’Esguillon, dwelling in her hôtel, situated in
Saint-Germain-des-Prés, parish of Saint-Sulpice.”...
[86] See Gomboust’s plan of Paris, in 1652, and the plan called Turgot’s,
of Paris, in 1740.
[87] See Malingre, _Antiquités de la Ville de Paris_, in-fol., Paris,
1640, pp. 152 and 153, also pp. 501 and 503, _Nouveaux Mémoires
concernant la maison des Carmélites_; a few lines in the _Histoire de la
Ville de Paris_ of Felibien and of Lobineau, vol. ii., pp. 1268-1271,
and some records in vol. iii. of the _Preuves et Pièces justificatives_,
p. 144. Sauval contains but a page on the Carmelites, vol. i., p. 450.
The best thing in regard to this convent is found in the _Curiosités
de Paris_, 1771, vol. i., pp. 459-463. We take from it the following
description of the church: “Although the main body of this church is
very ancient, it is one of the best decorated in Paris. The great altar
is formed of four marble columns, and is reached by twelve steps, very
ingeniously placed, with a balustrade of marble. All the ornaments of
this altar are of bronze gilded; the tabernacle, which represents the
ark of the covenant, is all of silver; the bas-relief in front is highly
wrought, and represents the Annunciation. Nothing is more sumptuous
than this altar on feast-days. You then see a sun, bright with stones
of great value, accompanied by candlesticks, vases, and other pieces of
goldsmith’s ware, whose quantity equals its magnificence. The picture is
by Guido, and represents the Annunciation.
“The choir is separated from the nave by four beautiful columns of
sea-green marble, surmounted by flames of gilded bronze of wonderful
beauty and size. The crucifix of bronze, which you see on the door, is
one of the best and highly esteemed of the works of Sarrazin.
“The vault of the church, upon which numerous stories from the Holy
Scriptures are represented, was painted by Champagne, through the
liberality of Marie de Médicis. Observe in it an excellent piece of
perspective, designed by Des Argues: it is a crucifix, with the Holy
Virgin and St. John, so artistically painted by the same Champagne, that,
on entering the church, they appear upon a perpendicular plane, although
horizontal, which produces an agreeable and singular effect.
“Above the door of this church there is a beautiful gallery, containing
statues of Saint Peter, of Saint Paul, and of Saint Michael overcoming
the devil.
“All the chapels are magnificent: the most beautiful pictures and
gildings adorn all parts of it; neatness and good taste reign throughout.
“The twelve pictures ornamented with gilded frames, which are placed
under the windows, represent subjects drawn from the New Testament,
and were painted by very skilful masters. The first, at the right on
entering, represents the _Resurrection of Lazarus_; the second, _The
Circumcision of our Lord_; the third, _The Adoration of the Magi_; the
fourth, _The Assumption of the Holy Virgin_; the fifth, _The Descent of
the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles_; the sixth, _The Birth of our Lord_.
These six pictures were also painted by the celebrated Champagne, and
are very highly esteemed. On the other side, the first represents the
_Miracle of the Five Loaves_, by Stella; the second, _The Madeline at the
feet of our Lord, at the house of Simon the Pharisee_—it is one of the
finest works of the famous Le Brun; the third, _The Entry of Jesus Christ
into Jerusalem_, by La Hire; the fourth, _Christ at the side of Jacob’s
well, talking with the Samaritan woman_, by Stella; the fifth, _Christ
served in the Desert by Angels_—this is also by Le Brun; the sixth, _The
Appearance of our Lord to the three Marys_, by La Hire.
“Opposite to the choir of the nuns, observe the great picture
representing _the Annunciation_; it is an excellent work by Guido, who
painted it for Queen Marie de Médicis.
“Look afterwards at the chapel of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine; it is one
of the most ornamented. You will there see the statue of Cardinal de
Bérulle, made in marble by Sarrazin, in 1657; it is raised upon a
marble pedestal, upon which are excellent bas-reliefs, by Lestocart, a
famous sculptor. These bas-reliefs represent the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass, and that also performed by Noah, when he left the ark. You will
also see in this chapel, all covered with pictures, one of the most
perfect paintings ever produced by the famous Le Brun; it represents the
_Penitent Madeleine_. Grief and repentance are so vividly expressed in
this, and the skill of the excellent master so well proved by all the
accompaniments, that you can find nothing more finished and more perfect.
The life of this saint is represented in the wainscot of this beautiful
chapel.”
[88] _Histoire manuscrite_, t. ii.
[89] We have elsewhere established that of the three sources of human
knowledge, intuition, induction, and deduction, the first is much the
most fertile and the most elevated. It is intuition, which, by its own
spontaneous power, discovers directly and without the aid of reflection,
all essential truths; it is the source of light to the human race; the
voice that speaks to prophets and poets; the principle of all inspiration
of enthusiasm, and of that unalterable and sure faith, that astonishes
reasoning which is compelled to treat it as a folly, because it cannot
account for it by its ordinary processes. See the _Cours de Philosophie_,
particularly, First Series, vol. v., p. 301; and Second Series, vol. i.,
Lecture vi., pp. 131-141, etc.
[90] See the _Vie de la Mère Madeleine de Saint-Joseph, religieuse
Carmélite déchaussée_, by a priest of the Oratoire (Father Senault):
Paris, 1655, in-4ᵒ. There is a second edition, of 1670, augmented. The
Carmelites still have the head of their venerable mother. It is powerful
and large. A portrait of her, preserved by the convent, exhibits in her
face great strength of character. It has been many times engraved.
[91] The Carmelites have a small portrait, painted on wood, of Mother
Marie de Jésus, somewhat advanced in life, but of a noble and sweet
visage. It has been engraved by Regnesson.
[92] _Histoire manuscrite_, vol. ii.
[93] _Histoire manuscrite_, vol. ii.
[94] The Carmelites were very willing to let me see the portrait,
painted upon canvas, of Mother Marie-Madeleine, which does not belie her
reputation for beauty. The face is of the most perfect oval; the eyes are
of the finest and deepest blue; the forehead is noble; the general aspect
is full of grandeur and grace. It would be difficult to find any thing
more beautiful.
[95] We will mention the best known of the general visitors of the
order: in 1614, the Cardinal de Bérulle; in 1619, Father de Condren, the
second general of the Oratoire; in 1627, the Abbé de Bérulle, nephew
of the cardinal, etc. Among the superiors of the monastery, we find,
in the earlier period, Father Gibieuf, a learned oratorien, one of
the correspondents of Descartes; later, in 1662, M. Ferret, doctor in
theology, and curate of Saint-Nicholas-du-Chardonnet; in 1678, M. Pirot,
a doctor of the Sorbonne; in 1715, M. Vivant, grand vicar of Cardinal
de Noailles; in 1747, the Bishop of Bethlehem, celebrated for having
extirpated Jansenism, which had been introduced among the Carmelites at
the close of the preceding century.
[96] Her letters from Spain to Madame de Coulanges, are, for
attractiveness of style, much superior to those of Madame des Ursins.
Letters de Madame de Villars, etc., Paris, 1806 and 1823, and what Madame
de Sévigné says of her, letters of October 8, 1679, and February 28, 1680.
[97] The painted portrait that has been shown me, represents her in fact
as having the most happy face, with charming blue eyes and beautiful
forehead, and a look at once lively and agreeable.
[98] Letter of January 5, 1680.
[99] Letter of November 22, 1688.
[100] Edition of Lebel, vol. xxxix., p. 690.
[101] Varying from our manuscripts: _weighed_.
[102] An autograph billet, for which we are indebted to the Carmelite
ladies.
[103] This fixes the date of the note: it is therefore a little while
after the death of Mother Madeleine de Saint-Joseph; that is, in 1637.
[104] Several lines effaced and wholly illegible, and half of a page cut.
[105] Mademoiselle Nicolas, born at Bordeaux, agreeable in person and
mind, say our manuscripts, and pleasing to everybody. Having read, when
quite a child, the Life of Catherine de Sienne, she devoted herself
to imitating her, and joined the Carmelites at nineteen, and died
at thirty-three. There is a small portrait of her, very well made,
representing her in ecstasy.
[106] Paris, 1774, in-12ᵒ.
[107] Vol. 1st, p. 369.
[108] Ibid., p. 74.
[109] Vol. 1st, p. 79.
[110] Ibid., p. 124.
[111] Vol. 1st, p. 146.
[112] The King of Poland, Wladislas, had just espoused Marie de Gonzague,
daughter of the Duke de Nevers, sister of the Palatine. After the death
of this first husband, she passed with the crown to his brother Casimir,
whom Mademoiselle d’Epernon had refused.
[113] Her mother-in-law, Marie de Cambout, niece of Richelieu, whom the
cardinal had married to the Duke d’Epernon, as he had married another
of his nieces, Mademoiselle de Brézé, to the Duke d’Enghien. Madame
d’Epernon was ill-treated by her husband, and died in retreat, in 1691.
She was sister of the Abbé du Cambout de Pontchâteau, a celebrated
Jansenist. See two portraits of her among the portraits of Mademoiselle.
[114] It is worth while to see, in the Abbé Montis, the great resistance
which Mademoiselle d’Epernon had to overcome from her brother, the
Duke de Candale, and especially from her father, who appealed to the
parliament and to the pope; the death of the Duke de Candale, his remains
carried to the Carmelites; the conversion of the duke through the
instrumentality of his daughter, the finest portions of her life and her
pious death. She was one of the benefactresses. _Histoire manuscrite_,
vol. 1st, p. 558. “The gifts bestowed by Anne-Marie de Jésus amounted to
more than a hundred and fifty thousand livres. Besides this immense sum,
the Duke d’Epernon, her father, dying in 1661, without heirs, bequeathed
to it a hundred thousand livres over and above the sixteen thousand which
he left as a pious legacy. This lord had already assigned to the house,
during the life of our very honored Sister Anne-Marie, three thousand
livres pension, finding that the sixteen thousand livres, which were
regarded as her dowry, was too slender a sum, and sufficient only to
endow a lady who had followed her.” The lady here alluded to, and of whom
Mademoiselle also speaks, was named Bouchereau. “Being,” says the Abbé
Montis (p. 34), “of an agreeable form, she occupied herself with things
quite as fragile; but she finally turned her attention to religion,
and, desiring to become a nun, and guessing the views of Mademoiselle
d’Epernon, she opened her heart to her, and begged to be allowed to
follow her, which was readily granted.” Mademoiselle Bouchereau died
during her novitiate, before making a profession.
It is through error that, on the faith of the Abbé Mentis, in the
abridged Life of the Mother, joined to that of Mademoiselle d’Epernon, p.
291, the learned editor of the works of Bossuet supposes, vol. xxxiv.,
p. 690, “the beautiful letter on the Mother Agnès is addressed to Madame
d’Epernon, prioress of the Carmelites of the Faubourg Saint-Jacques,”
for Mademoiselle d’Epernon—it was thus that she was called—and not
Madame d’Epernon, was never prioress. Bossuet wrote to the prioress who
succeeded the Mother Agnès, either the Mother Claire du Saint-Sacrement,
who died as he entered upon his office; or rather to the one who almost
immediately took her place, that is, the Mother Marie du Saint-Sacrement;
in the world, Madame de La Thuillerie, who took her vows in 1654, was
prioress from 1691 to 1700, and died in 1705. Our manuscripts contain
several ancient copies of the letter of Bossuet, all bearing the
inscription: _To the Mother of the Saint-Sacrement_.
In 1680, Madame de Sévigné, accompanying Mademoiselle to the Carmelites,
there saw Mademoiselle d’Epernon, and found her very much altered.
Letter of the 5th of January, 1680: “I was yesterday at the convent of
the Carmelites with Mademoiselle, who was good enough to ask Madame
Lesdiguières to take me there. We entered this holy place. I was
delighted with Mother Agnès. She spoke to me of you, whom she seemed
to know through her sister (Madame the Marchioness de Villars). I saw
Madame de Stuart, beautiful and contented (she made a profession this
very year, say our manuscripts, under the name of Sister Marguerite de
Saint-Augustin, and died in 1722). I saw Madame d’Epernon.... More than
thirty years had elapsed since we had seen one another: she seemed to be
horribly changed.”
And nevertheless, without being a great beauty, she was the worthy sister
of the beautiful Candale. The convent of the Carmelites possesses several
pictures of her. One is quite large, representing her between forty and
fifty, pale and sick, but still agreeable. The best and most perfectly
preserved, represents her young and charming. Her figure is delicate and
graceful, but of that fragile grace which years do not respect. She is
painted with a smile upon her lips, and such as she was in the world. It
is probably the portrait of Beaubrun, engraved by Edelinck.
[115] Vol. 1st.
[116] L’Histoire manuscrite, vol. 1st, contains the epitaphs of Michel de
Marillac, of Marguerite and Catherine d’Orleans, of Madame the Princess,
of the Princess de Conti, etc. When the keeper of the seals, Marillac,
was arrested, the Mother Madeleine de Saint-Joseph tried, in every way,
to serve and console him in his misfortune. Regardless of the opinion
of Richelieu, who was then more powerful than ever, and who was the
protector of the order, she caused an exposition of the eucharist during
sixty days and sixty nights; procured the offering of a large number of
prayers; she wrote often to the pious exile; implored the cardinal to
have him treated with less rigor; and after his death earnestly sought
and obtained his body from Châteaudun; erected to him a tomb at the base
of the sanctuary in the chapel of Saint Thérèse, and composed herself
this epitaph: “Here lies Messire Michel de Marillac, keeper of the seals
of France, who, having been raised to this and other dignities, has
always preserved an esteem for true honors and eternal riches, doing
many good works, loving justice, seeking the glory of God, sustaining
his Church, succoring the oppressed, giving all that he had to the poor;
and when he was, by Providence, deprived of all, he showed his great
magnanimity and contempt of earthly things; living contentedly, and
journeying on to a holy death, by which he passed from this world to
another, in the year of grace 1682.”
[117] _Histoire manuscrite_, vol. 1st, pp. 491, 492.
[118] Villefore, p. 13.
[119] Villefore, p. 14.
[120] Manuscript of André d’Ormesson, fol. 332, verso.—It was on the
occasion of the ballet of the 18th of February, 1635, that the _Gazette
de France_ cited, for the first time, the name of Mademoiselle de
Bourbon. The extra of the 21st of February, gives a full account of the
fête of the 18th. It describes all the scenes of the ballet of the king,
names all the great lords who danced in it, and concludes thus: “Such was
the grand ballet of the queen, which so delighted all who were present
that they were unable to decide which was most charming, the beauties
who adorned, the gems with which they glittered, or the figures which
represented those _sixteen_ divinities of which it was composed: the
queen, _Mademoiselle de Bourbon_, Mesdames de Longueville (the first wife
of the Duke de Longueville), de Montbazon, de Chaulnes, de La Valette,
de Retz, Mademoiselle de Rohan, Mesdames de Lyancourt and de Mortemart,
Mesdemoiselles de Senecé, de Hautefort, d’Esche, de Vieux-Pont, de
Saint-Georges and de La Fayette, who did not quit it until three o’clock
in the morning. Every one left this place of marvels with the feelings of
Jacob, who, having seen angels in the night, thought that he was standing
upon the spot where heaven and earth united.”
[121] _Mémoire pour servir à l’histoire de la Société polie en France_;
Paris, in-8ᵒ, 1835. See also M. Walckenær: _Mémoires touchant la Vie et
les Ecrits de Madame de Sévigné_, vol. 1st, chap. iv. and v.
[122] The very word _urbanity_ is from Balzac, one of the first and most
illustrious frequenters of the house.
[123] The Château de Rambouillet, above Versailles, ten leagues from
Paris. Francis I. died here.
[124] One to Madame the Duchess d’Aiguillon, relating to a certain
water-course: Tallemant, vol. ii., p. 228. The other, her epitaph,
preserved by Ménage in his _Observations on the Poetry of Malherbe_.
[125] Vol. ii., p. 233.
[126] I do not know where M. Rœderer got the idea that Madame de
Rambouillet wrote so simply. Here is one of her billets, which could not
have led the person to whom it is addressed to speak of _simplicity_,
as M. Rœderer does of the letters of Madame de Rambouillet, and of her
daughter to Voiture; we speak from conjecture, for these letters have not
been seen by us. The one we give here was found among the manuscripts of
Conrart, in the Library of the Arsenal, vol. xiv., in-4ᵒ, p. 53; it is
addressed to Godeau, by turns Bishop of Grasse and of Vence:
“SIR:—If my carabineer-poet or poetic carabineer (Arnault,
Colonel of Carabineers, a distinguished warrior, a man of great
wit, but a satirist, and a person enough like Bussy) was in
Paris, I would reply to you in verse, and not in prose; but for
myself I have no familiarity with the muses. I return a million
thanks for your kind wishes; and in recompense, I wish every
moment that you were in a lodge, where I am sure you would
sleep better than you do at Vence. It is supported by columns
of transparent marble, and was built above the mid-region
of the air by Queen Zirfée. The sky there is always serene;
clouds darken neither the sight nor the understanding, and
thence quite at my ease I have considered the downfall of the
terrestrial Angel. It seems to me that on this occasion fortune
has shown that it is a slander to say that she favors only the
young. And because I am no more the subject of change than my
lodge, you may rest assured that I shall continue so as long as
I live.
“Sir,
“Your very humble servant,
ↃC (Catherine) DE VIVONNE.”
_June 26, 1642._
[127] The works of Segrais, Amsterdam, 1723, vol. 1st. _Mémoires
Anecdotes_, p. 29.
[128] On Mademoiselle de Rambouillet, Pisani, and his sisters, see
Tallemant, vol. ii., pp. 207-262.
[129] Edition of 1659, pp. 118-121.
[130] See Saural, _Antiquités de Paris_, vol. iii., p. 200, and the
plan of Paris by Gomboust. These hôtels, or rather their ruins, have
just entirely disappeared, with the Rue Saint-Thomas-du-Louvre, to the
advantage of the Place du Carrousel. May this admirable place preserve
its grandeur, so dearly bought, and no transversal building spoil
the beautiful harmony of the Louvre and the Tuileries! May also some
competent and industrious man, devoted to the study of Paris and its
monuments, resolve not to let the Rue Saint-Thomas-du-Louvre perish
without giving its description and a history faithful to the epoch of its
greatest glory.
[131] _Mémoires_, vol. 1st, p. 18.
[132] Ed. of Amsterdam. Petitot, vol. xxxvi. of the collection, p. 841,
proposes to read _husesas_, from _huso_, spindle. The true reading seems
_finezas_.
[133] It is very certain that the author of _Mirame_ show some littleness
in the ridiculous quarrel raised against _The Cid_; but it must be
acknowledged that he had some State reasons not to be despised. He
who had brought about the royal edict against duels could not endure
verses in their honor; there was also in _The Cid_ more than one
word unfavorable to the prime ministers. Besides, the cardinal loved
Corneille; he gave him a good pension, and even performed the marriage
ceremony for him. One day Corneille having presented himself more sad and
thoughtful than ordinary before the Cardinal Richelieu, the latter asked
him if he was working. Corneille replied that he was far from having
the tranquillity necessary for composition, that his head was turned
with love. It was necessary to explain the whole matter, and he told the
cardinal that he was passionately in love with the daughter of Lieutenant
General d’Andely, and that he could not obtain her from her father. The
cardinal requested this father, so hard to please, to come to him at
Paris. He arrived trembling at receiving such an unexpected order, and
returned very glad to get off with giving his daughter to a man in such
high credit. See the brothers Parfait, _History of the French Theatre_,
vol. v., p. 304.
[134] Works of Balzac, in-fol., vol. ii., p. 419.
[135] Maitre Vincent, etc.
[136] Letter of November 24, 1676.
[137] Third Satire.
[138] Tallemant, ii., p. 295.
[139] Edit. of Saint-Surin, vol. iv., p. 375.
[140] See in the _Œuvres diverses_ of Corneille, ed. of Amsterdam, 1740,
p. 174, the elegy containing a declaration of love: it is not dated, but
must have been written during the youth of Corneille, and even before his
glory, for he does not speak of it, whilst later he uses a very different
tone. The lady to whom his elegy is addressed, must have been of good
birth, if the young poet is to be believed. He paints finely the passage
from admiration to love:
Mais de ce sentiment la flatteuse imposture
N’empêcha pas le mal pour cacher la blessure,
Et ce soin d’admirer, qui dure plus d’un jour,
S’il n’est amour dejà, devient bientôt amour.
Un je ne sais quel trouble où je me vis réduire
De cette vérité sut assez tôt m’instruire:
Par d’inquiets transports me sentant émouvoir,
J’en connus le sujet quand j’osai vous revoir.
...
Un désordre confus m’expliqua mon martyre:
Je voulus vous parler, mais je ne sus que dire.
Je rougis, je pàlis, et d’un tacite aveu
Je n’aime point, dis je, hélas! qu’il s’en faut peu! etc.
The piece entitled _Jalousie_, and which is not finished, has parts which
seem written by Molière.
Le plus léger chagrin d’une humeur inégale,
Le moindre égarement d’un mauvais intervalle,
Un souris par mégarde à ses yeux dérobé,
Un coup d’œil par hasard sur un autre tombé,
...
Tout cela fait pour lui de grands crimes d’État,
Et plus l’amour est fort, plus il est délicat.
Corneille felt a tender sentiment for the Marchioness de B. A. T. (we are
ignorant of the name of the person concealed under these initials). He
speaks of himself now in a very different manner from that of his youth,
and he turns the honors of his glory to the profit of his love:
Je connais mes défauts, mais aprés tout je pense
Être pour vous encore un captif d’importance,
Car vous aimez le gloire, et vous savez qu’un roi
No vous en peut jamais assurer tant que moi, etc.
Corneille bid adieu to her whose love he despairs of obtaining; he yields
to younger rivals:
Négligez-moi pour eux, mals dites en vous-même:
Moins il me veut aimer, plus il fait voir qu’il m’aime,
Et m’aime d’autant plus que son cœur enflammé
N’ose même aspirer au bonheur d’être aimé.
Je fais tous ses plaisirs, j’ai toutes ses pensées,
Sans que le moindre espoir les ait intéressées.
Puisse-je malgré vous y penser au peu moins,
M’échapper quelque jour vers quelques autres soins,
Trouver quelques plaisirs ailleurs qu’en votre idée,
Et voir toute mon âme un peu moins obsédée;
Et vous, de qui je n’ose attendre jamais rien,
Ne ressentir jamais un mal pareil au mien!
I will not quote, but indicate the stanzas addressed to the same person,
and which express the same sentiments in a different meter:
Marquise, si mon visage
A quelques traits un peu vieux, etc.
[141] Vol. ii., p. 87. The first edition of Voiture is that given by his
nephew, Pinchesne, almost immediately after his death, in 1650, in-4ᵒ,
and which is dedicated to Condé. There was already a seventh edition,
in-12ᵒ, in 1665. The last and most complete is that, of 1745, 2 vol.,
small in-8ᵒ. It is this that we shall quote.
[142] Vol. ii., p. 66. It was the ancient hôtel de Gondi, _the most
magnificent of the times_, says again Sauval, _Ibid._, p. 131. Perelle
has engraved the hôtel and the gardens.
[143] Lenet, edit. Michaud, pp. 447 and 450.
[144] One is deceived in expecting to become acquainted with the great
Condé, by seeing the celebrated portrait of Nanteuil. This portrait is of
1662. It represents Condé fatigued and grown old, after the civil war. We
must look for the conqueror of Rocroy and of Lens, in the portraits of
Haret, of Michel Lasne, and especially of Duret.
[145] See farther on.
[146] _Mémoires anecdotes_, p. 108.
[147] Farther on, chap. iv.
[148] Observe the style in which he writes from Grasse, the 18th
December, 1637, to Mademoiselle de Bourbon: “Mademoiselle, I am proud to
learn that she, who occupies all hearts, should fear that she is not in
my memory. Though it were a temple, you should there have a place; judge,
then, whether I have no interest in preserving you in it, in order that
you may render it precious, poor and unfaithful as it was before. It is
principally at the altar, Mademoiselle, that you are present with me.
I truly ask God to add other lilies to those of your crown, but I ask
him, also, to mingle with them the love of the thorns of his Son, and to
strengthen you in the generous contempt of the grandeur in which I have
seen (an allusion to the thought entertained by Mademoiselle de Bourbon
of becoming a Carmelite).” Elsewhere, May 3, 1641...... “Our Lord is very
good, but he is jealous, and he would prefer that we should never have
tasted his spirit, than to become disgusted with it, and suffer it to be
quenched. Roses have thorns which defend their beauty, but princesses are
in the midst of roses which do not secure them against the temptations
which the pleasures of the world inspire....” See _Letters of M. Godeau,
Bishop of Vence, on different subjects_; Paris, 1718, p. 17 and p. 148.
[149] _De la Fausseté des Vertus humaines_, by M. Esprit; in-12ᵒ, two
vol., Paris, 1678.
[150] _The most excellent Buildings of France_, in-fol., 1607, vol. ii.
Many plates of the castle, none of the garden.
[151] _Views of the finest Buildings of France_, by Perelle.—_General
view of the Château de Chantilly, of its canals, fountains, and groves_,
etc.
[152] Bossuet, funeral oration on the great Condé.
[153] Edition Michaud, p. 229.
[154] _Œuvres de Sarrazin_, at Paris, in-4ᵒ, 1656, p. 231. This first
edition was reproduced in two small volumes in 1663, and in 1685.
In 1674, appeared the _Nouvelles Œuvres de Sarrazin_, in two parts,
containing prose and verse.
[155] Mademoiselle Chateignier de La Rocheposay, one of the prettiest
of women, and much courted by the Duke de Candale, the brother of
Mademoiselle d’Epernon.
[156] See the pretty engraving of Parelle.
[157] Edit. of 1745, vol. 1st, etc. _Our Aurora_, hitherto perfectly
unknown, is in fact Mademoiselle de Bourbon herself, according to an
old tradition preserved by the manuscript collection of songs, called
_Recueil de Maurepas_, for opposite to the first couplet this note is
found: _For Mademoiselle de Bourbon, sleeping_.
[158] _Ibid._, p. 170. See also the song to Madame la Princesse, to the
air _Des Landriri_; ibid., p. 129.
[159] See the different views of Ruel, by Parelle.
[160] Paris, in-4ᵒ, 1641.
[161] _Reglement donné par une dame de haute qualité à madame sa
petit-fille_, published first in 1698, reprinted in 1779.
[162] Tallemant, vol. iv., p. 806.
[163] Cotin has made an exact _Déscription de Liancourt_ in his _Œuvres
galantes_, second edition, 1665, pp. 108-115.
[164] Manuscripts of Conrart, in-4ᵒ, vol. xi., p. 443.
[165] _Ibid._, p. 851.
[166] The cardinal, now old and sick, was as much dreaded by these young
girls as the small-pox, from which they had been flying.
[167] Tallemant, vol. ii., p. 337, attributes these couplets to
Bachaumont; Madame de Motteville, vol. iii., p. 230, gives them without
the author’s name, and they are found with many others in a long
mazarinade, entitled, _Triolets de Saint-Germain_, in-4ᵒ, 1649.
[168] Library of the Arsenal, _Belles-Lettres Françaises_, No. 70,
collection in-fol., entitled: _Chansons Notées_, vol. ii., p. 66.
[169] Manuscripts of Conrart, in-4ᵒ, vol. xi., p. 848.
[170] Manuscripts of Conrart, in-4ᵒ, vol. xi., p. 848.
[171] Writing in verse had become a great amusement with all this young
and ingenious society. Vol. xiii. of the Manuscripts of Conrart, in-fol.,
p. 337, contains an epistle in verse to the Duke d’Enghien, when he was
at Dijon, and only twenty years of age.
[172] Mémoires, vol. vi., p. 105. “This lady did not hate the court. She
desired general approbation, and especially the approbation of those who
had credit, for naturally she had a greediness for all that is called
favor.”—_Ibid._, p. 167. “According to what I have said of Madame de
Montausier, it is easy to judge that she must have been agreeable to the
king, not only because she had fine qualities, but because the merit
which she possessed was entirely conformed to the fashion of the world.
One day that the queen-mother had unwillingly received Mademoiselle de
La Vallière, Madame de Montausier applauded this condescension, which
had given Queen Maria-Theresa so much pain.”—_Ibid._ “I cannot help, in
this place, mentioning a circumstance which may show how much the hearts
and minds of people of court are ordinarily spoiled. At the moment when
the queen had commanded me to go and speak to the queen her mother, I
met Madame de Montausier, who was rejoicing over the very matter that
had thrown the queen into despair. She said to me with an exclamation of
joy: Ah! Madame, the queen-mother has done an admirable act in wishing
to see La Vallière. See the tact of a very shrewd woman and of a good
politician. But, added this lady, she is so feeble that we cannot hope
that she will sustain this act as she should. I was truly astonished to
see the operations of different sentiments in different persons, and,
unwilling to reply, I quitted her.... The Duke de Montausier, who had
the reputation of a man of honor, caused in me, about the same time, a
similar pain, for, in speaking of the ill-feeling which the queen-mother
entertained towards the Countess de Brancas, he said to me these words:
Ah! truly the queen is very pleasant to be offended, because Madame
de Brancas is so complaisant towards the king as to keep company with
Mademoiselle de La Vallière. If she were cunning and wise, she would be
very glad that the king was in love with Mademoiselle de Brancas, for,
being the daughter of the first officer in her service (the Count de
Brancas was chevalier d’honneur of the queen-mother), he, his wife and
his daughter, would be of great advantage to her with the king.” When
the amours of the king with Madame de Montespan commenced, Madame de
Montausier was not more severe, _Mémoires de Mademoiselle_, vol. v., p.
254: “Madame de Montespan took up her quarters in the room belonging to
Madame de Montausier, near that of the king; and it was observed that
a sentinel, who had been placed in the passage communicating with the
lodging of the king and that of Madame de Montespan, had been removed....
I am told, said the queen, that it is Madame de Montausier who conducts
this intrigue, that she deceives me, that the king visits Madame de
Montespan in her room. Madame de Montausier said to the queen: Since
your Majesty would be made to believe that I give mistresses to the
king, what injury may any one expect to escape? The queen replied to her
in equivocal terms: I know more than you think; I am not the dupe of
any one.” Appearances were all against Madame de Montausier. Also, at
a later period, Montespan, who was evil-minded enough to misinterpret
the honor done by the king to his wife, made for Madame Montausier a
most disagreeable scene. Madame de Montausier complained to the king,
who sent for Montespan, for the purpose of putting him in prison. See
_Mademoiselle_, vol. vi., 82: “This affair made a great noise in the
world, because it was an extraordinary outrage upon a woman who had
thus far sustained an excellent reputation. M. de Montausier was at
Rambouillet; he did not know of the affair; they even said that it was
concealed from him; others imagined that he knew it, but that it was for
his advantage to seem ignorant. A little while after he was made tutor of
the Dauphin, etc.”
[173] If it is true, as several contemporaries assure us, and among
others, Segrais, that Montausier had served as a model for the
_Misanthrope_, it was because Molière, who did not search things closely,
has taken a difficult virtue for reality. But Molière told his secret to
no one, and probably there is no secret here except that of genius. The
_Misanthrope_ is not the copy of any original. Many originals have been
before the great observer, and furnished him with a thousand particular
traits; but the entire and complete character of the _Misanthrope_ is his
own creation.
[174] Tallemant, vol. ii., p. 243: “Our marquis, seeing that his religion
was an obstacle to his designs, changed it. He said that salvation could
be obtained in either; but in the change he seems to have consulted his
interest.”
[175] Every one called her Elizabeth, and she is thus named in the
most authentic printed documents; but in all our manuscripts she never
signs herself Elizabeth, but almost always Isabelle. See several or her
autograph letters among the papers of Lenet in the National Library. A
manuscript piece, the judicial evidence given by Madame de Châtillon
before an ecclesiastical commission delegated by the Pope, in the matter
of the canonization of the Mother Madeleine de Saint-Joseph, can leave no
doubt; Madame de Châtillon deposes thus: “My name is Isabelle Angélique
de Montmorency; I am a native of the city of Paris; I am thirty-two years
of age, daughter of Henry François de Montmorency, Count de Boutteville
and other places, and of Isabelle Angélique de Vienne, his lawful wife;
I am widow of Gaspard de Coligny, Duke de Châtillon....” and she signs:
“Moy, Isabelle Angélique de Montmorency.”
[176] Lenet, ed. Mich., p. 437.
[177] See long details on this subject in Madame de Motteville, vol. 1st,
p. 292, etc.
[178] _Œuvres de Voiture_, vol. ii., p. 174, Epistle to M. de Coligny.
[179] _Œuvres de Sarrazin_, in-4ᵒ; Poésies, p. 74.
[180] Madame de Motteville, vol. iii., p. 133, etc.
[181] See on Madame de Montbazon, the chapter which follows, and, on
Madame de Châtillon, the INTRODUCTION.
[182] We are not very well acquainted with the origin and history of the
Du Vigeans. We find a Protestant Vigean in the States-General in 1615,
where he performed an active part.—_Journal historique et anecdotes de la
cour et de Paris_, among the manuscript papers of Conrart; in-4ᵒ, vol.
xi., p. 238.
[183] Letter of Voiture to Madame Du Vigean, in sending him an elegy
which he had made and which she had asked, vol. i., p. 27. It is
also Madame Du Vigean whom he designates by the name of the _Belle
Baronne_, in two couplets, at page 120 and 127 of vol. ii. It seems
that the Du Vigeans resided at first in the quarter Saint-Germain, as
well as Madame d’Aiguillon, and that she afterwards resided in the Rue
Saint-Thomas-du-Louvre.
[184] Tallemant, vol. ii., p. 32, and Library of the Arsenal, _Collection
of Historical Songs_, vol. i., p. 149.
[185] _Œuvres_, vol. i., pp. 20-25; letter tenth to the Cardinal de La
Valette.
[186] Desmarets, _Œuvres poétique_, in-4ᵒ, 1641, pp. 18-21.
[187] Vol. ii., fol. 801.
[188] Vol. i., p. 181.
[189] _Ibid._, p. 186.
[190] Library of the Arsenal, manuscripts of Conrart, in-4ᵒ, vol. xi.,
p. 855.—Devices were then in fashion; at a later period Mademoiselle
placed portraits in them, and Madame Sablé maxims and thoughts. These
devices had nothing official in them, and in that they resembled what
are now called fancy seals, which must not be confounded with family
arms. Individuals made devices for themselves and others; they had them
printed, and they are regarded as true works of art. There is in the
Arsenal, _Belles-Lettres Françaises_, No. 348, a collection, in-folio,
upon vellum, of great beauty. It had been made for the Duchess de La
Trémouille, whose portrait is found among those of Mademoiselle. Each
device occupies an entire leaf. We find here those of Anne of Austria, of
Madame the Princess, of Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and of many other
illustrious females of the seventeenth century. We limit ourselves to
giving the device of Madame de Longueville. It is very different from
that of Mademoiselle de Bourbon. It is a bunch of lilies upon a nest of
serpents, with these words: _Meo moriuntur odore_.
[191] Fol., 332, verso.
[192] _Mémoires_, vol. iii., p. 893. See also vol. iv., p. 89.
[193] Deposition in the affair of the beatification of the Mother
Madeleine de Saint-Joseph: “I, Sister Marthe Poussar du Vigean, called de
Jésus, aged 28 years.... November 17, 1650.”
[194] _Mémoires de Lenet_, edit. Michaud, p. 550.
[195] Lenet, edit. Michaud, p. 550.
[196] Lenet, _ibid._
[197] _Ibid._
[198] _Supplément Français_, No. 925. The author seems to be called
Maupassant. “It is the custom,” says he, in commencing, “of all those
who write history, to wish to appear faithful, disinterested, and exempt
from all passion. For my part, I do not pretend to persuade any one of
my sincerity, but I dare to declare that I have seen most of the things
which I undertake to write about.”
[199] Mémoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 295: “The Duke
d’Enghien had so strong a passion for Mademoiselle Du Vigean, that I have
heard Madame Du Vigean, her mother, say that he had often wished to break
his marriage, having been forced to espouse the Duchess d’Enghien, in
order that he might marry her daughter, and that he had even labored to
this end. I have heard Madame de Montausier, who knew these intrigues,
say that this prince had pretended to love Mademoiselle de Boutteville,
by the express order of Mademoiselle Du Vigean, in order to conceal
in public the friendship which he had for her, but that the beauty of
Mademoiselle de Boutteville having frightened Mademoiselle Du Vigean,
she had forbidden him, a little after, to see her and to speak to her,
and that he had obeyed her so promptly, that all at once he ceased all
intercourse with her, and that, to show that he had no affection for her,
he caused her to marry Dandelot.”
[200] Mémoires de Madame de Motteville, p. 294.
[201] _Ibid._
[202] _Mémoires de Mademoiselle_, vol. 1st, p. 84.
[203] Mémoires, vol. i., p. 302.
[204] The Marquis d’Huxelles died in 1658, of his wounds, and of his
chagrin on account of not receiving the appointment of Marshal. The
office was conferred upon his son in 1703. Mademoiselle d’Huxelles was
amiable and sprightly. She died at an advanced age in 1712.
[205] _Mémoires de Lenet_, part i., p. 207.
[206] _Mémoires de Mademoiselle_, vol. i., p. 84.
[207] As every thing then was the subject of songs, the two following
couplets, which we find among the _Chansons Notées_ of the Arsenal, were
written upon this occasion:
SUR L’AIR: _Laire lan lère._
Lorsque Vigean quitta la cour,
Les Jeux, les Graces, les Amours
Entrèrent dans le Monastère.
Laire la laire lan lère,
Laire la laire lan la.
Les Jeux pleurèrent ce jour-là;
Ce jour la Beauté se voila,
Et fit vœu d’être solitaire.
Laire la laire, etc.
[208] _Ibid._ The remembrance which Condé preserved for Mademoiselle
Du Vigean was such, that Mademoiselle asserts, vol. i., p. 88, that if
Condé favored Chabot in his designs upon Mademoiselle de Rohan, it was
because Chabot had been his confidant with Mademoiselle Du Vigean. “So,”
says she, “after having been served during one of the most important
periods of his life, it is not wonderful that he took care to promote the
marriage so desired by Chabot.”
[209] It was customary to take in religion one’s baptismal name, as
Louise de La Vallière was called Louise de La Miséricorde, and Anne Marie
d’Epernon, Anne Marie de Jésus, etc.
[210] Vol. v.
[211] _Lettres originales_, vol. iv.
[212] Villefore, pp. 37, 38.
[213] _Mémoires_, edition of Amsterdam, 1735; vol. i., p. 45.
[214] A fine portrait of M. de Longueville, painted by Champagne,
and engraved by Nanteuil, forms the frontispiece of _The Pucelle_ of
Chapelain, in-fol., 1656.
[215] The hôtel of the Dukes de Longueville is not at all the one
which, after the death of her husband, Madame de Longueville bought
of the Epernons, on the Rue Saint Thomas-du-Louvre, near the hôtel de
Rambouillet, where she resided with her children, and which bore her name
from 1664 till the close of the seventeenth century. The dwelling of the
Longuevilles was the old hôtel d’Alençon. (See Sauval, vol. i., pp. 65
and 70, especially p. 119.) It was situated on the Rue des Poulies, among
the rich hôtels which line the right side of that street from the Rue
Saint Honoré to the Seine, and which, with their dependencies and their
gardens, extend to the Louvre. It was almost opposite to the Rue des
Fossés-Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois. Upon its right, towards the Seine, was
the Petit-Bourbon, which, having served as a residence and a stronghold
in Paris to the eldest of the house of Bourbon, became a royal building,
a sort of appendage to the Louvre, where the young king, Louis XIV.,
gave several great balls, and the theatre of which was lent to Molière,
for the performance of his comedies, upon his arrival in Paris. Upon the
left, on the same line, after the hôtel de Longueville, came the hôtels
de Villequier and d’Aumont; and a little nearer to the church and house
of l’Oratoire, the hôtels de La Force and de Créqui. When, in 1663,
Louis XIV., having entered into full possession of royal authority, and
wishing to signalize his reign by great monuments, undertook to finish
the Louvre and to give it a façade worthy of the rest of the edifice, it
was necessary for him to pull down, with the Petit-Bourbon, a part of
the hôtels of the Rue des Poulies, and among others that of Longueville.
This was the most ancient and most considerable. It was composed of a
large front building, of a vast court, of the hôtel proper, with immense
gardens. Those of our readers who desire to be sure of the correctness
of these details, have only to cast their eyes upon the excellent plan
of Gomboust, which gives an admirable view of Paris in the seventeenth
century, in 1652.
[216] It is truly inconceivable that a woman of so much mind as Madame
de Sablé, could have carried her fear of sickness and contagion so
far as all contemporary writers, Voiture, Tallemant, Mademoiselle,
etc., testify. Her weakness upon this occasion, and the fidelity of
Mademoiselle de Rambouillet, are attested to us by several unpublished
letters of those ladies, which we find in the Library of the Arsenal,
among the papers of Conrart, in-4ᵒ, vol. xiv.
[217] It is in vain that Mademoiselle says, vol. 1st, p. 47, that Madame
de Longueville remained marked with the small-pox. Retz affirms the
contrary. Edit. of Amsterdam, 1731, vol. i., p. 185: “The small-pox
had taken away the first flower of her beauty, but left her all its
brilliancy.”
[218] _Letters de Monseigneur Godeau sur divers sujets_, Paris, 1713,
letter 76, p. 243: “Degrasse, December 13, 1642.... As to your face,
another will rejoice, with much more propriety, that it will not be
spoiled. Mademoiselle Paulet tells me so. I have so good an opinion of
your sense, that I believe you would have been easily consoled if your
disease had left its marks. Scars are often given by Divine Mercy to make
persons, who have loved too well their complexions, see that it is a
flower liable to fade even as it begins to bloom.”
[219] Edit. Michaud, p. 450.
[220] _Mémoires de La Rochefoucauld_, collection Petitot, vol. li., pp.
370 and 386.
[221] Bibliothèque Nationale, _Supplément Français_, No. 925.
[222] There can be no doubt in this case as to courage; a Coligny, a
friend of Condé, having never been suspected of wanting it.
[223] The _Polexandre_ of Gomberville appeared in 1637. This romance had
great success, and in a short time went through several editions; the
best and the most complete is that of 1645, in five parts, forming eight
volumes.
[224] I rely upon the report given by Lenet, which is almost the same as
that sent at the time, by order of the Duke d’Enghien, to his father, the
Prince de Condé. Lenet, edit. Michaud, p. 479, etc. See commencement of
chap. iv.
[225] Claude de Letouf de Pradines, Baron de Sirot, a Burgundian
gentleman, born near 1600, mortally wounded in 1652, at the bridge de
Gergeau, in the wars of the Fronde.
[226] Bossuet, in his admirable narrative of the battle of Rocroy, has
perfectly painted its close—the destruction of the Spanish infantry;
but he has not even indicated the manœuvre which decided the day. It
is to be regretted that Napoleon did not pay the same attention to the
campaigns of Condé as he did to those of Turenne and of Frederic, and
that after having incidentally judged, with the superiority of a master,
and worthily relieved the judicious boldness which achieved the battle of
Nortlingen, in which Condé did not fear to engage his only remaining wing
for re-establishing the combat, instead of employing it to make a very
difficult retreat before the cavalry of Jean de Vert, he did not devote
a chapter to the examination of the battle of Rocroy, which opens a new
military school.
[227] There is not, we believe, or at least we do not know that there
is, any portrait painted or engraved of Mazarin in his youth. He was but
forty-one years of age in 1643, and a portrait by M. Lasne represents
him then with a face still handsome, in which delicacy is united with
grandeur.
[228] See, upon this delicate point, M. Walckenær, _Mémoires sur Madame
de Sévigné_, vol. i., p. 213, especially the somewhat decided letter of
Anne to Mazarin, vol. iii., _Supplément_, p. 471.
[229] Vol. ii., p. 108.
[230] _Mémoires_, vol. i., p. 231.
[231] Madame de Motteville has thus painted her, vol. i., p. 47: “Her
eyes were blue, large, and full of fire; her teeth white and even,
and her complexion had the white and incarnation necessary to a light
beauty.” Her _Nom de Précieuse_ was Hermione, _Grand Dictionnaire des
Pretieuses_, vol. i., p. 218. Scarron has greatly celebrated her. Married
in 1646 to the Marshal Charles de Schomberg, she followed him into his
government of Trois Evechés, encountered Metz, the young Bossuet, and
encouraged his first efforts. After the death of the marshal she lived in
retirement, and died in 1691.
[232] To judge of her beauty, she should not be seen as Retz saw her
at fifty years of age, nor as most of her portraits show her at the
approach of age, with the widow’s cap which she wore after the death of
her second husband; she should be seen when young and brilliant, if not
during the life of the High Constable De Luynes, at least at the period
of her second marriage. Born in 1604, married in 1617, a widow in 1619,
remarried in 1622, at the age of eighteen, she had from fifteen to twenty
years of the greatest splendor. Her form was charming. She had blue eyes,
light chestnut hair, and a most beautiful bosom. Thus she is represented
by several of the portraits of the times possessed by the Duke de Luynes,
also by a charming portrait engraved by Daret.
[233] Tallemant, vol. iii., p. 407.
[234] _Mémoires_, vol. i., p. 46.
[235] Vol. i., p. 221. He cites, as well as Tallemant and even Madame
de Motteville, incredible things. The collections of songs of the times
abound in outrageous epigrams against her. See the _Collection of
Maurepas_, in the National Library, and the collections of _Chanson’s
historiques_, of the Library of the Arsenal.
[236] Vol. v., p. 246.
[237] See Introduction.
[238] Vol. iii., p. 410.
[239] In regard to the beauty of Madame de Montbazon, we have united what
is said by Tallemant, vol. iii., p. 411, and by Madame de Motteville,
vol. i., p. 146. The reader may judge of the truth of our description
by going to see, at Versailles, in the curious gallery of the northern
attic, under No. 2030, a small picture, representing Madame de Montbazon,
at the age of thirty-five to forty years, with a collar of pearls, a
beautiful forehead, fine black eyes, a magnificent throat; but all
somewhat strong and without much distinction. This picture seems the
original of the portrait engraved by Le Blond.
[240] Villefore, p. 82.
[241] _Mémoires_ of La Châtre in the collection Petitot, vol. li., p. 230.
[242] Mademoiselle, vol. 1st, pp. 62 and 68.
[243] It seems to me that it would be better to say: “I suffer for loving
too much, and you for not loving enough.”
[244] See Mademoiselle, Madame de Motteville, and La Rochefoucauld.
[245] Mémoires de La Rochefoucauld, Collection Petitot, vol. li, p. 387.
[246] Vol. i., p. 65.
[247] See the _Mémoires_ of the times, and especially those of Campion.
[248] Second daughter of Duke François. This marriage, contracted in
1632, is a romance, which may be read in all the memoirs of the times.
[249] Royal Library, _Supplément Français_, No. 925, fol. 11.
[250] _Mémoires_, p. 391.
[251] _Mémoires_, p. 391.
[252] The Place-Royale and its environs were then the quarters of the
upper classes. Begun in 1604 (_Antiquities and most remarkable things
of Paris_, 1608, by Bonfons and by Du Breuil, p. 430), on the ruins
of the Palais des Tournelles, by Henri IV., it was finished in 1612.
(_Theatre of the Antiquities of Paris_, by Father Du Breuil, in-4ᵒ, 1613,
p. 1050.) It is, as is known, a great square, or rather a rectangle,
bordered on all sides by thirty-seven pavilions, supported by pillars
forming a gallery, which extends entirely around the place. In the midst
was a vast yard, divided into six beautiful grass-plots. In the centre
was the equestrian statue of Louis XIII. The statue was by Biard, and
the horse by Daniel de Volterre. On one of the faces of the pedestal
of white marble, was the following inscription: “To the glorious and
immortal memory of the great and invincible Louis the Just, thirteenth of
the name, King of France and of Navarre, Armand, Cardinal de Richelieu,
his principal minister, has raised this statue as an eternal mark of
his zeal, of his fidelity, and of his gratitude, in 1639.” Under Louis
XIV. this beautiful square was surrounded with a railing of excellent
workmanship. Lemaire, said in 1685, vol. iii., p. 307: “They are now
making a balustrade of iron, which will extend entirely around it and
inclose a very agreeable garden, in which there will be four great
reservoirs of water in the four corners. Private persons having their
residences here, will contribute to the expense of this, each the sum
of one thousand livres. The city will furnish the rest.” Germain Brice,
in the first edition of his curious work, which appeared in 1685, as
did that of Lemaire, says the same thing, adding that the inhabitants
alone of the place will have the right of enjoying the garden which is
to be laid out. “No one will enter except those belonging to the houses
which have been furnished with keys.” In the second edition of Brice, of
1687, the beautiful railing was not erected; it is in the edition which
follows, of 1701; it is seen in La Caille, in 1714; and in the engraving
of Defer, in 1716. As to the garden and the four reservoirs, they are
not even yet in the plan of Turgot, in 1740. It was the Restoration
which accomplished the designs of the administration of Louis XIV. How
many public and domestic events has this place witnessed during the
seventeenth century, how many noble tourneys, how many atrocious duels,
how many amiable rendezvous! What conversations, worthy of those of
Décaméron, it has heard,—conversations which Corneille has collected
in one of his first comedies, and in several acts of the _Menteur_!
What graceful creatures have inhabited these pavilions! What sumptuous
furniture, what treasures of taste have been assembled here! How many
illustrious personages, of every kind, have mounted these beautiful
staircases! Richelieu and Condé, Corneille and Molière, have trod them a
thousand times. It was while walking under this gallery that Descartes,
conversing with Pascal, suggested to him the idea of his beautiful
experiments upon the weight of the air. It was there also that, while
going one evening from the house of Madame de Guimenée, the melancholy De
Thou received from Cinq-Mars the involuntary confidence of the conspiracy
which was to lead them both to the scaffold. It was there, in short,
that Madame de Sévigné was born, and close by it she lived. On reaching
the Place-Royale by its true entrance, the Rue-Royale, beside the Rue
Saint-Antoine, we find at the right angle the hôtel de Rohan, long
occupied by the old Duchess Dowager, widow of that great Duke de Rohan,
one of the first generals, and the greatest military writers of his age.
In the left angle was the hôtel de Chaulnes, whose magnificent apartments
have been celebrated by Bois-Robert, and which, at a later period, passed
to Nicolaï. At the other two corners of the place were, to the right,
on the side of the Rue des Tournelles and of the Boulevard, the vast
and sumptuous hôtel of Saint-Géran; and to the left, on the side of the
street Saint-Louis, the hôtel which was occupied by Richelieu before he
had built and finished Palais-Cardinal. The four galleries were filled
with hôtels not unworthy of those already mentioned. There was the hôtel
of the Marshal de Lavardin, that of M. de Nouveau, that of Villequier,
captain of the guards, who sold it to M. de Hameaux, by whom it was
resold, in 1680, to the Rohan-Chabots, and from them this hôtel, even
in passing through other hands, retained the name of hôtel Chabot. M.
Walckenær, in his _La Bruyère_, p. 743, says that the Count de Montgomery
and the unfortunate Marquis de Langlade, so celebrated in the history
of unjust condemnations, lived together at the Place-Royale. Brice, in
1685, indicates the hôtel of the Marquis de Dangeau, and in 1713, on the
right, in entering by the Rue Saint-Antoine, the hôtel of the Baron de
Breteuil, and on the other side the house of the President Carrel. We
know certainly that Madame de Sablé resided at the Place-Royale, as well
as the Countess de Maure, with Mademoiselle de Vaudy; but the difficulty
would be to discover the inhabitants of all the other pavilions, and
thus to make an exact and complete history of the Place-Royale until
the close of the seventeenth century. We suggest this subject of study
to some pupil of the _Ecole des Chartes_, or to some young artist; they
would find in it matter of the most interesting investigation, as well
as descriptions the most charming, and a modest glory would not fail
to follow after a few years of the most attractive labor. We take the
liberty of pointing out to them, besides Felibien, vol. ii., Sauval, vol.
ii., p. 624, the plan of Gomboust, from 1652, and the after plans, the
following works: 1st, _The Paris Guide_, etc., by the Sieur de Schayes,
1647; 2d, _The Convenient Book, containing the addresses of the city of
Paris, by Abraham Pradel, philosopher and mathematician_, Paris, small
in-8ᵒ; 3d, _The Royal Almanac_, of 1699; 4th, the sequel to the different
editions of G. Brice, from 1685 to 1725; 5th, the verses by Scarron,
_Adieu au Marais et à la Place-Royale_, edit. of Amsterdam, of 1752,
vol. vii., pp. 29-35; 6th, a Manuscript of the National Library, No.
7905, wherein is a _Supplement of the Antiquities of Paris, with all the
most remarkable transactions from 1610 until the present time, by D. H.
J. lawyer_. “_Until the present time_,” is up to 1640. Let us conclude
with this remark: there is but one hôtel of the Place-Royale which has
remained in the same family from 1612 till our own day, namely, the hôtel
which bears the No. 25, and which, from father to son, has come down to
its present proprietor, M. the Count de l’Escalopier.
[253] It is d’Ormesson who gives this date.
[254] D’Ormesson, manuscript on the Regency, whose author seems to be one
Maupassant.
[255] La Rochefoucauld.
[256] Fol. 28, verso.
[257] D’Ormesson.
[258] D’Ormesson, Maupassant, and La Rochefoucauld.
[259] D’Ormesson.
[260] D’Ormesson; Maupassant says in the right side.
[261] D’Ormesson, Maupassant, La Rochefoucauld, Motteville.
[262] Maupassant says that the Duke de Guise and Coligny appeared before
the court and justified themselves, the Duke de Guise with the greatest
success and Coligny with very bad grace; but D’Ormesson, so well informed
in regard to all that was going on in the Council of State and in the
Parliament, says not a word of the matter—and nothing is more improbable,
Coligny having immediately fallen into a desperate condition.
[263] La Rochefoucauld says that Coligny died four or five months
after: it should be four or five days. In fact, we find in the journal
of Olivier d’Ormesson, fol. 29, as follows: “Tuesday, December 29, the
Marquis de Pardaillan came to see me, and told me that M. de Coligny
was at Saint-Maur, and was likely to die of gangrene of his arm.” ...
“Wednesday, December 30 (D’Ormesson has, through mistake, made it
January), M. de Coligny was beyond hope, his wound making neither flesh
nor matter, on account of his naturally bad constitution. M. the Duke
d’Enghien had resolved to have his arm taken off.”
[264] Mademoiselle, _Mémoires_, vol. i., p. 74.
[265] Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 201.
[266] It is also in Madame de Motteville, vol. i., p. 201.
[267] Library of the Arsenal, small in-4ᵒ, lettered on the back, _Fr.
Jurisprudence_, 19 (B). “It contains: 1st, Proposals for the reform of
Abbeys and Priories; 2d, Fable of the Lion and of the Fox; 3d, Story
of M. de Coligny and of Madame de Longueville.”—National Library,
_Mélanges_, vol. cclxi., in-12ᵒ, comprising a collection of songs,
letters of Madame de Courcelles, pretended letters of different ladies
to Fouquet, and in the midst the history of Agésilan and Isménie. In
comparing the two manuscripts, we find but little difference between them.
[268] The word _now_ shows that the novel was composed before the death
of Gassion, who was slain before Lens in 1647.
[269] Madame de Motteville, vol. iv., p. 42.
[270] Madame de Motteville, vol. i., pp. 174-197.
[271] _Mémoires_ de La Rochefoucauld, Coll. Petitot, vol. li., p. 393.
[272] Napoleon was twenty-six years of age at the time of his first
battle, that of Montenotte, and thirty, at the time of that of Marengo.
Condé was not quite twenty-two years of age at Rocroy, and he was
twenty-seven at Lens.
[273] General Bonaparte entered Italy in 1796, with 30,000 men under
arms. He had at most from 15,000 to 20,000 at Montenotte; 20,000 at
Castiglione; 13,000 only at Arcola; 16,000, at most, at Rivoli. It is
true that at Marengo he had 28,000; but, for conception and execution,
who would compare Marengo with Arcola and Rivoli? These were the most
scientific and boldest campaigns of Italy, the most resembling those of
Rocroy and of Fribourg.
[274] General Bonaparte had no adversaries like Mercy. Beaulieu,
apparently thinking himself too strong, had so scattered his troops,
that at Montenotte he fought with but half of his army. Wurmser, at
Castiglione, committed the same error. D’Alvinzy was superior to them,
and at Arcola and at Rivoli he yielded only to the unexpected grandeur
of the manœuvres of the French general. Melas fought well at Marengo, as
did also General Bonaparte, but neither of them performed any remarkable
manœuvre; and this battle would have been lost but for the arrival of
Desaix, as Waterloo was lost because Grouchy was not Desaix.
[275] I know nothing more noble than the dispatches of Condé, announcing
his different victories. He says very little in them of himself, and much
of others. During his retirement at Chantilly, his friends urged him to
write his military memoirs; he refused, saying that he would be obliged
to blame sometimes estimable generals, and to speak well of himself.
Never was any one less a charlatan. In this respect, Turenne resembled
Condé. What injures somewhat in my estimation the memoirs of Napoleon,
is that ardent and continual self-preoccupation, which sees himself
only everywhere, refers every thing to himself, confesses no fault,
enlarges the least actions, praises none but mediocre men, depreciates
eminent merit, treats Moreau and Kleber as he would have done some of his
marshals, and prepares for himself everywhere a pedestal. But we must not
forget that Napoleon was writing in exile and in misfortune, and that he
was reduced to defend his own glory. See in Lenet, edit. Michaud, several
letters of Condé to Mazarin, after Fribourg, after Lerida, after the
taking of Ipres and the retaking of Furnes, especially after the battle
of Lens. In giving an account of this affair, the secretary of the prince
had written: _our victory_. Condé effaced the last word, and substituted
_combat_. (Unpublished part of Memoirs of Lenet, pp. 499-515.)
[276] See chapter iii.
[277] It was at the attack of the lines of Fribourg that he threw into
the enemy’s intrenchments his baton of command, indicating thereby his
resolution to conquer or perish.
[278] Napoleon’s manœuvre of quitting Verona, in order to go around
Caldiero, whom he could not attack in front, and to surprise Alvinzy in
the marshes, where valor could make up for numbers, has been, and cannot
be too much praised. There was prudence and audacity in it. General
Bonaparte, knowing that he would be lost if he did not pass the bridge
of Arcola, allowed the destruction of his best lieutenants, and barely
escaped death himself. On this occasion, he showed himself great by the
genius which conceives and by the heroism which executes; and he showed
himself the equal of the Alexanders and Condés.
[279] _Mémoires_, vol. v., p. 20.
[280] This is the same Arnauld from whom we have so many pretty verses
in the style of Voiture, and on account of whose absence Madame de
Rambouillet regrets that she cannot reply to Godeau. See chap. ii.
[281] Allow me to repeat here that Mercy, whom the Spaniards created
Count de Fuentes, and Fontaine, were two French gentlemen, one of
Lorraine, the other of Burgundy.
[282] See close of chap. ii.
[283] In Italy, Napoleon never undertook a siege properly so called.
[284] The Prince de Condé has left a name in the science of
fortification. He studied while at Bourges under the engineer Sarrazin,
who rendered Montrond a very difficult place to be taken. When he went to
Burgundy, he paid great attention to this part of the military art. There
is preserved in the depot of fortifications an atlas of the strongholds
of Burgundy, drawn by the hand of Condé: _Plan of the capital cities
and frontiers of the Duchy of Burgundy, Bresse, and Gex, made at Dijon,
January 7, 1640_, with this dedication:
TO MY FATHER.
SIR—This work which I present belongs to you, since all that
is mine is yours. I have never been able to see you in the
command of armies without thinking of war myself; and I could
not believe that my study of fortifications would be agreeable
to you, unless continued. If you deign to think well of these
efforts of my mind and hand, I desire no other approbation of
my labor, as I shall never have any other wish than to live and
die in the obedience and respect due to you from him who is,
sir,
Your very humble and very obedient son and servant,
LOUIS DE BOURBON.
Following this are eleven plans upon vellum of the strongholds of
Burgundy, with remarks.
The great sieges which Condé undertook so successfully, particularly
those of Thionville and of Dunkirk, are the admiration of military men.
After his return to France in 1660, he was continually consulted upon all
projects of fortification, and his name, as well as his opinions, appear
in the official correspondence of the department of war, especially
during 1664, 1670, and 1673, until 1675, when he retired from the
service, and left Vauban to act alone. Fontenelle, in his eulogy of
Sauveur, says, that it was in his frequent visits to Chantilly and in his
conversations with Condé, that Sauveur conceived the idea of his treatise
upon fortification.
[285] _History of the Wars and of the Negotiations which preceded the
Treaty of Westphalia_, vol. iii., in-4ᵒ. To this work we must add the
_Secret Negotiations touching the Peace of Munster and of Osnaburg, or
General Collection of Preliminaries, Instructions, Letters, Memoirs,
concerning these negotiations, from their commencement until their
conclusion, in 1648_, 2 vol., in-fol., Hague, 1725. In vol. xxx. of
the _Mélanges de Clérambault_, in the National Library, may be found
a summary of all the correspondence of the French cabinet and of the
embassy. We give a few extracts:
Year 1645.—June 3, Mazarin to M. de Longueville, complimenting him upon
the interesting condition of his wife, and urging him to hasten his
departure for Munster. Scarcely arrived, M. de Longueville writes to
Mazarin, July 2, telling him that he has reconciled d’Avaux and Servien.
Year 1646.—June 22, Mazarin announces to M. de Longueville the departure
of Madame de Longueville. July 24, M. de Longueville notifies Mazarin
that he is going to meet Madame de Longueville. October 23, M. de
Longueville thanks Mazarin for promising him the office of General of the
Swiss.
Year 1647.—January 16, Mazarin to M. de Longueville: The king sends to
him a gentleman, as well as to Madame de Longueville, announcing the
death of M. the Prince. March 15, Mazarin to M. de Longueville, informing
him that he cannot have the office of General of the Swiss, and offering
him in lieu thereof the Château de Caen. March 25, M. de Longueville to
the queen, in regard to the office of General of the Swiss. _Idem_, to
Mazarin on the same subject. Dissatisfaction of M. de Longueville; he
asks for his discharge; it is granted to him. May 17, M. de Longueville
thanks Mazarin for the discharge which he has procured for him; he will
not leave until the proper time. June 22, Mazarin complains to M. de
Longueville of his last letter, in which he is charged with not desiring
peace; he claims the contrary, and shows his resentment of the manner in
which the Spaniards have acted. “France wishes peace, and will make it
glorious.” July 1, M. de Longueville assures his Eminence that his letter
is far from bearing the interpretation which he has placed upon it; that
he does not know him, which compels him to desire leave to return to
France. Same day, d’Avaux writes to Mazarin that he had no part in the
letter of M. de Longueville. July 13, Mazarin to M. de Longueville: he
is very glad that the intention of his letter is such as he claims; he
desires nothing in the world more ardently than peace, and wishes that
Pegnaranda (the Spanish ambassador) would leave Munster, that he might
have an opportunity to take a trip to Paris. Same day, Mazarin testifies
to d’Avaux the pleasure which he experiences in having an understanding
with his friends. Same day, important dispatch from Mazarin to Servien,
in which he discovers all his thoughts: Treaty with Germany, or, at
least, a grant of a truce in the Low Countries. “If nothing was to be
done in Flanders and in Germany, war could be easily carried on in Spain
and in Italy.” July 22, M. de Longueville to Mazarin: The Swedes cannot
be satisfied without giving them positive assurances of the establishment
of Lutheranism. The Protestants propose to conclude without France.
The departure of the Count de Trautmansdorf (imperial ambassador) with
liberty to retire, of which he will avail himself as soon as possible.
July 29, Mazarin begs M. de Longueville to defer his departure. August 9,
Mazarin to M. de Longueville: How to treat with the Swedes. A gentleman
of M. de Vandosme, carrying letters to the archduke, was arrested and
conducted to Nancy. The Spaniards are far from peace. The King of Spain
changes his manner of acting with the emperor. Trautmansdorf might have
concluded something advantageous for Sweden at the expense of France.
August 19, M. de Longueville to Mazarin: The Neapolitans have driven
off the Spaniards. Pegnaranda will do nothing until the close of the
campaign. He will take this time to visit his Eminence. August 30,
Mazarin expresses to M. de Longueville some apprehensions as to the
design of his journey. August 30, confidential letter from Lyonne to
Servien: he begs him to discover the cabals that M. d’Avaux has made
against his Eminence. Orders are given to M. de Turenne to abolish
the name of Weimarians. The conclusion of peace must not be deferred
on account of the absence of M. de Longueville. M. d’Avaux seeks the
protection of M. the Prince and of M. the Duke d’Orleans. September 6,
Mazarin to M. de Longueville: Good effects apparently produced by the
delay of his journey. September 16, M. de Longueville complains of the
delay of business; he recommends to Mazarin the Marshal de La Mothe
(who has just been arrested). October 7, renewed solicitations of M.
de Longueville in behalf of the Marshal de La Mothe. October 15, M. de
Longueville to Mazarin: He fears that the Hollanders may conclude their
treaty without France. The enemies have received, with singular joy,
the news of the death of M. de Gassion (killed at Lens). October 18,
Mazarin informs M. de Longueville of the promotion of seven cardinals,
among whom is his brother, the Cardinal de Sainte-Cecile. October 29, M.
de Longueville recommends the Prince de Conti for the siege of Trèves
or of Liége. November 1, Mazarin informs M. de Longueville that all
their dispatches have fallen into the hands of the Spaniards. November
8, Mazarin imparts to M. de Longueville a proposition of marriage from
the emperor with Mademoiselle. (See the _Memoirs_ of Mademoiselle; also
chapter i. of this work.) December 22, Mazarin to M. de Longueville: The
Spaniards do not desire peace. Try to have it proclaimed that if peace is
not established, it is Spain that has prevented it.
Year 1648.—January 6, M. de Longueville to Mazarin: It was the fault of
the Imperialists and the Spaniards alone that peace was not concluded;
all the others desired it. January 16, M. de Longueville is not of the
opinion that Nancy should be given up without demolishing it. January
17, Mazarin imparts to M. de Longueville a proposition of marriage
between his daughter, Mademoiselle de Longueville, and the Duke de
Mantua. January 28, Confidential letter from Lyonne to Servien: There
is much dissatisfaction with M. d’Avaux; he would have been recalled if
he had not engaged M. de Longueville in his opinion. February 3, M. de
Longueville announces his departure. February 23, having arrived at Trie,
he writes to Mazarin a letter of compliments. March 23, d’Avaux, being
found too favorable to M. de Lorraine, and too eager to make peace at
any price, prepares to depart. April 27, Mazarin informs Servien that he
is named minister, and charged with completing the negotiations. In the
correspondence of July, frequent mention is made of the troubles of the
parliament. Mazarin begs Servien to manage something in Alsace for M.
de Turenne, in order to secure him. August 14, Servien gives to Mazarin
the reasons for not pressing the treaty with Spain. August 21, dispatch
of Mazarin: M. the Prince has just gained a battle against the archduke.
France nevertheless wishes peace. If the Spaniards wish it, they will
conclude it upon the proposed conditions; if not, it will be of no
service to relax. September 17, he invites Servien to urge the peace with
Germany, on account of the troubles.
[286] See preceding chapter.
[287] The Treaty of Munster secured to France the sovereignty of the
three bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, of which it had been for a
long time possessed; the sovereignty of Pignerol, which gave it the entry
of Italy; the sovereignty of all Alsace, upper and lower, with that of
Brissac and of Landau; in short, the right of garrison in the fortress of
Philipsbourg.
[288] _Gazette_ of May 6, 1645. Died, April 30, about 2 o’clock in the
morning, at the hôtel de Longueville, the Countess de Dunois, daughter,
by the second marriage, of the Duke de Longueville, aged fourteen
months. All the court having testified much regret at the death of
this young princess, whose body, having been embalmed and placed in a
lead coffin, was carried, on the second of this month (of May), to the
great convent of the Carmelites, where the Duchess de Longueville, her
mother, wished it to be interred near the tomb of the Mother Madeleine
de Saint-Joseph; the pages and valets of the Duke and Duchess de
Longueville, each with a flambeau of white wax, surrounding the hearse,
followed by great numbers of others. It was presented at the door of the
church, laid out upon white serge, with two breadths of white satin,
charged with the scutcheons of Bourbon and Longueville, by the curate
of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois to the Bishop d’Utique, coadjutor of
Montauban, assisted by several ecclesiastics and fathers of the Oratoire
de Saint-Magloire, who received it in the name of this monastery; and,
having placed it under a canopy of silver-cloth ornamented with the same
armorial bearings, covered with a pall of the same stuff bordered with
ermine, and with a ducal crown of gold covered with a veil of gauze,
after the usual benedictions and incensing, the nuns, to the number of
sixty, came in a procession to the door of the monastery to receive the
body, which was carried to the grave made in the cloister, and buried
by the same bishop, with the ceremonies of the order of the Carmelites,
whose garb this little princess wore.
[289] _Mémoires_, vol. i., p. 182.
[290] We shall limit ourselves to citing the following: _Histoire de la
prison et de la liberté de M. le Prince_, 1651.—_Recueil des Maximes
veritables pour l’Institution du Roi contre la pernicieuse politique du
Cardinal Mazarin_, 1652, burned by the hand of the executioner,—_Statuts
et Reglements des petits icoles de grammaire de la ville de Paris_,
1672,—_Traité historique des Ecoles Episcopales_, 1678.—_Voyage fait à
Munster en Westphalie et autres lieux voisins_, 1670.
[291] See chapter ii.
[292] _Les Epistres en vers et autres œuvres poétiques de M.
de Bois-Robert Metel, Conseiller d’Estat ordinaire, abbé de
Châtillon-sur-Seine_, Paris, 1659, in-8ᵒ, p. 11: _To Monsieur Esprit: he
entertains him with the beauties of Madame the Duchess de Longueville,
and with the favorable reception which he received from her on his
departure._
[293] _Letters and Mémoires of M. de Turenne_, by Grimoard, in-fol.,
1782, vol. i., 1646, July 20: “My dear Sister—I wrote to you from the
vicinity of Cologne, four or five days since, and yesterday passed the
Rhine to Wesel. Madame de Longueville arrived the same day, and intends
visiting the army to-day. From this place we shall travel with her a day
or two. I confess to you that nothing in the world is more astonishing.
M. de Longueville has come to meet her at Wesel. She is not at all
changed, nor is Mademoiselle de Longueville....”
[294] From the 21st of August to the 12th of September. See the _Voyage_
of Claude Joly.
[295] Library of the Arsenal, Manuscripts of Conrart, in-4ᵒ, vol. x.
[296] D’Avaux, born in 1595, was fifty-two years old in 1647.
[297] Jean Adler Salvius, one of the Swedish plenipotentiaries; Jean
Vulteius, one of the envoys of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; Jacques
Lampadius, envoy of the Duke de Lunebürg Grubenhagen. See Father Bougeant.
[298] In default of the subject and of the date, choice may be made
between the different letters written by Voiture to the Duke d’Enghien,
about this period, and which will be found in the works of Voiture, vol.
ii., of the edition of 1745.
[299] Voiture, vol. i., pp. 368, 369, 371, 374.
[300] In-folio, Rotterdam, 1697. This portrait has been reduced and
engraved anew by Odieuvre.
[301] Madame de Longueville seems in this somewhat fatigued. She was at
this time in a delicate situation.
[302] Villefore, part 1st, p. 75.
[303] There are three very good portraits in-fol. by Daret, by Rousselet,
and by M. de Lasne, all of this year, 1647. In all of them, Armand
de Bourbon has a fine face, and already shows the marks of some high
ecclesiastical dignitary. Daret supports his medallion by little
angels, who are playing with the hat of the future cardinal—a charming
composition, after the design of Lesueur. In Rousselet, Fame bears the
medallion of the young prince, Religion presents him with a mitre, War
carries a suit of armor, Politics a crown, and Philosophy the sun of
intelligence and the mysterious serpent. This was truly the image of the
uncertain destiny of the Prince de Conti.
[304] Madame de Motteville, vol. ii., p. 17.
[305] _Les Devoirs des grands, par Monseigneur le Prince de Conti, avec
son Testament_, Paris, 1667.—_Traité de la Comédie et des Spectacles
selon la tradition de l’Eglise_, 1667.—_Lettres du Prince de Conti, ou
l’accord du libre-arbitre avec la grace de Jésus-Christ_, Cologne, 1689.
[306] _Mémoires_, vol. ii., pp. 14-20.
[307] _Mémoires de Littérature_, vol. i., pp. 116-184.
[308] _Œuvres de Benserade_, 1697, vol. i., p. 174.
[309] _Œuvres de Balzac_, in-folio, vol. ii., pp. 580-594.
[310] _Œuvres diverses_, edit. de 1740, Amsterdam, pp. 162-165.
[311] _Les Œuvres galantes de Madame la Comtesse de B., imprimé à Leyde
et se vend à Paris_, in-18ᵒ, 1666.
[312] _Œuvres galantes_, etc., p. 17.
[313] This letter is printed among those of Madame de Brégy, with many
little errors, which we correct without indicating them.
[314] _Œuvres de Benserade_, vol. i., p. 97, and _Œuvres de Madame de
Brégy_, p. 98.
[315] The last line of each of the couplets of this commentary recalls
successively and in their order the lines of the sonnet of Benserade. It
is not in the works of Sarrazin of 1654, nor in his _Œuvres Nouvelles_;
it will be found in the 1st vol. of Benserade, p. 175.
[316] During his youth, Madame de Longueville paid much attention to
Esprit, in order, probably, to please Madame de Sablé, his avowed
protectress. She took him with her to Munster. Here she testified for him
the greatest regard. In an unpublished letter, of October 13, 1646, she
recommends him to Mazarin for a benefice. Mazarin does not seem to have
been much pleased with him. He writes to Servien, March 22, 1647, with
seeming discontent, that Esprit solicits from Munster “to be of the house
of Monsieur.” Mélanges de Clérambault, vol. cxxx.
[317] Library of the Arsenal, Manuscripts of Conrart, in-4ᵒ, vol. ii., p.
13.
[318] The final opinion of the Prince de Conti.
[319] We have no knowledge of the Abbé de Croisy. We are inclined to
believe that the copy of Conrart is here defective; and we propose to
read the Abbé de Cerisy, Habert, of the French Academy—a wit then of some
reputation, and author of works now forgotten; among others, _Poésies
Chrétiennes et diverses_, dedicated to the Prince de Conti. He died in
1654, at the age of forty-four years.
[320] This allusion to the assemblies of the nobility fixes the date
of this letter, placing it more than a year after the epoch with which
we are occupied, that is, at the close of 1649, when the nobility rose
against the new brevets. But, although written at the close of 1649, this
little affair shows faithfully the manner in which Madame de Longueville
passed her life in 1648. It is surprising that, in the great collection
of pieces relating to the two sonnets (Mélanges de Littérature, etc.),
not a single date is given. Our conjecture in regard to the letter of
Esprit, is confirmed by the following note, found in vol. xi., in-fol.,
of the papers of Conrart, p. 1118 “In the month of December, 1649,
all the court was divided in regard to the two sonnets of Voiture and
Benserade. Every one took sides and declared in favor of him who was most
admired. Of the two parties formed upon this subject, those of the first
were called _Uranias_, and Madame de Longueville was their chief; those
of the second were called _Jobelins_, and M. the Prince de Conti was at
their head. M. the Prince (Condé) being urged to say of which he would
be, would never explain himself otherwise than by declaring both to be
very fine.”
[321] Collection Petitot, vol. li., p. 353.
[322] Collection Petitot, vol. li., p. 393.
[323] Collection Petitot, vol. li., p. 455.
[324] _Mémoires_, p. 18, etc.
[325] _Mémoires_, vol. ii., p. 15.
[326] _Mémoires_, vol. i, p. 219.
[327] Condé gained the battle of Senef, in 1674, with 45,000 men against
65,000, commanded by the Prince of Orange. Had it not been for the
cowardice of the Swiss infantry, who refused to fight, he would have
destroyed the entire army of the enemy.
[328] _Mémoires_, p. 19, etc. Villefore has followed Madame de Nemours.
[329] History of Turenne, by Ramsay, vol. ii., _Mémoires_ de Turenne, p.
lix., and the letters of Queen Anne, _Preuves_, p. viii., etc.
[330] Philippe de La Mothe Houdancourt, Duke de Cardonne, Viceroy of
Catalonia, the husband of the beautiful De Toussy, who, upon strong
suspicions, was arrested in 1647, and for whom M. de Longueville
interceded from Munster.
[331] Father Lelong speaks of this portrait, by Poilly, in-fol.; we have
sought for it in vain. It is probable that Father Lelong has referred to
Madame de Longueville the fine portrait by Nicolas Poilly, the more or
less authentic inscription of which is: _Mademoiselle de Montpensier_,
with the equivocal arms, at once of the Orleans and of the Condés. We
think, however, that it is Mademoiselle much embellished.
[332] The war movement of Paris, in this first Fronde, is well depicted
in these couplets of an unpublished song of the _Recueil de Maurepas_,
vol. ii., p. 43: _Blocus de Paris pendant le Carnaval de 1649_:
“Que vous nous causez de tourment,
Facheux Parlement!
Que vos arrests
Sont ennemis de tous nos interests!
Le carnaval a perdu tous ses charmes;
Tout est en armes,
Et les amours
Sont effrayés par le bruit des tambours.
La guerre va chasser l’amour,
Ainsi que la cour;
Et dans Paris
La peur bannit et les jeux et les ris.
Adieu le bal, adieu les promenades,
Les sérénades
Car les amours
Sont effrayés par le bruit des tambours.
Mars est un fort mauvais galant,
Il est insolent,
Et la beauté
Perd tous ses traits auprès de sa fierté.
L’on ne peut pas accorder les trompettes
Et les fleurettes;
Car les amours
Sont effrayés par le bruit des tambours.
...
L’on ne voit plus d’esprit sensé;
Tout est renversé.
Le sénateur
Tranche à présent du grand gladiateur.
Lee échevins ont quitté la police
Pour la milice,
Et le bourgeois
Croit avoir droit de réformer les loix.
Place Royale, où tant d’amans
Contoient leurs tourments,
Ou leur destin
Étoit souvent flatté par Constantin;
Tu n’entends plus, au lieu de tant d’aubades,
Que mousquetades,
Et les amours
Pour leurs jouëts n’ont plus que des tambours.”
[333] _Le premier Courrier Français traduit fidèlement en vers
burlesques_, 1649, p. 11.
“... Ce seigneur prudent et sage (M. de Longueville)
Donne see enfans en ostage
Avec Madame leur maman,
Qui n’est superbe comme un paon,
Mais dont l’humeur douce et courtoise
Cause avec la moindre bourgeoise.”
[334] Eléonore-Catherine-Fébronie de Bergues, whose merit equalled her
beauty: she married in 1634, and died in 1657.
[335] Vol. 1st, p. 221.
[336] _Le quatrième Courrier_, etc., p. 3:
Né, dis-je, dans l’Hôtel de Ville,
Il fut à Saint-Jean baptisé
Et ce jour christianisé.
...
Or, cette duchesse (de Bouillon) et la ville
Tinrent le jeune Longueville,
Et le nommèrent Carolus
De Paris, et s’il en faut plus,
D’Orléans; s’il en faut encore,
Comte de Saint-Paul, que j’honore,
Pour la ville étant le Feron (Prévôt des marchands).
[337] Charles de Paris, Count de Saint-Paul, was at first destined for
the Church. There is a charming portrait of him, by Nanteuil, after
Ferdinand, which represents him, at the age of eleven years, in 1660,
with an abbé’s cross, and this inscription upon the border: _Messire
Charles Paris d’Orléans, Count de Saint-Paul, Abbé de St.-Remi de Reims_,
etc. It is impossible to find a more graceful creature.
[338] Notwithstanding her sacrifices, democratic suspicions did not
spare her. The _Recueil de Maurepas_, vol. ii, p. 417, contains a song
under this title: _Les Honni soit-il de ce temps-ci_, in which Madame de
Longueville has also her couplet:
“Servir pour ostage à la ville,
Croire son conseil très-utile,
Tandis que son mari nous vend;
Tous les jours estre à l’audience
Et ne résoudre que du vent,
Honni soit-il qui mal y pense!”
Another couplet from a Mazarin song, same volume, p. 255:
“Si l’amour de Marsillac
Fait durer ce miquemac,
De longtemps la paix n’est faite,
Et bientôt cette amourette
Nous mettra tous au bissac.”
The collection of historical songs of the Arsenal, have a few other
pieces more difficult to cite.
[339] See chapter ii., versos of Condé on the Count de Maure.
[340] Retz, vol. 1st, p. 247: “The President de Mesmes, a man of
capacity, uncle of him whom you now see....” This certainly means Henri
de Mesmes, second of the name, eldest son of Jean Jacques de Mesmes,
M. de Roissy, brother of Claude de Mesmes, M. d’Avaux, the skilful
diplomatist of whom we have before spoken, brother also of Jean Antoine
de Mesmes, whose eldest son was Jean Jacques de Mesmes, third of the
name, successively counsellor to the parliament, president, grand-master
of ceremonies, one of the forty of the French Academy, who died in
1678. His uncle, Henri de Mesmes, here spoken of, was president of
the parliament from 1627 until his death, in 1650. We have excellent
portraits of these four De Mesmes.
[341] He was thirty-nine years of age, and left but one son, born after
the death of his father, and taken off quite young in 1650. The following
is the manner in which _Le Courrier François_ relates, in its fifth
number, the death of Châtillon:
“...Navarre, brave régiment,
Lascha le pied vilainement.
Le Prince, adverti de l’escarre
Que le canon fait sur Navarre,
Pensa crever dans son pourpoint,
Mais pourtant il ne creva point
Dans l’esperance de combattre
Le bourgeois qu’on tenoit à quatre,
Qui comme un diable juroit Dieu
Qu’il vouloit secourir ce lieu;
Il dit de Condé peste et rage.
Mais le Prince à son advantage
Attendoit messieurs de Paris,
Comme le chat fait la souris.
Assuré sur son éminence,
Il avoit grande impatience
De taster le pouls au bourgeois
Qui ne sortit pas cette fois.
Il est prudent et craint la touche,
Joint qu’il n’aime pas la cartouche
Dont si fit son canon charger.
Paris n’en voulant point ronger,
Le Prince qui faisoit fanfare
Commit pour soutenir Navarre
Chastillon avec du renfort;
Mais il l’envoyoit à la mort,
Car aussitôt au bas du ventre
Une balle de mousquet entre
Sans respecter ce duc nouveau,
Jeune, vaillant, adroit et beau,
...
Aussi ne put pas s’empescher
Condé de lui donner des larmes
Et trahir le dieu des alarmes,
Ennemi de dame pitié;
Mais ce furent pleurs d’amitié
A cause de leur parentage...”
The collections of Mazarinades for the year 1649, contain an _Agreeable
and true narrative of what happened before the taking of the king in the
city of Paris_, where the author puts in the mouth of the dying Châtillon
a discourse against Mazarin. We have again: 1st, The Regrets of Madame de
Chastillon on the death of her dear husband; 2d, The Adieux made by M. de
Chastillon, before dying, to his mother and his wife; 3d, The Apparition
of the spirit of M. de Chastillon to the Prince de Condé, etc.
[342] See Madame de Motteville, vol. iii., p. 215. She confirmed the
declaration of February of the same year, and those of May and of
October, 1648.
[343] Vol. iii., p. 232, etc.
[344] Vol. iii., p. 263.
[345] Vol. iii., p. 209.
[346] Portrait of La Rochefoucauld in Retz. Vol. i., p. 217.
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