Chapter IV: 1644 to 1649 (4)

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._