Part 35

[311] Those who made their fortune by gambling were, according to the “Keys,” Courcillon, Marquis de Dangeau, who left behind him a very valuable _Journal_ of the sayings and doings of the court of Louis XIV., which has often been printed; but he did not owe his success in life to gambling alone; and Morin, already mentioned, page 155, note 1.

[312] All the “Keys” give as the model of a perfect gambler a certain Louis Robert, Seigneur de Fortille, who made his fortune as _intendant_ of different army-corps, and lost almost everything he possessed; but as the passion for gambling was very common, and as the king was the first to give the example of it, ruined gamblers were to be found in plenty. Cheating at play was also not rare.

[313] Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, after the death of her husband Odenathus, waged war for five years against the Romans, and was vanquished by Aurelian in the year 273.

[314] _Ouvrier_, in the original, is sometimes used by our author for “artist.”

[315] Phidias (490-432 B.C.) was a Greek sculptor of renown; Zeuxis (424-400 B.C.), a Greek painter, who is said to have painted grapes so well that some birds came and pecked at them.

[316] The “herdsman” alluded to in the above paragraph seems to have been the financier La Touanne, _trésorier de lʼextraordinaire des guerres_. He had a mansion near the park of Saint Maur, part of an estate formerly belonging to Catherine de Medici (Zenobia), on which he spent enormous sums, whilst the other part belonged to the Prince de Condé, who in vain tried to induce the parvenu to sell him his property. Hence the attack of our author on the man who dared to oppose the wishes of his noble patron. However, when this paragraph appeared, La Touanne did not yet live at Saint Maur.

[317] According to the commentators, this refers to Jacques Bordier, _intendant des finances_, who, after having spent more than a million on his estate at Raincy, was obliged to leave it; but his creditors did not expel him, for it was sold by his heirs after his death.

[318] The Marquis de Seignelay is supposed by some to have been the original of Eumolpus; he did not, however, enjoy a long life. (See page 149, note ?)

[319] _Libertin_, in the original, which first meant a man of free-and-easy manners, came to be chiefly used in the second half of the seventeenth century for a “freethinker.”

[320] _Superstitieux_ sometimes had the above meaning; Littré gives two examples of it in his dictionary.

[321] Giton and Phædo do not apply to any one in particular, though some commentators maintain that by the first the Marquis de Barbézieux, the son of Louvois, was meant.

[322] Now we speak of town and country, but in La Bruyèreʼs time people mentioned the town or city and the court, wholly different in customs and manners. Boileau begins his _Satires_ with the two following lines—

“Damon, ce grand auteur dont la muse fertile, Amusa si long-temps et la cour et la ville.”

Our author places his chapter “Of the Town” before that “Of the Court” and “Of the Great,” and leads up to that “Of the Sovereign.”

[323] Le Cours la Reine, familiarly called Le Cours, was a part of the Champs-Elysées, planted with trees by order of Maria de Medici, the wife of Henri IV.; hence the name. The theatre finished then at seven oʼclock, when it was not too late to take a walk in summer-time. See also Molièreʼs _Les Fâcheux_, act i. scene 1.

[324] The favourite and fashionable walk, during the latter part of the seventeenth century, was from Paris to Vincennes.

[325] That bank is now the quays Saint-Bernard and Austerlitz.

[326] Bourdaloue (1632-1704), a celebrated preacher, censures a similar behaviour in his sermon on _Les Divertissements du Monde_.

[327] To the _grande robe_ belonged all magistrates; to the _petite robe_ all _avoués_ and _procureurs_, somewhat like attorneys and solicitors; the _avocats_ or barristers were between the two, and the court of justice or _parlement_ above them all.

[328] The _avocats_ were generally not considered to belong to the _grande robe_, and La Bruyère was one of them; the latter part of the paragraph is a direct attack on the sale of legal offices.

[329] This applies, according to the “Keys,” to a certain M. de la Briffe, a _maître des requêtes_, or to M. de Saint-Pouange. (See page 134, note 3.)

[330] Two celebrated barristers of La Bruyèreʼs time.

[331] J. H. de Mesmes, who became _président à mortier_ in 1688, when he was only twenty-seven years old, is said to have been a constant companion of profligate young noblemen. A _mortier_ was a round velvet cap, worn by the Chancellor and Presidents of parliaments.

[332] See page 165, note 1.

[333] The original has _et qui a consigné_, a meaning which we have still in the English word “consignment.” The explanation of this word is given by the author himself.

[334] An allusion to the three fleurs de lis of the Bourbons.

[335] _Litre_, in the original, is a kind of mourning hangings, or, rather, a broad velvet band on which the coats of arms of certain nobles were painted, and which was placed around the church, inside as well as outside. The right of using the _litre_ belonged only to noblemen who had founded a church, or to those who had exercised a certain jurisdiction in their domains.

[336] The commentators hint at several magistrates as the originals of the Crispins, and imagine that the Sannions were the family of Leclerc de Lesseville, the descendants of rich tanners, who became ennobled for having lent 20,000 crowns to Henry IV. after the battle of Ivry.

[337] This “other man” was a certain President de Coigneux, who neglected his legal duties to spend all his time in sport.

[338] _Laisse-courre_ in French; formerly _courre_ was used instead of _courir_, as a sporting term.

[339] A. M. Jérôme de Nouveau, the head of the post-office, is said to have asked his head huntsman a similar question.

[340] Hippolytus, son of Theseus, king of Athens, “a youth who never knew a woman,” thrown from his chariot and killed, is the hero of Racineʼs tragedy _Phèdre_.

[341] The Ile meant nearly always the Ile Saint-Louis; the Quartier du Temple, formerly the _Marais_, is even sometimes now called by that name.

[342] The commentators have given the names of several obscure people for those “infatuated men,” and for André as well; but it is surely not a rare thing for men to ruin themselves through vanity.

[343] The Abbé de Villars, who died in 1691, was a son of the Marquis de Villars, French ambassador to the Court of Spain, and is said to have been the original of Narcissus.

[344] The Convent of the Feuillants, a branch of the Cistercian monks, was in the Rue Saint-Honoré; that of the Minims, an order founded by St. Francis of Paula in 1453, was near the Place Royale.

[345] Ombre, a Spanish game of cards, often mentioned by English authors of the eighteenth century; Pope has a poetical description of it in his “Rape of the Lock.” Reversis is another game of cards, played by four persons, and in which those who make the fewest tricks win the game.

[346] A golden pistole was usually worth eleven _livres_.

[347] The _Gazette de Hollande_ was a newspaper published in Holland, and in which everything was put that could not be printed or said in France. For the _Mercure Galant_, see page 24, note 2.

[348] Cyrano de Bergerac (1620-1655) was the author of the _Histoires Comiques des Etats et Empires de la Lune, etc._, of a tragedy, _Agrippine_, and of a comedy, _Le Pédant Joué_, from which Molière borrowed two scenes.

[349] Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin (1596-1676), an author of various plays, novels, and poems, and one of the first in France to attack the authority of the ancients.

[350] Louis de Lesclache (1620-1661), a grammarian and a writer on philosophy.

[351] Barbin, a well-known publisher at the time our author wrote.

[352] The Plaine was probably the Plaine des Sablons; for the Cours, see page 164, note 2.

[353] The “Keys” are unanimous in saying that the Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who had married a sister of the Maréchal de Luxembourg, and who died at the Hague in 1692, is meant by “this man.”

[354] This was the boulevard of the Porte Saint-Antoine, sometimes called the Nouveau Cours, on the road to Vincennes.

[355] A large garden in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine was called thus, after a financier of the same name who had laid it out.

[356] A sort of mock tilting-match on horseback.

[357] The alliance between France and Switzerland was always solemnly sworn, and this was done for the last time in 1663 in Notre-Dame.

[358] Every year under Louis XIV.ʼs reign there were published large engravings, in which the king, the princes, and the principal persons of the court were represented, whilst lower down the citizens, the people, etc., were looking on, and the real almanack was pasted quite at the bottom.

[359] Saint Hubert was the patron saint of the chase, and on the 5th of November, when his festival was held, the king and the greatest personages of the court hunted at Versailles.

[360] Two small places near Versailles where often soldiers encamped and reviews were held.

[361] Bernardi was the director of a celebrated gymnasium at that time, and every year his pupils attacked and defended an artificial fort, erected by his orders.

[362] The Marquis de Chamlay was a noted tactician; Jacquier had been the head of the commissariate, and died in 1684; and Berbier du Metz, lieutenant-general of the artillery, was killed at the battle of Fleuras in 1690.

[363] Beaumavielle, a celebrated basso-singer at the opera, died about 1688.

[364] Marthe de Rochois sang at the opera from 1678 till 1697.

[365] The _Annales Galantes_ were published in 1670, and written by Madame de Villedieu; no _Journal Amoureux_ ever saw the light.

[366] _Roland_, an opera by Quinault (see page 28, note 2) and Lulli (see page 25, note 1, and page 46, note), was represented for the first time at Versailles in the beginning of 1685, and Mademoiselle de Rochois played the part of Angelica in it.

[367] See page 65, note 1.

[368] M. de Terrat, the _chancelier_ of Monsieur, the brother of Louis XIV., is hinted at here, probably merely on account of his name.

[369] _Le mortier_, in the original. See page 168, note 3.

[370] La Bruyère employs _le vide de la consignation_. See page 169, note 2.

[371] _Pécunieux_ our author uses in its Latin meaning.

[372] Gilt nails were the principal ornaments of the heavy and unwieldy coaches of the age of Louis XIV.

[373] Some unprincipled suitors borrowed costly jewels which they put in the _trousseau_ of their brides, but which had to be returned after the marriage.

[374] Gaultier was the proprietor of a well-known warehouse for the sale of silks and gold and silver-embroidered stuffs in the Rue des Bourdonnais, in Paris, during the latter part of the seventeenth century.

[375] According to an immemorial custom in Paris, a young wife showily dressed had to sit up on her bed during the first three days after marriage to receive visits. Several memoirs and letters of the time refer to it. Addison in “The Spectator,” No. 45, speaks also of the “English ladies ... brought up the fashion of receiving visits in their beds.”

[376] People were then (1688-1694) in the habit of dining at twelve oʼclock, and of taking supper at seven or eight; hence the reference to the “five hours.”

[377] We do not know if this refers to Swiss porters or Swiss guards; I should think it meant the former, and intends to point out that the lady made three calls. (See also page 134, note 4.)

[378] This paragraph alludes, of course, to the visits ladies pay one another.

[379] _Sou pour livre_, or a penny in the pound, in the original, was a tax on merchandise of a twentieth part of their value.

[380] Wax-candles were a luxury at the time La Bruyère wrote, and chiefly manufactured at Bougiah, on the coast of Africa; hence their name, _bougie_.

[381] In every parliament there were originally two courts, and two kinds of barristers or _conseillers_; one court was called the _grandʼchambre_, where the cases were heard; in the other court, the _chambre des enquêtes_, reports in writing were made of all cases.

[382] The nobleman or lady of high rank to whom the education of the children of royalty was intrusted in France bore the title of _gouverneur_, or _gouvernante des enfants de France_.

[383] Voltaire attacked this paragraph, and maintained it was ridiculous to praise our forefathers for being calculating, slow, coarse, and not very cleanly. Moreover, money should not be stowed away in coffers, but circulate. One of the latest commentators of La Bruyère, M. Destailleur, observes rightly that our author only praises economy, simplicity, and moderation, and not avarice and uncleanliness, and that he merely attacks the pretended showiness of men wishing to imitate people of high rank; hence the last sentence.

[384] Not alone La Bruyère, but many of the most eminent persons of his time, such as Saint-Simon, Bourdaloue, Fénelon, Massillon, Madame de Maintenon, the Duke of Orléans and his mother, had the same opinion of the court and courtiers.

[385] It was only in the sixth edition of the “Characters” that our author printed Versailles in full; until then it was only “V ...”

[386] The French has _fourriers_, _petits contrôleurs_, and _chefs de fruiterie_. The first looked after the lodgings of the persons following the court when the king was travelling; the second superintended the expenses of the kingʼs table and household; and the third set out the dessert and provided the wax-candles for the kingʼs dining-room. A _fourrier_ is still a non-commissioned officer in the French army who has charge of the quarters and provisions of the men.

[387] _Faire son capital_, in the original, a phrase much in vogue during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

[388] This paragraph is said to apply to a certain M. de Barète, unknown to fame, or to the brother of Madame de Maintenon. (See page 65, note 4.)

[389] It was not considered etiquette to knock or to rap at the door of the kingʼs chamber, or at the door of any noblemanʼs room; but a person asking to be admitted simply scratched the door with his nails, whilst the fashionables used their combs, which they always carried about with them to comb their long wigs. Only the princes, the grand officers of the crown, and some favourite nobles were admitted to the grand levée of Louis XIV., then officers of an inferior rank and a certain number of courtiers were allowed to enter the room; the crowd were not admitted, but had to wait till the king left the room, and then stood aside.

[390] This is said to be an allusion to a certain Italian quack, Caretto or Caretti, then the fashion, who is mentioned by Saint-Simon in his _Mémoires_ and by Madame de Sévigné in her _Letters_.

[391] By the Castle is meant Versailles.

[392] This seems a more correct portrait of M. de Langlée than the one to be found in the chapter “Of the Gifts of Fortune,” § 21 (see also page 139, note 6). Saint-Simon, in his _Mémoires_, often mentions him and his mother, who was the queenʼs chamber-maid, and through her influence at court got him introduced amongst the highest of the land. He also speaks of de Langléeʼs successes at play, his intimacy with the king, and the kingʼs mistresses, favourites, and family, his want of intelligence, and his great tact, except in continually using obscene words, and finally his being an _arbiter elegantiarum_. Madame de Sévigné also refers to him and his familiarity.

[393] See p. 135, note 4.

[394] Some commentators think this refers to the Duke de Bouillon, because his name means also “beef-tea,” and because he wished to add to his family name, La Tour, that of dʼAuvergne, but the name was illustrious. A modern commentator, M. Hémardinquer, rightly thinks it might apply to the ministers of Louis XIV., who all were descended from citizens, and took for their titles Marquis de Louvois, de Seignelay, de Barbézieux, Count de Maurepas, de Maillebois, etc., all of which titles might be considered “not pretty” as names.

[395] This points to M. de Clermont-Tonnerre, bishop of Noyon, who always boasted of his lineage, and thought himself a wit because he had been elected a member of the French Academy by the desire of the king.

[396] By the princes of Lorraine are probably meant the Guises, whose family name was de Lorraine; they were, however, princes de Joinville. The Rohans were one of the oldest families in Brittany; the Châtillons, of whom the Admiral de Coligny was one, were related to the Montmorencys, who date from the tenth century, and had been chiefly rendered famous in history by the _connétable_ de Montmorency (1492-1567), the rival of the Duke de Guise.

[397] The _Oriflamme_ was the banner of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, and only brought out by order of the king the moment the battle began.

[398] _Demoiselle_ was originally the appellation given to any married or unmarried lady of noble birth, but in La Bruyèreʼs time it was generally applied to ladies of plebeian origin. In several legal contracts our authorʼs mother is called _demoiselle veuve_.

[399] There was no public lottery in France before the year 1700, but the king often had one drawn, and not seldom gave permission to hospitals and other public institutions also to have them drawn.

[400] The king usually allowed the holders of certain offices to appoint their successors, or to hold such posts conjointly. But they had to pay heavily for such _survivances_, as they were called, to the royal tax-gatherers and to the original holders. (See also page 130, note.)

[401] The original has _tout lʼappartement_. The rooms where the courtiers danced attendance at Versailles were called thus.

[402] Some commentators imagine this refers to the Marshal de Luxembourg, who in 1675 was appointed to succeed the Prince de Condé as commander-in-chief of the army—an appointment which gave general satisfaction—and four years later fell into disgrace and was exiled. The hero who “appears deformed when compared to his portraits,” seems also to refer to the Marshal, who was humpbacked. However, many other and earlier authors have made similar remarks about favourites of fortune fallen from their high estate.

[403] There were three persons named Rousseau, well known to the courtiers: an innkeeper near the Porte Saint-Denis, the doorkeeper of the Kingʼs chamber, and the fencing-master of the young royal princes. Fabry was a man who was “burned at the stake for his infamous vices about twenty years ago,” says La Bruyère; and La Couture, the tailor of the Dauphine, had become insane, and was always about the court.

[404] See page 43, note 2.

[405] The “Keys” pretend that Artemon is the Marquis de Vardes, who, after having been in exile for twenty years, intrigued to be appointed governor of the youthful Duke of Burgundy, and died in 1688, before he was successful; about a year afterwards the Duke de Beauvilliers was appointed to the vacant post.

[406] An allusion to the Duke de Beauvilliers, mentioned in the preceding note.

[407] The French Academy, composed of forty members, was established on the 2d of January 1635, and still exists.

[408] It is said that the Minister of State Abel Servien (1598-1639) refused politely, and that Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661) did not know how to give.

[409] P. Corneille, in his comedy _Le Menteur_ (act i. scene 1), says also—

“Tel donne à pleines mains qui nʼoblige personne: La façon de donner vaut mieux que ce quʼon donne.”

[410] Saint-Simon adopts the word _amphibie_ from our author, and names, among others, a certain M. Saint-Romain, who was ambassador at the court of Portugal, and enjoyed the income of two abbeys. Some commentators think this paragraph refers to M. de Villeroy, who was archbishop as well as governor of Lyons, and died in 1693; whilst others suppose it alludes to the Chevalier de Hautefeuille, _grand prieur dʼAquitaine_, and lieutenant-general to boot.

[411] Menophilus is said to be either Father la Chaise (1624-1709), the Jesuit confessor of Louis XIV., or the celebrated Capuchin monk Joseph (1577-1638), the confidant of Cardinal Richelieu. Most likely the portrait was intended for neither.

[412] When our author wrote, it was the fashion for gentlemen and ladies of the best society to be present at public executions. Even Madame de Sévigné went with some ladies of the court to see the poisoners the Marchioness de Brinvilliers and la Voisin executed (1670 and 1680).

[413] This “happy” individual seems to have been a certain M. Boucherat, who after his nomination as _chancelier de France_ became very arrogant.

[414] Some commentators appear to think this refers to M. de Pontchartrain (see page 143, note 3), who had been Secretary of State for more than a year when this paragraph first appeared in 1691; but this Minister was a friend and patron of our author.

[415] There were two kinds of _abbés_. The _abbé régulier_, who was always a priest, wore the habit of his order, not seldom was a high dignitary of the Church, and the _abbé commendataire_, who was a layman, and only enjoyed the revenues of the abbey; in time many a layman, who had no revenues whatever, either from an abbey or from any other source, adopted the semi-clerical dress of an _abbé_ and called himself so.

[416] A bishop wore a golden cross on his breast; cardinals wear purple dresses.

[417] Louis XIV. used on festive occasions to bestow various gifts on his courtiers, as well as abbeys and ecclesiastical appointments on clerical dignitaries.

[418] The “Keys” give the names of several well-known financiers as those “knaves.”

[419] In the original _homme de bien_. (See page 43, note 2.)

[420] Our author imitates some old French writer, or at least employs antiquated words, of which the only one worthy of notice is _saffranier_, stained with saffron, because the houses of bankrupt traders were formerly stained yellow; hence _saffranier_ meant “a bankrupt.”

[421] Another allusion to the disgrace of the Duke de Luxembourg. (See page 195, note 2), which happened from 1679 to 1681.

[422] This new Minister was, according to some, M. Claude le Peletier (see page 54, note 1), appointed _contrôleur-général des finances_ in 1683, and with whom the Duke de Villeroy, afterwards defeated by Marlborough at Ramillies, 1706, claimed relationship, though without any foundation. It seems more likely to have referred to M. de Pontchartrain. (See page 201, note 2.)

[423] Plancus is the Minister for War, Louvois, who died suddenly in 1691, about a year before this paragraph appeared: Tibur stands for Meudon, near Paris. In the ancient Tibur, a town of Latium to the east of Rome, and now called Tivoli, the Latin poet Horace had his country-seat; Plancus, the Consul, was one of his friends.

[424] This is a reference to Psalm cxxxv. 16, 17.

[425] In French _certaines livrées_, certain liveries. Can this be an allusion to the _justaucorps à brevet_, or coats only worn by the Kingʼs permission?

[426] The commentators suppose that a certain Abbé de Choisy (1644-1724) is meant, who passed a great part of his life dressed as a woman.

[427] See page 121, note.

[428] The original has _tout ce qui paraît de nouveau avec les livrées de la faveur_. See also page 205, note 2.

[429] The Italian astronomer T. D. Cassini (1625-1712) was the head of the Parisian _Observatoire_ for astronomical studies.

[430] A parhelion is a mock sun or meteor near the sun, sometimes tinged with colours; a parallax is the difference between its position as seen from some point on the earthʼs surface and its position as seen from some other conventional point.