Part 37

[546] This picture represents the burial of an eloquent and learned canon, who, whilst being carried to the tomb, rose in his coffin, exclaimed that he was damned, and fell back again.

[547] See page 138, note 3.

[548] Tallemant des Réaux, in his _Historiettes_, tells a more probable story of de Brancas, how one day, being on horseback and stopped by footpads, he mistook them for footmen, and ordered them to let go his horse, and how he did not find out his mistake till they clapt a pistol to his breast.

[549] Compare what our author says in the above paragraph with the remarks he makes in § 21, page 260, and § 34, page 266.

[550] One of these fathers appears to have been the Duke de Gesvres (1620-1704), who spent all his money on purpose not to leave any to his children.

[551] See the chapter “Of Society,” § 63.

[552] Epidaurus, a city of Peloponnesus, where Æsculapius, the god of medicine and a son of Apollo, was worshipped.

[553] This paragraph appeared for the first time in the eighth edition of the “Characters,” published in 1694, three years after the former favourite of Louis XIV., Madame de Montespan, had left the court, and about ten years after he had married Madame de Maintenon. Madame de Montespan had then become an imaginary invalid, and made frequent journeys to take the waters at different places, and chiefly to Bourbon-lʼArchambaud, where, it is said, a doctor made her a similar answer as recorded above. It is doubtful whether La Bruyère would have spoken of her corpulency, failing sight, and her growing old if Madame de Montespan had still remained a favourite; his former pupil, the Duke de Bourbon, had married, in 1685, Mademoiselle de Nantes, one of her daughters by Louis XIV.

[554] See page 68, note 3.

[555] This refers to the Prince de Conti (1661-1685), a cousin of the Duke de Bourbon, the pupil of our author. When the Princeʼs wife, formerly Mademoiselle de Blois, a daughter of Louis XIV. and Mademoiselle de la Vallière, was attacked by the small-pox, he nursed her so well that she recovered, but he died.

[556] According to the “Keys,” this paragraph alludes to Louvois. See page 132, note, and page 242, note 2.

[557] The original has “aux âmes bien nées,” a very favourite expression of the French authors of the seventeenth century; thus P. Corneille, amongst others, says in the _Cid_:

“Pour des âmes bien nées, La valeur nʼattend point le nombre des années.”

[558] Gambling was highly valued at court (see page 154, § 71); the Marquis de Dangeau (see page 156, note 2) owed partly his position to his successes at the gambling-table; and the mathematician Sauveur, a member of the Academy of Sciences, used to give scientific demonstrations before the king and the court of the various combinations of the fashionable games.

[559] The Marshal de la Feuillade is supposed to be meant. Besides the monument he erected to Louis XIV. (see page 227, note 2), there are many other proofs of his eccentricity, as, for example, his going with two hundred volunteers to wrest Candia from the Turks, and his voyage to Spain to challenge a certain M. de Saint-Aunay, who was accused of having calumniated Louis XIV.

[560] The commentators speak of a certain captain of the guard, Boisselot, and of an Irish officer, Macarthy, one of the generals of James II.; but there would have been nothing astonishing in their “mixing with the people.” It may be that this paragraph points at the Duke of Orléans, a brother-of Louis XIV., who had shown some valour at the battle of Cassel in 1677, but who was never more employed, and was not very “judicious.”

[561] All the “Keys” say the Archbishop of Paris, M. de Harlay, was meant. See also page 238, note 4.

[562] The Cardinal de Bouillon (1644-1715) is supposed to be meant by this remark; he was, however, according to Saint-Simon, always very dissolute in his manners. See page 210, note 1.

[563] Some “Keys” name here wrongly Boutillier de Rancé, the founder of the Trappists, whilst others speak of Le Camus, bishop of Grenoble (see page 47, note 4). La Bruyèreʼs allusion is far more general.

[564] All the “Keys” say this refers to the _Dictionnaire de lʼAcadémie_, but its first edition only appeared in 1694, and this paragraph was published four years before. See page 9, note 2. It alludes probably to those encyclopedias called _Traités sur toutes les sciences, très abrégés à lʼusage de la noblesse_, or to some collection of anecdotes, a kind of _omnium gatherum_, entitled _Bibliothèque des gens de cour_; perhaps it might also apply to some verses then in vogue, and called _vers abécédaires_, of which the first line began with an “a,” the second with a “b,” and so on. Those “sports of wit,” which our author calls by the name of _jeux dʼesprit_, witticisms, also existed later in England, _e.g._, “The Foundling Hospital for Wit.”

[565] Several persons have been named whose duty it was to distribute charity to the poor, but it has been rightly observed that the person alluded to in this paragraph “makes a display of it,” and therefore it cannot have been his duty.

[566] In French, _sœurs grises_, grey sisters, because the Sisters of Charity wore grey dresses. Bands were then worn by every one, but clergymenʼs bands were plain and called _petits collets_, the name our author gives them.

[567] Holders of certain legal or financial offices had the right of reversion or next nomination whilst they were alive, and not seldom delayed exercising it until they were very old; but unless they did so within forty days of their death, and had paid an annual tax called _le droit de paulette_, so called after Charles Paulet, a minister of Henri IV. who established it in 1604, and which tax varied from a sixtieth to a fourth of the value of the office, the king had a right to make fresh appointments. See also page 192, note 1.

[568] Jean François, Marquis dʼHautefort, who was, it is said, the original of Harpagon in Molièreʼs _Avare_, seems to be partly portrayed in this paragraph.

[569] Some of the commentators pretend that the “courtier of a ripe old age” was the Marshal Nicolas de Villeroy, the former governor of Louis XIV., who died in 1685, and whose son, the Duke, is mentioned on page 54, note 3, and on page 204, note 1.

[570] It is said that by Philip our author intended to portray the Marquis de Sablé, a son of the finance minister Servien, who was the proprietor of Meudon, sold it to Louvois (see the chapter “Of the Court,” page 204, note 2), and seems to have been chiefly known by his love for eating and drinking, his eccentricities and his debauchery.

[571] Louis Roger Danse, a canon of the _Sainte-Chapelle_, and a noted _gourmand_, is supposed to have sat for Gnathon, as well as for the stout Canon Evrard in Boileauʼs _Lutrin_.

[572] The Count dʼOlonne, a well-known lover of good cheer, who died in 1690, is said to have been limned as Clito; others think it was another _gourmet_, M. de Bruslard, Count de Broussain, who lived until 1693.

[573] See page 179, note 1.

[574] The _potages_, in La Bruyèreʼs time, different from what is now understood by them, seem to have been a sort of stew.

[575] These were either _entremets_ or side-dishes not larger than could be contained in a plate or _assiette_.

[576] _Trivial_ in French. See page 136, note 1.

[577] See page 181, note 1.

[578] This asking for an injunction was called _sʼopposer au sceau_, literally “to oppose oneʼs self to the seal.”

[579] See page 130, note, and page 192, note.

[580] _Committimus_, in the original.

[581] The chairman is the _syndic de direction_.

[582] _Vieil meuble de ruelle._ _Vieil_ was, in La Bruyèreʼs time, often used instead of _vieux_, even before a consonant. For _ruelle_, see page 65, note 1.

[583] The original speaks of the “Marais” (see page 172, note 1), and of the “Grand Faubourg,” probably the “Faubourg Saint-Germain.”

[584] See page 72, note 2.

[585] The “Keys” name for Antagoras two eccentric noblemen of the time now wholly unknown, a Count de Montluc and a Marquis de Fourille.

[586] In Louis XIV.ʼs time France was divided into thirty-three provinces, and as communications were difficult, the inferior noblemen were what our author describes them to be, and had no other amusements but duelling, dining, and drinking.

[587] The original has _fourrures et mortiers_; the gowns of bachelors, licentiates, and doctors of the various faculties were bordered and even sometimes lined with fur. For _mortier_ see page 168, note 3.

[588] In French _les masses dʼun chancelier_, for the mace was always carried before the Chancellor of France.

[589] La Bruyère adds in a note: “We can only mean that philosophy which is depending on the Christian religion.”

[590] An allusion to the theory of Descartes (see page 151, note 2), that beasts were only automatons without any consciousness of their acts.

[591] In French “Alain,” the name of a rustic servant in Molièreʼs _École des Femmes_.

[592] All the names given by our author have already been mentioned before, except that of Claude de Lingendes (1595-1660), one of the best preachers among the Jesuits, and whose reputation must have been great to quote him with such illustrious dead; and whilst Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and Fénelon were still alive.

[593] An allusion to the entertainments given by Louis XIV.

[594] Such places were, in our authorʼs time, Versailles, Fontainebleau, Marly.

[595] This seems to hit at the courtiers of Louis XIV., who pretended to become devout in order to please the monarch and Madame de Maintenon.

[596] La Bruyère is not in advance of his times in what regards corporal punishment: Montaigne was.

[597] For “caps” and “gowns” the original has _mortier_ and _fourrures_ (see page 168, note 3, and page 318, note 2); for _fasces_ see page 139, note 5

[598] Some commentators think that the Marshal de Villeroy (see page 54, note 3) is meant by Timon, but this cannot be, as the Marshal was rather ostentatious, and not at all a misanthrope. Perhaps our author thought of giving another version of Molièreʼs _Alceste_, as later on he gives another of _Tartuffe_, in his portrait of Onuphre, in the chapter “Of Fashion,” page 395, § 24.

[599] The original has _entêtement_, “infatuation,” “obstinacy,” which sometimes meant “enthusiasm,” as in Molièreʼs _Femmes Savantes_, act iii. scene 2, “Jʼaime la poésie avec entêtement.”

[600] Our author adds in a note, “a pretended pious person.”

[601] The original has _pétitoire_ et _possessoire_, printed in italics.

[602] M. Terentius Varro (116-26 B.C.) was considered one of the most learned among the Romans. His principal works are _De re rustica_ and _De Lingua latina_.

[603] This is an allusion to Quinault (see page 28, note 2), whose tragedies were all bad, but whose operas were considered well written. (See page 175, note 4.) He died in 1688, one year before the appearance of this paragraph.

[604] J. Chapelain (1595-1674), the author of _La Pucelle dʼOrléans_, an epic poem of which only twelve cantos appeared, was the wealthiest of all the authors of his time. _Rodogune, Princesse des Parthes_, one of the most successful tragedies of Pierre Corneille, had been acted in 1644, and this great dramatist died in poverty and want twenty years later, at the age of seventy-eight, four years before the above paragraph was published.

[605] Bathyllus is Le Basque or Pécourt (see page 67, note 2); the names of several long-forgotten female dancers or singers are given for Rhoe, Roscia—the feminised name of the celebrated Roman actor Roscius—and Nerina.

[606] An allusion to the wife of Dancourt (1661-1725), an author and comic actor, who is, as an actress, said to have been neither beautiful nor excellent.

[607] According to the “Keys,” the actor referred to was Baron (see page 67, note 2), or Champmeslé (1642-1701), an author and actor, and the husband of a lady known to posterity as a friend of the poet Racine.

[608] The Cardinal dʼEstrées (1628-1714) was a member of the French Academy: his nephew, the Marshal, was considered a learned and polished gentleman. There were several magistrates of the name of Séguier, of whom the best known is the Chancellor Séguier (1588-1672). The Duke de Montausier, the former governor of the Dauphin, the husband of Mademoiselle de Rambouillet, and the supposed original of Molièreʼs _Misanthrope_, was still alive when his name appeared, but died about a year later, in 1690. The Duke de Chevreuse, afterwards Duke de Luynes (1620-1690), an author of moral and religious works, was a friend of the Port-Royalists. The first President of the Parliament, Potier de Novion, was a member of the Academy, and died in 1693. There were two Lamoignons—the first, President of the Parliament, who died in 1677, and his son, Chrétien François, _président à mortier_, the friend of Boileau and Racine, who lived till 1709. Paul Pellisson (1624-1693), the friend and defender of Fouquet, became perpetual secretary to the French Academy, of which he wrote a history, and was considered the ugliest man of his time. M. de la Bruyère adds in a footnote, that in speaking of Scudéry, he meant Mademoiselle Scudéry, to distinguish her from her brother Georges, also an author; this lady wrote a good many novels then in vogue (see page 123, note 1), and died in 1701, more than ninety years old. For de Harlay see page 237, note 1; for Bossuet see page 47, note 4; and for Wardes or Vardes see page 197, note 2.

[609] The Duke de Chartres (1674-1723), only seventeen years old when this paragraph appeared, was reputed very clever for his age; he afterwards became the Regent dʼOrléans. By Condé, either the great Condé, who died in 1686, or his son Henri-Jules, the father of La Bruyèreʼs pupil, was meant. For François-Louis, Prince de Conti (1634-1709), see page 273, note; his father, Armand de Bourbon (1629-1666), had first been an admirer and then an antagonist of Molière. For Bourbon and Vendôme see page 221, note; there was also a celebrated general, the Duke de Vendôme (1654-1712). The Duke de Maine (1670-1736), the eldest of the children of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan, was twenty years old when his name appeared in the above paragraph, and was considered a prodigy of learning.

[610] The Cardinal dʼOssat (1536-1604) became an able diplomatist and statesman, after having been professor of rhetoric and philosophy at the University of Paris; Cardinal Ximenes (1437-1517) published several works of Aristotle, founded the University of Alcala, and promoted the publishing of a polyglot Bible before becoming prime minister of Charles V. of Spain. Richelieu (see page 261, note 2) wrote several theological works, some tragedies, and founded the French Academy.

[611] The original has _grimaud_, also used by Trissotin in addressing Vadius in Molièreʼs _Femmes Savantes_, act iii, scene 5: “Allez, petit grimaud, barbouilleur de papier.”

[612] Jérôme Bignon (1589-1656) was a celebrated magistrate; his son was also a scholar, and his grandson, the Abbé Jean-François (1662-1743), was a member of the French Academy. For the Lamoignons see page 333, note 2.

[613] Plato expresses this idea in the seventh book of his “Republic,” but it was often in the mouth of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180), called Antoninus, as being the adopted son of Antoninus Pius.

[614] Henri III. of France is said to have fainted if he caught sight of a cat, and some commentators state a certain Abbé de Drubec (see page 112, note) had this weakness. Shakespeare, in the _Merchant of Venice_ (act iv. scene 1) also says, “Some that are mad, if they behold a cat.”

[615] In our authorʼs time there were only feather beds or straw palliasses, but no flock beds.

[616] The original has _praticien_. See page 153, note 3.

[617] A footman. We have already seen in the chapter “Of the Town” (page 137, note 1) how many footmen became financiers of the highest order.

[618] This stands for Antoine Benoît, the royal waxwork maker, who had a gallery of waxworks called _cercle royal_.

[619] B ... was a certain Barbereau who sold Seine water for mineral water, or perhaps Brimbeuf, another quack, who sold a specific for perpetual youth.

[620] This may be Caretti (see page 186, note 4), or Domenico Ammonio, another Italian quack.

[621] A good many panders at the court of Louis XIV. were politely called Mercuries, after the messenger of Jupiter; it is therefore difficult to say whom La Bruyère meant. Some say he spoke of Bontemps, first _valet-de-chambre_ of the king; others imagine he wished to hit the Marquis de Lassay, who had the reputation of being pander to the Duke de Bourbon, the former pupil of our author.

[622] In La Bruyèreʼs time people wore long wigs but were closely shaved.

[623] Tityrus is a shepherd, who, according to the first line uttered by Melibœus in Virgilʼs first “Eclogue,” is one of those men who “lay at ease under their patrimonial beech trees.”

[624] This is an allusion to the Siamese ambassadors, who came to Paris in 1686, and produced a great sensation.

[625] The original has _agreste_, taken with the meaning it sometimes has in Latin. La Bruyère says in a note: “This word is used here metaphorically.”

[626] Our author was probably for a month either at Rouen or Caen as _trésorier-général des finances_, an office which he bought in 1673, and, whilst there, might have had a quarrel with some of his colleagues. This is the more likely as in the first three editions of the “Characters” the magistrates alone were named.

[627] A game played with four cards, formerly in use; it was _primero_ when the hands were shown, and the four cards were of different colours; _grand primero_ when more than thirty points were made. In Shakespeareʼs _King Henry VIII._ (act v. scene 1), Gardiner tells Sir Thomas Lovell that he left the king “at primero with the Duke of Suffolk.”

[628] This is supposed to have been a portrait of M. de Noailles, who was Bishop of Châlons when La Bruyère wrote this paragraph, but who in 1695 became Archbishop of Paris and a Cardinal. The number of bishops residing in their dioceses was very small at the end of the seventeenth century.

[629] An allusion to some members of the clergy and legal profession who frequented fashionable society.

[630] According to the Abbé de Chaulieu, Arténice is Catherine Turgot, the wife of Gilles dʼAligres, Seigneur de Boislandry, who, after a scandalous lawsuit, separated from her one year before this “Fragment” appeared (1694). She was then only twenty-one, and became, it is said, the mistress of de Chaulieu; afterwards she married again a certain M. de Chevilly, a captain of the royal guards. Her friend, Mademoiselle de la Force, is supposed to have been Elvira.

[631] An allusion to the President de Harlay. See page 237, note 1.

[632] This paragraph and the preceding one seem to refer to Pellisson. See page 333, note 2.

[633] A grain is the 576th part of an ounce, which is the 16th part of a pound.

[634] The original has _honnête homme_ (see page 43, note 2) for “gentleman,” _homme de bien_ for “honest man” (see page 49, note 4), and _habile homme_ for “clever man.”

[635] For “ombre” see page 172, note 5.

[636] A portrait of La Fontaine (see page 335, § 19), who was still alive when this paragraph appeared (1691).

[637] This is a sketch of Pierre Corneille (see page 9, note 1, and page 18, note 1), and _Augustus_, _Pompey_, _Nicomedes_, and _Heraclius_ are the names of some of his tragedies.

[638] Theodas is Santeul (1630-1697), one of the most elegant of the modern Latin poets, whose character, immediately recognised by all his contemporaries, seems to have been the compound of folly and sense La Bruyère made it out to be; he is said to have died in consequence of having drunk a glass of wine and snuff given to him by the Duke de Bourbon, the father of our authorʼs pupil.

[639] These two men are said to have been the brothers Le Peletier. See page 54, note 1.

[640] Bachelors in theology and the canon law were the only graduates compelled to study the history of the first four centuries of the Christian era.

[641] Aristotle.

[642] Cicero.

[643] La Bruyère did not wish to give a sketch of Socrates, as he himself admitted in one of his letters to Ménage. It is supposed he meant to give a portrait of himself; at least he was sometimes called “an intelligent madman.”

[644] A gambler was in La Bruyèreʼs time a regular profession, perhaps not considered quite as respectable as any other of the learned professions, but still decent enough to entitle its professors to be received at court and in very good society. The gambler was almost as much admired for his pluck and dash as a gentleman-jockey is at present.

[645] It was generally believed that this paragraph refers to the minister Le Tellier (1603-1685) and to his son Louvois, for whom see pages 132 and 242, notes 1 and 2.

[646] Cato of Utica (95-46 B.C.). Lucius Calpurnius Piso, the father-in-law of Julius Cæsar, had been accused by Cicero in the year 59 B.C. of extortions, and of plundering Macedonia.

[647] See also the chapter “Of Mankind,” pages 308 and 321, §§ 104 and 139.

[648] Our author had already praised people of a certain age in his chapter “Of the Court,” page 211, § 74.

[649] An allusion to Pierre-Louis de Reich, Seigneur de Penautier, receiver-general of the clergy of France, who had been accused of having poisoned his father-in-law.

[650] The Archbishop of Lyons bore the title of _primat des Gaules_, which is in the original French.

[651] See page 192, note.

[652] Pierre du Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard (1475-1524), a great military commander, deservedly received the name of the “knight without fear and without reproach.” Our author states in a footnote that the Marquis de Montrevel was commissioner-general of the cavalry, and lieutenant-general. Seven years after the death of La Bruyère, he became Marshal of France. Saint-Simon calls him “a very brave but a rather stupid, not over-honest and ignorant man,” who died of fright by the upsetting of a salt-cellar.

[653] This theory was maintained by Descartes.

[654] Vauban (1633-1707), the great French military engineer, after the retaking of Namur by William III. in 1695, four years after this paragraph saw the light, was accused of having committed some errors in the erection of the fortifications of that town, but he proved those accusations to be unfounded.

[655] Antiphilus is Pope Innocent XI. (1676-1689), who held other opinions as a cardinal than he did as a pope; he opposed the liberties of the Gallican Church.

[656] The original has _savantasse_, a word always used with a bad meaning.

[657] In French _praticien_. See page 153, note 3.

[658] See the chapter “Of Mankind,” page 299, § 76.

[659] An allusion to the siege of Namur, June 1692, which lasted one month, during which many courtiers and magistrates went there out of curiosity. Racine and Boileau were also present as the kingʼs historians. The above paragraph appeared the same year the siege took place.

[660] A French army of eighty thousand men under the Marshal de Luxembourg (see page 195, note 2) prevented William III. from coming to the relief of Namur.

[661] According to M. G. Servoisʼs preface to the _Lexique_ of La Bruyère, _ravelin_, a synonym of _demi-lune_, and _fausse-braie_, a counter breastwork, are antiquated in French. However, “ravelin” and “demi-lune” are still found as English words in certain dictionaries.

[662] Montaigne was of the opinion of La Bruyère and in favour of Cæsar; Pascal, in his _Pensées_, on the contrary, thought that Cæsar, assassinated at the age of fifty-six, was too old for the conquest of the world, and that it would have better suited the youthful Alexander. See also page 49, § 31.