Part 38

[663] This paragraph in praise of the Dauphin (1661-1711), written in epigraphic style, was printed in capital letters, and published whilst he was in command of the army of the Rhine (1688).

[664] La Bruyère says in a note: “This is an opinion opposed to a well-known Latin maxim.” Erasmus, in his _Adagiorum Chiliades_, gives the Latinised proverb, _Filii heroum noxæ_, “the sons of heroes degenerate,” and our author alludes to this. As for the “divine qualities,” see page 51, § 33.

[665] La Bruyèreʼs feeling about the happiness of being his own master breaks out now and then. See also page 232, § 33.

[666] This paragraph, and almost all the following ones, refer to the revolution (1688) which placed William III. on the throne of Great Britain.

[667] An allusion to the abortive attempt of the French in Ireland to aid in the re-establishment of James II. See also page 218, note 2.

[668] The first-mentioned enemy was Charles V., Duke of Lorraine, who died in 1690; the second was William III., a rumour of whose death spread in Paris the same year, and caused great rejoicings.

[669] _O Tempora! O Mores!_ is the opening of the first of Ciceroʼs _Catilinaria_.

[670] Our author lets Heraclitus, the weeping philosopher, utter this paragraph, whilst he puts the following into the mouth of Democritus, the laughing, or better, the sneering philosopher of Abdera.

[671] According to the mythology, Lycaon, king of Arcadia, murdered his guests and served them up at his table, in order to test the divine knowledge of Jupiter, who changed him into a wolf. Ægistheus was the son of Thyestes, and the murderer of Agamemnon.

[672] William III.

[673] The “they have less to fear from us,” &c., was also one of the arguments used by France during the first revolution.

[674] This, of course, refers to the hospitality Louis XIV. granted to James II.

[675] Leopold I. (see page 252, note 3), Emperor of Germany, broke off a war in which he was engaged against the Ottomans, who had twice invaded Hungary, and entered the League of Augsburg (1686) against Louis XIV., because the latter had compelled him to accept the Treaty of Nimeguen, in 1679. See page 253, note 2.

[676] An allusion to Pope Innocent XI. (see page 361, note 1), who was too little of a friend of Louis XIV. to show much zeal on behalf of James II.

[677] Musket-balls.

[678] Cannon-balls.

[679] Shells.

[680] Athos was a mountain in Roumelia which the sculptor Dinocrates proposed to hew into a statue of Alexander. Our author refers to this; Byron has also an allusion to it in the twelfth canto of his “Don Juan.”

[681] The enemies of William III. often alluded to the livid colour of his countenance, and Boileau in his wretched _Ode sur la prise de Namur_ also speaks of “Nassau blème.”

[682] The Prince of Orange ordered in 1672 the dykes in Holland to be opened to delay the advance of the French army; hence the allusion to “bogs.”

[683] William III. became the adopted son of the Dutch republic on the death of his father in 1666, and on the proposal of John de Witt. Frenchmen pretend he was far more dictatorial in Holland than in England, and accuse him of having behaved ungratefully towards de Witt, his so-called “nurse.”

[684] When William III. returned to the Hague (1690), several princes who had joined the League of Augsburg came to compliment him; it was even rumoured that the Elector of Bavaria had some time to wait before he could obtain an audience.

[685] In the original _archonte_, archon, the chief magistrate in ancient Athens.

[686] This seems to refer to the siege of Mons (1690), which William III. did not venture to raise.

[687] The Emperor of Germany.

[688] The arms of the house of Austria proper.

[689] Theotimus stands for M. Sachot, who was vicar of Saint-Gervais at the time La Bruyère wrote, and used to shrive all the fashionable people, but gradually was supplanted by Bourdaloue, who also succeeded him in his vicarage. The fashion of not bleeding during a fever still exists, and rightly so.

[690] The “Keys” speak of a certain lawyer, Cambout or Cabout, who belonged to the household of the Condés, and of a flute-player, Descosteaux, both passionately fond of flowers, as the supposed originals of the “lover of flowers.”

[691] This lover of fruit was the financier Rambouillet de la Sablière, who had a large garden in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. See also page 173, note 10.

[692] Four well-known antiquarians, the Duke dʼAumont, Vaillant, Le Nostre, and Father Menestrier, the latter author of an _Histoire de Louis le grand par les médailles_, have been supposed the originals of Diognetes.

[693] Several collectors of prints of the time have been named by the commentators as the original of Democedes.

[694] At the time La Bruyère wrote, the houses on the bridge called the “Petit-Pont” and those in the “Rue Neuve-Notre-Dame” were covered with hangings and adorned with common prints on the days when a procession was passing.

[695] Jacques Callot (1593-1655), a celebrated Lorraine artist and etcher.

[696] In the “Rue Vieille-du-Temple,” in Paris, there was, at the time our author wrote, a mansion erected by M. Amelot de Bisseuil, which was considered one of the curiosities of Paris.

[697] According to some “Keys,” this refers to the Hotel Lesdiguières; according to others, to the hotel of M. de Langlée. See page 188, note 2.

[698] In the original, _il donne pension à un homme_, antiquated in this sense.

[699] The author states: “These are names of various shells.” The original has “le Léopard, la Plume, la Musique,” and the English names have been kindly suggested by M. Hugh Owen in “Notes and Queries” as equivalents for the French ones.

[700] A few years before La Bruyère wrote, there was quite a mania for butterflies at court, and in Paris.

[701] An allusion to the ordeal by duel, of which one of the last was fought between Jarnac and La Chateigneraye, in 1542, before Henri II. and his court. A treacherous thrust of the first-named nobleman has given rise to the proverbial saying _un coup de Jarnac_.

[702] Louis XIV. was strongly opposed to duelling, and several legal prohibitions of it were promulgated during his reign.

[703] Sophonius Tigellinus, a favourite and accomplice of the Roman emperor Nero, was put to death about the year 70.

[704] In the original, _souffler_ and _jeter en sable_, “to gulp down;” only the last word is found in the dictionary of the French Academy of 1694. The old English translators of La Bruyère have been greatly puzzled by the sentence beginning with the word “a Tigellinus,” and give it: “a juggler, one who turns _aqua-vita_ black, and performs other feats of legerdemain (other surprising things),” whilst the translation of 1767 speaks of “a fiddler, who, besides several odd performances on his instrument, gulps down,” &c.

[705] See the chapter “Of the Gifts of Fortune,” §§ 71-75.

[706] In the original _la crapule_, now no longer used for “intoxication.”

[707] C. Valerius Catullus (87-47 B.C.), the well-known Roman poet; is supposed to allude to the Abbé de Chaulieu (see page 342, note). The latterʼs disciple was the Chevalier de Bouillon.

[708] See page 173, note 1.

[709] During the summer of 1689 the fashionable ladies at court adorned themselves with bouquets of cornflowers.

[710] For Voiture see page 20, § 37, and note 3. Sarrazin (1603-1654) was a rival of Voiture in an affected and pretentious style.

[711] The original has _gens dʼesprit_. See page 20, note 1.

[712] Those of my readers who wish to see the various fashions in dress of the end of the seventeenth century should look at the etchings at the head of each chapter, which faithfully represent them at the time La Bruyère wrote; the high head-dresses had been abandoned when he penned this paragraph (1691), but they became again the rage the following year (see Chapter iv., “Of Women,” § 5), and continued so for a considerable period.

[713] In the original _il parle gras_; _parler gras_ means usually “to speak thick,” but is sometimes said, as it is here, of people who lisp, which generally in French is _grasseyer_.

[714] In the original _indécence_, “crudeness,” “want of harmony,” now antiquated with this meaning.

[715] Attila, king of the Huns, died 453.

[716] The “long black veil,” coming down to the feet, worn by ladies in mourning, and during some grand ceremonies, was called a _mante_. Our author adds in a note: “Oriental habits.” The tiara, or triple crown, was the head-dress of the ancient Persian potentates, of the Jewish high priest, and of the Pope. For the _sagum_, see page 259, note 1.

[717] The author says in a note: “Offensive and defensive.”

[718] Canions, or _canons_ in French, were large round pieces of linen, often adorned with lace or bunches of ribbons, which were fastened below the breeches, just under the knee.

[719] _Libertin_ in the original. See page 161, note.

[720] It was two years after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) that La Bruyère made these remarks about “pretended piety,” for since the influence of Madame de Maintenon over Louis XIV., all the courtiers were turning pious. See also page 207, note 3.

[721] Our author is careful to add in a note, “assumed piety.”

[722] _Connaître le flanc_ is used by La Bruyère. Some of the commentators think this is a military term used purposely by our author.

[723] None of La Bruyèreʼs commentators have observed that the “unknown jargon” seems to refer to the mystic quietism taught by Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (1648-1717), who was at the height of her reputation when this paragraph was published for the first time in the eighth edition of the “Characters” in 1694. To our author has also been attributed “Dialogues sur le Quiétisme.”

[724] La Bruyère is always very careful when he uses the word “devout” or “pious,” in a bad sense, to add in a note, “assumed” or “false piety.” See also § 22.

[725] See page 43, note 2.

[726] This “devout courtier” was Paul de Beauvillier, Dulce de Saint-Aignan, peer of France, _gouverneur des enfants de France_. See also page 197, note 2.

[727] Sainte-Beuve, in his _Histoire de Port Royal_, justly observes that La Bruyère showed more courage in writing the character of Onuphrius than Molière displayed in bringing out his _Tartuffe_, for the latter comedy made its appearance in 1667, and Onuphrius in 1691, five years after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when Louis XIV. was already under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, and had become devout.

[728] An allusion to the first words said by Tartuffe (act iii. scene 2) in Molièreʼs play of that name: “Laurent, serrez ma haire avec ma discipline.”

[729] The “Spiritual Fight,” a religious work attributed to an Italian Theatine monk, Scupoli, had been already translated into French in 1608; the “Inward Christian,” by Louvigny, was published in 1661, whilst there were two “Holy Years,” one written by Bordier in 1668, and a second published ten years later by a certain clergyman, Loisel.

[730] In the original, _il pousse des élans et des soupirs_, a reminiscence of Molièreʼs _Tartuffe_ (act i. scene 5), where Orgon, in speaking of the hypocrite, says:

“Il attirait les yeux de lʼassemblée entière Par lʼardeur dont au ciel il poussait sa prière; Il faisait des soupirs, de grands élancements, Et baisait humblement la terre à tous moments.”

[731] The “chapel” and the “anteroom” refer to the chapel and anteroom of the palace of Versailles.

[732] _Il a des vapeurs_ in the original, which, when our author wrote, was somewhat like the “out of sorts” of the present time.

[733] A reference to the declaration Tartuffe makes to Elmire, the wife of Orgon. See Molièreʼs _Tartuffe_, act iii. scene 3.

[734] An allusion to Josephʼs adventure with Potipharʼs wife.

[735] La Bruyère is very careful to add again in a note: “False piety.”

[736] Again our author adds “false piety,” in a footnote.

[737] Tartuffe, in the comedy of that name (act iii.), obtains from Orgon a deed of gift of all his property, to the detriment of his son and his second wife. This was against the French law, which obliged a man to leave a certain part of his goods, called _la légitime_ (see page 95, § 71), to his wife and children; but this law did not apply to cousins, nephews, and nieces.

[738] Orgon, the patron of Tartuffe, has a son and a daughter.

[739] See _Tartuffe_, act v. scene 7.

[740] The original has _ne trouve pas jour_; the French noun has become antiquated in this sense.

[741] According to some commentators, Zelia was intended for the wife of de Pontchartrain, the _contrôleur-général_ of the finances; but they seem to forget that La Bruyère was his friend and under some obligations to him.

[742] In this and the following paragraph the author adds again in a note, “pretended piety.”

[743] Already in the first edition of the “Characters” (1687), La Bruyère gave in the above paragraph his opinion about the danger of compelling the courtiers to become pious.

[744] Favier, a dancer at the opera, was also the dancing-master of the Duke de Bourbon, the pupil of La Bruyère. The anthems of Paolo Lorenzani, the music-master of Ann of Austria (1601-1666), were published in 1693.

[745] Many of the bishops in our authorʼs time were continually dangling about the court, and not residing in their dioceses. See page 340, note 2.

[746] Our author added in a note of the first four editions, “secretaries of the king.” Those offices were bought, and ennobled their holders, hence the nickname of _savonnettes à vilain_, literally, “soap balls for serfs.” Other offices also gave a title to the persons who filled them, and this is probably the reason of the suppression of this note.

[747] La Bruyèreʼs own note says “veterans,” a name given to the _conseillers_ (see page 181, note 1), who, after having practised for twenty years, sold their post, but retained all the privileges attached to it.

[748] Here our author gives the same note as above.

[749] Commoners were ennobled by the grant of letters of nobility, whilst nobles whose ancestors had derogated were rehabilitated. However, commoners who had become wealthy often asked and obtained letters of rehabilitation, and, therefore, pretended to be of noble origin. “Rehabilitation,” according to Thomas Blountʼs Law Dictionary, 1717, was in England: “one of those exactions ... claimed by the Pope ... and seems to signify a _Bull_ or _Breve_ for _re-enabling_ a spiritual person to exercise his function, who was formerly disabled; or a _restoring_ to former _ability_.”

[750] The “war-cry” is a great proof of the nobility being ancient. The _heaume_, head-piece, is the same as the _casque_, helmet, which latter word was generally used in French heraldic language. According to certain rules which soon ceased to be practised, the vizard was open or shut, and showed more or less bars, whilst the helmet was in front or profile, according as the owner of the coat of arms was of ancient or modern nobility. The “Keys” refer to the Le Camus and Bezons families, as having taken the pictorial emblems of their fatherʼs signboards for their family arms. See also Molièreʼs _École des Femmes_, Act i. Scene 1.

[751] The DʼHoziers were a family of genealogists, flourishing from 1592 till 1830. La Bruyère speaks most probably of Louis Roger and his brother Charles-René dʼHozier, who were of middle age when the “Characters” were published.

[752] It is said this is a hit at Monsieur, the brother of Louis XIV., who, in imitation of the kingʼs son and grandsons, did no longer wish to be addressed as “Royal Highness,” but simply as “you;” an example followed by all other French princes.

[753] A _maître dʼhôtel_ of Louis XIV., Delrieux, is said to have called himself De Rieux, and there had been a marshal of that name. Syris is the name of a slave in Plautusʼ and Terenceʼs comedies; Cyrus, a celebrated king of Persia, was killed in battle against the Massagetæ, 529 B.C.

[754] Such men were a M. Sonnin, the son of a _receveur-général_, who called himself M. de Sonningen, and M. Nicolai, Marquis de Goussainville, descended from a M. Nicolas.

[755] The marriages of the Marquis de Tourville with a Mdlle. Langeois (see page 142, note 3), and of the Marshal de Lorges with Mdlle. Frémont, (see page 132, note 1), are examples of this, though many similar marriages took place almost daily.

[756] An ironical remark referring to noblemen marrying the daughters of commoners, for nobility descended only from the father to the children, but not if the mother were a serf; in Champagne, however, nobility could be inherited from the motherʼs side.

[757] “Franchise” is a privilege or exemption from ordinary jurisdiction, and “immunity” the right of not paying taxes, or of paying less than the commonalty. La Bruyère, in speaking of “certain monks who obtained titles,” adds in a note: “a certain convent was secretary to the king.” The convent of the Celestines had already in the fourteenth century been appointed to a secretaryship, and received its emoluments, but never fulfilled its duties. The religious community said to have had an interest in the _gabelle_ or salt tax, is supposed to have been that of the Jesuits, but this accusation seems to have been made without sufficient proof.

[758] A certain Geoffroy de La Bruyère had really taken part in the third crusade and died during the siege of St. Jean dʼAcre in 1191, or almost a century after Godfrey of Bouillon (1061-1100). Our author only mentioned his ancestorʼs full name in the sixth edition of the “Characters,” published in 1691.

[759] _Abbé_ is derived from the Syrian _aba_, father; the “cardinal” may have been the Cardinal de Bouillon, who always was gaily dressed. See page 306, note 1.

[760] In the palace Farnese at Rome, built by order of the Cardinal Alexander Farnese, who afterwards became Pope under the name of Paul III. (1534-1549), are to be found many works, such as Aurora and Cephalus, Diana and Endymion, Galathea, Polyphemus and Acis, and Ganymedes and Jupiter, painted by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), and Domenichino (1581-1641), all representing nude figures, and not religious subjects.

[761] Richeletʼs Dictionary, published in 1680, mentions the _gigue_ as “une danse anglaise, composée de toutes sortes de pas, quʼon danse sur la corde,” and hence, he continues, “any dancing tune was thus called.” But was a jig originally danced on the tight-rope? The “chapel” is of course the chapel-royal at Versailles.

[762] Paris, a son of Priam and Hecuba, had to decide whether Juno, Venus, or Minerva was the most beautiful, and should receive a “golden apple” as a prize. The three goddesses did not present themselves for this competition with too many clothes on.

[763] Hangings representing nude figures and profane subjects were seen until almost the last fifty years in some of the churches of the capital of France.

[764] Our author adds in a note, “an anthem translated into French by LL....” but no commentator has discovered who this unknown poet can have been.

[765] The TT ... were the Theatine monks, who settled in France about 1644, built a splendid church, and tried to raise money by charging for seats, during service, which was held with full orchestral and vocal music, about ten years before our author first published this paragraph, in 1694, in the eighth edition of his book.

[766] Although this paragraph appeared when the “Characters” were first published in 1688, yet the great Bossuet went, five years later, out of his way to attack, in a sermon, Molière, the actor and playwright, although the latter had been dead more than twenty years.

[767] This paragraph reveals to us the quarrels raging between the secular and regular clergy, and seems to point out that, at the time our author wrote, the Barnabites were in vogue as confessors. The “monk” is supposed to have been a certain Father la Combe, the spiritual director of Madame Guyon. See page 393, note 1.

[768] Three parish priests have been named by the commentators as the originals of La Bruyèreʼs portrait, but our author was far more general in his application.

[769] _Les fourrures_ in the original. See page 318, note 2.

[770] The original has the proper name Ambreville, a noted rogue and head of a band of robbers, who was publicly burned at the stake in 1686.

[771] The lady superior of an abbey was appointed by the king, but in a nunnery she was elected by the entire sisterhood; hence our authorʼs remarks about “a popular or a despotic rule.”

[772] When our author wrote, it was the fashion among the upper classes for a man never to be seen in public with his wife. Some years later people began even to be ashamed of being married, and if comedies hold the mirror up to nature, this may be observed in _Le Philosophe marié_ (1727), by N. Destouches, and in _Le Préjugé à la Mode_ (1735), by La Chaussée. For the Cours, see page 164, note 2.

[773] The author states in a note that by “making the most of oneʼs money” he means “lending it out on bills and notes of hand,” for which, according to the old French legislation and the old canonical law no interest could be charged, though some divines allowed trading companies to pay interest on borrowed monies.

[774] Several remarks had been made on this part of the above paragraph whilst La Bruyère was still alive, and a note of the ninth edition of the “Characters” (1696), published one month after the authorʼs death, explained that it only referred to monies deposited in the _greffe_ or clerkʼs office of certain tribunals whilst a lawsuit was going on.

[775] An allusion to the bankruptcy of some hospitals in Paris, which ruined many persons who had advanced money on annuities. This bankruptcy took place in the year 1689, and the fourth edition of the “Characters,” in which the above paragraph first appeared, was published the same year. The original has also a play on words, on _le fonds perdu_, to sink money in an annuity, and _un bien perdu_, money irretrievably lost.

[776] For the _huitième denier_, see page 138, note 1. The _aides_ were indirect taxes which the clergy and the nobility had to pay as well as the common people.

[777] The original has _partisans_. See page 136, note 2.

[778] The President Potier de Novion (see page 333, note 2) was the first, it is said, to adopt this custom, but a few months before this paragraph was published (1689), he had to resign his post on account of malversation and abuse of authority.

[779] See page 155, note 3.

[780] See page 181, note 1.

[781] See page 72, note 2.

[782] Counsellors of parliament (see page 181, note 1) were obliged to wear bands, by an order of Council obtained at the request of _M. de Harlay_ (see page 45, note 1); before that time they wore cravats like other gentlemen. See also page 65, note 2.

[783] The counsellors of parliament wore red gowns, the magistrates red fur-lined cloaks. See page 318, note 2. The original of “on account of his money” is _consignation_. See page 169, note 2.

[784] In most of the courts of France the places of magistrates were bought and sold. See also the chapter “Of the Town,” page 167, § 5.

[785] Marcus Valerius Martialis (43, was living 104) says: “Iras et verba locant.”

[786] Montaigne, Montesquieu, and many other eminent Frenchmen attacked the legal employment of torture, but it was continued in France till 1788.