ther description equally natural and uncommon; and the figure of madame de Bussy, with her scarecrow of a head-dress, is indeed capital. It requires an infinite share of imagination to remember names in the midst of all this. But our last night's supper, my dear *; it appears to me to have been elegant, and well conducted. I was there with my chosen friends †, and should have been very much vexed if M. de Lamoignon's colic had prevented him from giving us his company. I be gan to despair of Coulanges, but at length every thing fell out as could be wished, and we sung gaudeamus. Coulanges is really worth his weight in gold. I preserve all his letters. He writes me word that the king intends to improve the air of the palace, by banishing the nymph and strain ; upon which he adds, that his wife says, "The king has too much piety to remove the benediction from the house of Monsieur." As this is rather new to me, I must acknowledge I thought it very prettily turned.

Madame de Lavardin seems highly pleased with your visit to her; I am delighted at this, and am more obliged to you for it, than for that you made on my account. Madame de Lavardin is an excellent person to consult on all occasions; I am sure she would console you for the three monsters you have seen. I have a great regard for that old and good friend.

Tuesday 30.

Our oil has made no great progress these last twentyfour hours; but your powder must not be offended at

* See the preceding Letter.

+ Madame de Sévigné loved to transport herself, in imagination,, to every place where she knew her daughter was, and to speak of things as if she herself had been present while they were transacted.

Madame de Grancey, and the chevalier de Lorraine.

it, since it is not expected that the cure should be instantaneous, provided it be effected at last.

I have read, with a great deal of pleasure, a letter from Corbinelli, wherein, by your order, he gives me an account of a very entertaining dispute, that was decided by the abbé de Polignac *; he appears to have been confounded, and struck dumb, with the sprightliness of your wit. Do you think you could not remind the abbé of a mother you have in Britany? Has he quite forgotten her? He is now a perfect court abbé, and very different from the one I once knew, buried over head and ears in a black gown. Madame de Marbeuf has had the courage to cure herself of a violent cold and fever, by refusing to see any physician, or to be bled.

Wednesday, January 31, eight o'clock at night.

My son is now writing to you separately, and I imagine, that, without comparing notes, we shall be pretty much in a story, for we both write the truth. My leg is nearer being 'healed than it was yesterday; and if you can forgive me my rebellion against the sympathetic powder, and will indulge us with fifteen days instead of four, the powder will be proved to have had its effect.

"He

* Melchior de Polignac, afterwards cardinal of that name. was as good a Latin poet as it is possible to be in a dead language, very eloquent in his own, and one of those who have proved that it is easier to make Latin than French verses. Unfortunately for him, in confuting Lucretius, he combats Newton, He died in 1741.” Voltaire's. History of Lewis XIV.

LETTER DCCXIX.

TO THE SAME.

The Rocks, Sunday morning, February 4, 1685.

We

My cure has proved more tedious than we at first imagined, but still it is you who have cured me. thought, indeed, that it would have been an affair of two or three days only, but a fortnight is now past; this is all our mistake. The scar wears the appearance of being soon completed, and, to hasten it, we shall, with your permission, lay aside the oil, and apply the black ointment you sent us, which will not at all impede the operation of the powder. I desire, therefore, you will banish the idea of a wide-gaping wound, since, in fact, it is very inconsiderable, and my leg is neither inflamed nor swelled.

I have been at the princess's; I have taken a walk; so that you must no longer consider me as fit only for an hospital. I have not even the air of an invalid. I am perfectly blooming, and no longer in tears; so that there remains no reason for pitying me, my dear child, for any thing but being deprived of your company, and able only to share metaphysically in your parties. This is, indeed, a loss. As we are very cogitative in this part of the world, we are now and then obliged to swallow a bitter less agreeable than yours; however, I gather strength and courage, let the chevalier say what he pleases. This is the real state of my mind and body. I tell you things just as they are, and I must have a very strong conviction of your affection for me, to send you such a journal, in the midst of the pleasures of a court, in which you are at this time engaged. My affection for is natural, and founded upon many substantial

you

reasons; but yours for me is wonderful, singular, uncommon, almost without example; and this it is which occasions mine to be so great as it is. Madame de la Fayette writes me word that she has seen you, that you have had several conversations together, and that she is perfectly infatuated with you; I use her own expression: she adds, that you would be perfect, if you had not too much sensibility, for which she is very angry with you. It is thus my friends receive and admire you; for madame de Lavardin has written me a whole sheet on the same subject, as likewise the good duchess de Chaulnes all these remind you of me. You describe so exactly the different expressions of those who wished to see me in my apartment again, that I had them all present before my eyes. I regretted extremely my not being at the supper, when the entertainment 'was so elegant, and the company so good, and in such high spirits. M. de Lamoignon seems to know the merit of the good housewife of Carnavalet; believe me, you cannot make too much of such a friend. I partake in all the joy of him and his family, in their place in the council; but at the same time am not a little concerned at the nephritic disorder with which he is so tormented. It is a cruel thing not to have a single day free from pain; it is a constant abatement of his happiness.

I am highly amused with all the bustle in the Chaulnes family, since the duchess can never be jealous; I think, if she were so, her friendship for me would have led her to inform me of it. Coulanges has made me laugh heartily at this story, and I join with him in admiring saint Trifler, and the disposition of those who can compass all their ends, when another person could not advance a step towards it. I thank you for your news. I cannot find out the reason of Flamaren's being in disgrace with Monsieur. I do not think our good

marshal d'Estrades * will carry on very great intrigues in this bustling court.

Heaven preserve your health, my dear, such as you now tell me it is. I fancy the succory soups are very good; I shall try them myself: do not neglect your bitters; they are life to you. I fancy you do not use the sympathetic powder, nor have you yet tried the balsam. I cannot bear the thoughts of Rhodes † selling a post which had been so long in his family. I think I ought to have been with you at Gourville's dinner; the whole house of Pomponne would not have kept me away. I envy and regret all your pleasures, but much more that of seeing and being with you, and enjoying an affection which is so dear to me.

So you will have the pleasure of seeing the doge ! This is as if the whole republic had come in a body; but what can resist the will of our monarch?

Five o'clock in the evening.

My son has just seen my leg; I assure you he finds it in a very fair way, and, abating the expedition of

* Godfrey count d'Estrades, marshal of France, had lately been made governor to the duke de Chartres, afterwards duke of Orleans, and regent of the kingdom.

+ Charles Pot, marquis de Rhodes, who had lately sold his post of grand-master of the state-ceremonies in France, to Julius Armand Colbert, marquis of Blainville. The marquis de Rhodes was the fifth person of his family who had successively enjoyed this honourable post.

Of Genoa (Francis Marie Imperiale Lercari), who was expected, with four of the principal senators of that republic, at the court of Lewis XIV. to make submission, in the name of their state, to that monarch. On the 15th of May following, they had their first audience.

It was this doge, who, on being asked what he found most extraordinary at Versailles, replied, "To see myself there."

Treated with as much politeness by the king, as with haughtiness by Louvois and Croissy, he said, "The king subjugates our hearts by the manner in which he receives us, but his ministers restore us to our li berty."