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Courtiers and Favourites of Royalty

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Courtiers and Favourites of Royalty "tf%^^^ oa éA îx 3<w Presenîed to the UBRARY ofthe UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO by VICTORIA COLLEGE LIBRARY K The Arrivai of the Bride t)bho Courtiers and Favourites of T{oyalty {Memoirs of the Court of France With Contemporary and [Modem Illustrations CoUeiîed from tlie FrcncJi U^ational ^Ârcliives BY Léon Vallée LIBRARIAN AT THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE OVlemoirs of Cardinal de T{et{ Paris . Société des 'Bibliophiles Nezv York {Merrill &- "Baker 5 EDITION "DU "PETIT TRIANON Limited to One Tnousand Sets ^o. b 1 Copyright. 1903, by Merrill 6/ Bake îo EiiomsM 5flJ moiî 1dêiJx3 dq£i§oîuA st9^ âb lÊnibiÊO !f.s«M sIisIbD £ • : 3^BP^^^,, _ ji 'r 4 m Autograph Extract from the Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz From ihe Bibliothèque Nationale of PâMs»'jyiànuscrits français, No. 343 de l'Exposition de la Gatef1e"Mazarine" Photographed under the direction of Léon Vallée especially for this work ^ ^"4^ t^te^^ i^tTZ ;^!S^ ^ ^ ^!^m^^^ -^/tay ^a^ISfe^ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece. The Arrival of the Bride. p^^^ Anne of Austria 6 DUCHESS DE MONTPENSIER 16 Death of Cardinal Mazarin 50 Cardinal Richelied 66 Cardinal Mazarin 80 Prince de Condé 124 Marshal Turenne 126 Cardinal de Retz 150 Duc de la Rochefoucault 210 MEMOIRS OF CARDINAL DE RETZ CARDINAL DE RETZ When we cast a glance over the totality ot the literary pro- duction of the seventeenth century, we ascertain that Memoirs occupy a large place in it. The explanation of the fact is obvi- ous. At this moment the " Fronde " is profoundly agitating various classes of French society. It is natural, therefore, that this should incite contemporary writers to give us their his- torié Personal confidences, to leave us the detailed narrative of happenings where themselves hâve played a more or less con- sidérable part. The Duke de la Rochefoucauld, "The Grand Mademoi- selle," the Duchess de Nemours, and yet others, hâve be- queathed us very complète Memoirs. Despite their interest, ail thèse narrators must retire into the shade before Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, whose writings, in the words of Voltaire, hâve " an air of greatness, an impetuosity of genius, and an inequal- ity, which are the image cf his conduct." In youth, Paul de Gondi is the victim of usages then cus- tomary in the upper circles of France. Despite his protesta- tions and Personal tastes, he is compelled by his father to consecrate himself to the ecclesiastical career. He tries to resist ; he fights notorious duels ; the country resounds with his amours. What matter? They hâve destined him for the suc- cession to his uncle, the Archbishop of Paris. Cardinal he is to be, cardinal he shall be ! This explains why the same man during the day honours the Christian chair by the éloquence of his words, and at night assiduously haunts the bedsides of handsome duchesses. While very young the future conspirator revels in his natu- ral tendencies. He writes the History of the Conspiracy of CARDINAL DE RETZ Fiesque, and Richelieu already considers him " a very dangerous " in proving is spirit ! De Gondi loses no time how accurate the cardinal's forecast, for he soon attacks Richelieu himself. Then, after the death of the latter, he undertakes a struggle against Mazarin vvhich he carries on without truce or mercy during his entire life. At an âge when others are scarcely abbés, he is nominated coadjutor to the Archbishop of Paris. But De Gondi is not satisfied. He must hâve more ; he has the ambition to be prime minister, to replace Richelieu and Mazarin. It is to succeed in this aim that he inaugurâtes the long campaign recounted in his Memoirs, and becomes the directing spirit in the great revolutionary movement, which is the "Fronde." We will not follow him in his animated action, we will only speak of his own story ; for if the name of the cardinal is graven in ineffaceable characters in the book of history, yet the glory which De Retz was seeking in the domain of politics he found without wishing it in that of literature. It is toward the end of his career, in his retreat of Com- mercy, that the cardinal, at the solicitation of Madame de Cau- martin, draws up thèse " Memoirs," where he confesses the disorders of his private life ; reveals his plans to us, with the reasons that urged him on to the civil war, and composes for posterity the unforgettable work to which every one resorts when he occupies himself over the stories of the reign of Louis XIII. with Richelieu, the regency of Anne of Austria with Mazarin, and the most brilUant years of the reign of Louis XIV. As a narrator, De Retz holds the reader under the charm of his élégant and facile pen. He fears no rival when he ex- poses the intrigues of the antechamber or the cabals of the court, when he makes us spectators of the fall of a minister, or when he draws the portraits of his contemporaries. There he is incontestable and uncontested master. Read him. Every- where you meet the sallies of a highly acute mind, sallies amid CARDINAL DE RETZ which, in the style of the âge, he interpolâtes maxims full of strength and energy. Everywhere also you admire the extrême dexterity with which his original spirit can manage the terrible weapon of ridicule. In the seventeenth century the French language is not yet entirely fixed. As Michelet justly observes, " under the Fronde it undergoes something like a chemical transformation. It was soHd ; it becomes fluid. 111 fitted for circulation, it marched with a rough, powerful gait. But now, liquefied, it runs light, Swift, and warm, admirably luminous. If some exploiters of whimseys overdo the tinsel, the great pure stream flows on no less from De Retz to Sevigne, from Sévigné to Voltaire. The Fronde made this tongue." No one so much as Retz contributed to this transformation of the French tongue as an implement. The rather defaced éléments which compose it he throws into the melting-pot, purifies them with the fire of his genius, then élaborâtes with them his matter, refined from now on. In this transformation of the language he has for chief collaborators a Ménage, a Saint-Amand, a Chapelain, a Patru, a Scarron, — keen spirits, élever writers and lampooners, who gather round the table at which their coadjutor serves them an exquisite cheer, while leaving the field free to a dissolute gayety which knows no limit. The style of De Retz has no mannerisms. Unstudied, afflu- ent, he has " the free turn, the sharp and salient edge." His pleasing simplicity, his familiar fashion of speech, detract noth- ing from the brilliancy and the originality which distinguish him. He would be perfect, did it not sometimes happen that he is diffuse, incorrect, or not sustained. But thèse inequalities and imperfections make the spécial beauties of the whole stand out more strongly. If you would judge the writer according to his best pro- duction, refer to the seventeen portraits which illustrate thèse Memoirs. In a few words, in a few touches, you seize tha CARDINAL -DE RETZ person, and you always remember him under the aspect in which De Retz has represented him. Hère is the Prince of Condé, " to whom nature has given a mind as large as his heart, but whom fortune has not permitted to show either one in its whole extent, and who has not been able to reahse his merits ;" Turenne, " who lacks no quahties but those he has not been made acquainted with, who must not be denied any one of them ; for, who knows ? he has ahvays had in everything, as in his speech, certain obscurities which hâve cleared themselves !" " up only to his glory Listen to his panegyric on Mole : If it were not a sort of blasphemy to say that there is some one in our âge more intrepid than the great Gustavus and Monsieur " the Prince, I should say it was M. MoIé, the first président ! Madame de Longueville " has a languor in her ways which is more effective than the brilliancy of even those who are most beautiful, and a like one in her mind which is not without charm, because she has surprising and luminous wakings." Look at Beaufort, " that small, duU mind, whose jargon forms a tongue that would hâve disfigured the good sensé of Cato." Hère is Conti, " that zéro who only multiphes because he is a " " prince of the blood ; La Rochefoucauld, who has never been a warrior, though he has been extremely a soldier ; who has never been a good courtier, though he has always fully intended " to be one ; who has always had a curious twist in everything ! And how heartily De Retz laughs at the threats of Gaston d'Or- léans, threats "which in the mouth of Gaston de Foix would hâve presaged a great exploit, but which in that of Gaston " d'Orléans présage only a great nothing ! Saint-Simon is the only French writer who has pushed far- ther than De Retz the art of giving life to the persons whose portraits he traces. Both are as profound observers as incom- parable painters. But if their talent is exceptional, thèse writ- ers do not proceed after the same fashion. The Coadjutor, in his sketches, seeks above ali to represent the character of his personages ; he takes care for the forra ; he finishes his picture CARDINAL DE RETZ more. Saint-Simon, on the contrary, forgets no feature suscep- " tible of rendering the exterior physiognomy of people ; he pierces the countenance with his secret looks to gratify his curi- there " he tells ail he knows — the good and the ill he osity ; ; is violently and passionately satirical.
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