Chapter CXXXI: Letter CXX: THE ROCKS, Sunday, February 26, 1690

I could not have believed that I should have wept so much for La Chau; but it is impossible to read your account of his poor wife’s unfeigned and violent affliction without being affected to tears. This is, indeed, a peculiar misfortune, and a fate which nothing could prevent. The man is in haste, he wants to get to his journey’s end; he is advised, for very weighty reasons, not to expose himself, or, at least, not to go into the little boat; but he will listen to no one, he must go, he must be punctual to his appointment; Death is waiting for him at a particular spot upon the Rhône; he must meet him there, and perish. Good heavens, my dear child, how all this is arranged! Every one sees his own fate in this accident, and his wife’s grief becomes ours; as we are exposed to similar perils, it is our own interest that makes us weep, when we suppose we are lamenting the misfortunes of others. Christianity dictates to us that we should think first of this poor man’s salvation; but his wife afterward claims our pity for the loss of 4000 livres; if the dead body should not float, or the violence of the Rhône should throw it beyond Arles upon some unfrequented shore, Providence will dispose of this gold, sewed up in his wet coat, as of the rest.

I highly approve the resolution of not sending for the marquis, this is the surest way; the journey would be both expensive and fatiguing, and productive of no good but the mere gratification of your affection; bear this like many other things, and rather wait till he is a brigadier or major-general, than make him lose his time now. Beaulieu informs me, that he is quite overwhelmed with business, and that he attends to nothing else. Is it possible, that he should have visited Madame de la Fayette before Madame de Vins? I blame him; I am as jealous upon this occasion as you are, for I frequently put myself in your place; every reason should have induced him to have flown to Madame de Vins; she wrote to me the other day that she longed to see him, and to observe the difference and transition from infancy to youth. He has waited upon Madame de Lavardin, and will have time to pay her another visit.

M. de Grignan has resolved upon a very precipitate journey; it is difficult to avoid such courses, when we command singly in a province, whether for the service of the king, or the honor of the post. You never examine thoroughly into this business, except for M. de Grignan; this is natural enough; but the example should extend further. _No enemies_, my dear child; let this be your maxim, it is equally Christian and politic: I not only say _no enemies_, but also _many friends_; you have felt the good effects of these in your law-suit; you have a son; you may stand in need of those who you may now think can never be of service to you. We are deceived; see how Madame de la Fayette abounds with friends on every side, and of all ranks. She has a hundred arms, and they all serve her; her children feel it, and thank her daily for her courteous disposition; an obligation which she owes to M. de la Rochefoucault, and of which her family reaps the benefit. I am certain that you have been of this opinion for many years.

You explain Madame Reinié’s conduct very well; it is droll to think of her leaving Paris, her husband, all her business, to fly for three or four months _all over_ Provence asking for money, without getting any, fatiguing herself, returning after being at great expense, and getting the rheumatism into the bargain! for recollect that she has pains _all over_ her; and such as at length have defeated you.

I am delighted at Paulina’s partiality to M. Nicole; it is a proof that she reads him with attention; this taste gives me the highest opinion of her understanding; I also like her anger that the bishops do not fight for promotion. But, my dear, on your honor do you believe it right to give us only the first volume of the romance of the _Princess_, the _Infanta_, or the _First Minister_, so charming as we thought it?[262] I will not allow you to stop here; I insist upon knowing what is become of the princess’s good and just resolution? I am afraid it has vanished, by the necessity of the times, the want of a _minister_, the sudden journey, the impossibility of collecting _the leaves of the Sibyl_, idly and incautiously scattered to the winds for ten years. In short, I fear your good intentions will come to nothing, as I have so often found during the last twenty years: this story, however, requires a continuation, but it should not be too serious with regard to your affairs. I wish also to be informed of the success of M. Prat’s journey to the enraged lover of the Princess _Truelle_. I should like to know who were the confidants of the _first minister_ and _the favorite_; and who received the couriers. Tell me if you are still satisfied with _Flame_;[263] he is a very considerable personage in your household. I want to know some particulars respecting the count’s journey, and if the treasurer will do as he wishes: here are a number of questions, my dearest child, for which I apologize. It is kind of you to love my letters; when you receive three at a time you say you are rich; but what fatigues do they not occasion you! They are so very long that you should not answer them minutely. Adieu, my love; how does Lent agree with you? for my part I like it extremely. I took a mess of milk-coffee this morning: I am not yet surfeited with it, nor with sermons, for we read none but those of M. le Tourneux and St. John Chrysostom. It is delightful weather, the winter is past, and we have a prospect of spring that is superior to spring itself.

[262] This was an account, in the form of a romance, of what
passed in M. de Grignan’s family.

[263] M. de Grignan’s house-steward.

N.B. This letter is the last from the mother to the daughter.

LETTERS TO M. DE POMPONNE.

The following Letters, relating to the trial of M. Fouquet, were addressed to the Marquis de Pomponne, who was afterward Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The trial of Fouquet was not the least curious and least interesting event of the reign of Louis XIV. The plan of ruining him was laid with such odious art, and the conduct of his enemies, many of whom were his judges, was so inveterate, that it would have been impossible not to have been interested for him, even had he been more criminal than he really was. Accused and tried for financial peculations, he was sentenced to banishment for a crime against the state. His crime was a vague plan of resistance and flight into a foreign country, which he had thrown upon paper five years before, when the factions of the Fronde divided France, and when he thought he had reason to complain of the ingratitude of Cardinal Mazarin. This plan, which he had wholly forgotten, was found among the papers that were seized at his house.

It is well known that Louis XIV. was led to believe that Fouquet was a dangerous man. A guard of fifty musketeers were appointed to conduct him to the citadel of Pignerol, the king having changed the sentence of banishment into perpetual imprisonment. It was still apprehended that he had formidable friends. Among these were Pelisson and Lafontaine; one defended him eloquently, and the other bewailed his misfortunes in a very beautiful and pathetic elegy, in which he went so far as to ask the king to pardon him.