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LETTER XIV.

To Madame DE LA CHETARDIE.

MADAM,

CANNOT tafte of your Bounty without expreffing at

the fame time my Gratitude. You have feafted me indeed thefe four Days in the most delicious Manner, and either there is no Pleafure in the Palate, or your Cheeses afford a Relifh of the moft exquifite Kind. They are not merely an artful Preparation of Cream; they are the Effect of a certain Quinteffence hitherto unknown, they are I know not what kind of wonderful Production, which with a most delicious Sweetnefs, preferve at the fame time a moft pleafing Poignancy. Undoubtedly, Madam, you must be the Favourite of Heaven, fince you are thus bleffed with a Land that flows with Milk and Honey. It was in this Manner, you know, that Providence formerly regaled its chofen People; and fuch were once the Riches of the Golden Age. But methinks you ought to limit the Luxury of your Table to Rarities of this kind, and not look out for any other Abundance, in a Place which affords fuch charming Repafts. You ought long fince to have purified your Kitchen, and broke every Inftrument of favage Deftruction; for would it not be a Shame to live by Cruelty and Murder, in the Midst of fuch innocent Provifions? I am fure at leaft I can never efteem them too much, nor fufficiently thank you for your Prefent. It is in vain you would perfuade me, that it was the Work of one of your Dairy Maids; fuch coarfe Hands could never be concerned in fo curious a Production. Moft certainly the Nymphs of Vienne were engaged in the Operation; and it is an Original of their making, which you have fent me as a Rarity. If this Thought appears to you poetical, you must remember that the Subject is fo too; and might with great Propriety make part of an Eclogue, or enter into fome Corner of a Paftoral. But I am by no means an Adept in the Art of Rhyming; befides, it is neceffary I fhould quit the Language of Fable, to affure you in very true and very ferious Profe, I fo highly honour your Virtue, that I fhould always think I owed vou much, though I had never received

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received any Favour at your Hands; and if you were not my Benefactress, I should nevertheless be always,

MADAM,

Your, &c.

BALZAC.

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SIR,

LETTER XV.

To the Mayor of ANGOULEME.

Persuade myself that the Request which the Bearer of this will make to you on my Behalf, will not be difagreeable. It concerns indeed the public Intereft as well as mine; and I know you are fo punctual in the Functions of your Office, that to point out to you a Grievance, is almoft the fame as to redress it. At the Entrance of the Fauxbourg Lomeau, there is a Way of which one cannot complain in common Terms. It would draw Imprecations from a Man that never used a stronger Affirmative in all his Life than yea verily ; and raise the Indignation even of the mildeft Father of the Oratory. It was but the Day before Yesterday, that I had like to have been loft in it, and was in imminent Danger of being caft away in a terrible Slough. Had it indeed been in the open Sea, and in a fhattered Veffel, expofed to the Fury of the Winds and Waves, the Accident would have been nothing extraordinary; but to fuffer fuch a Misfortune upon Land, in a Coach, and during the very Time of your Mayoralty, would have been beyond all Credit or Confolation. Two or three Words of an Order from you, would put this Affair into a better Situation, and at the fame time oblige a whole County. Let me hope then that you will give Occafion to thofe without your District to join in Applaufes with your own Citizens, and not fuffer your Province, which you have embellifh'd in fo many other Parts, to be disfigured in this by fo vile a Blemish. But after the Intereft of the Public has had its due Weight with you, will you not allow me to have fome Share in your Confideration, and

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be inclined to favour a Perfon who is thought not to be ungrateful for the good Offices he receives? There are who will fay even more, and affure you that you have an Opportunity of extending your Reputation beyond the Bounds of your Province, and of making the Remembrance of your Mayoralty laft longer then its annual Period. I fhall learn by the return of the Bearer, if you think my Friends speak the Truth, and whether you have fo high an Opinion of the Acknowledgment I fhall make to you, as to comply with the Request I have already tender'd: To which I have only to add the Affurance of my being, with great Sincerity,

SIR,

Your, &c.

BALZAC,

LETTER XVI.

To a young Gentleman at School.

DEAR MASTER F.

AM glad to hear you are well fixt in your new School,

I have now before me the three laft Letters which you

fent your Father, and, at his Defire, am going to give you a few Directions concerning Letter-writing, in hopes they may be of some small Service toward improving your Talent that way.

When you fit down to write, call off your Thoughts from every other Thing but the Subject you intend to handle: Confider it with Attention, place it in every Point of View, and examine it on every Side before you begin. By this means you will lay a Plan of it in your Mind, which will rife like a well-contrived Building, beautiful, uniform, and regular: Whereas, if you neglect to form to yourself fome Method of going through the Whole, and leave it to be conducted by giddy Accident, your Thoughts upon any Subject can never appear otherways than as a mere heap of Confufion. Confider you are now to form a Stile, or, in other Words, to learn the Way of expreffing what you think; and your do

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ing it well or ill for your whole Life, will depend, in a great measure, upon the Manner you fall into at the Beginning. It is of great Confequence therefore, to be attentive and diligent at firft; and an expreffive, genteel, and eafy Manner of Writing, is fo ufeful, fo engaging a Quality, that whatever Pains it cofts, it amply will repay. Nor is the Tafk fo difficult as you at firft may think, a little Practice and Attention will enable you to lay down your Thoughts in Order; and I from time to time will inftruct and give you Rules for fo doing. But, on your Part, I shall expect Observance and Application, without which nothing can be done.

As to Subjects, you are allowed in this Way the utmost Liberty. Whatfoever has been done, or thought, or feen, or heard; your Obfervations on what you know, your Enquiries about what you do not know; the Time, the Place, the Weather, every thing around ftands ready for your Purpofe; and the more Variety your intermix, the better. Set Difcourfes require a Dignity or Formality of Stile fuitable to the Subject; whereas Letter-writing rejects all Pomp_of Words, and is moft agreeable, when most familiar. But tho' lofty Phrafes are here improper, the Stile muft not therefore fink into Meannefs: And to prevent its doing so, an easy Complaifance, an open Sincerity, and unaffected Good Nature, fhould appear in every Place. A Letter fhould wear an honeft, chearful Countenance, like one who truly esteems, and is glad to fee his Friend; and not look like a Fop admiring his own Drefs, and feemingly pleafed with nothing but himself.

Exprefs your Meaning as briefly as poffible; long Periods may please the Ear, but they perplex the Understanding. Let your Letters abound with Thoughts more than Words. A fhort Stile, and plain, ftrikes the Mind, and fixes an Impreffion; a tedious one is feldom clearly understood, and never long remember'd. But there is ftill fomething requifite beyond all this, towards the writing a polite and agreeable Letter, fuch as a Gentleman ought to be diftinguished by; and that is, an Air of good Breeding and Humanity, which cught conftantly to appear in every Expreffion, and give a Beauty to the Whole. By this, I would not be fuppos'd to mean,, overstrain'd or affected Compliments, or any thing that way tending, but an eafy, genteel, and obliging manner of Addrefs, a Choice of Words which bear the moft civil Meaning, and a generous and good-natur'd Complaifance. What I have faid of the Stile of your Letters, is intended as a Direction for your Converfation alfo, of which your

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Care is neceflary, as well as of your Writing. As the Profcffion allotted for you will require you to speak in Public, you should be more than ordinary folicitous how to express yourfelf, upon all Occafions, in a clear and proper Manner, and to acquire an Habit of ranging your Thoughts readily, in apt and handsome Terms; and not blunder out your Meaning, or be ashamed to speak it for want of Words. Common Converfation is not of fo little Confequence as you may imagine; and if you now accuftom yourself to talk at random, you will find it hereafter not eafy to do otherwife.

I wifh you good Succefs in all your Studies, and am certain your Capacity is equal to all your Father's Hopes. Confider, the Advantage will be all your own; and your Friends can have no other Share of it, but the Satisfaction of feeing you a learned and a virtuous Man.

I am,

SIR,

your affectionate Friend,

and bumble Servant,

B.

ARITH