281 Noble homme was a title which citizens of importance took in all legal contracts, whilst men of less influence, tradesmen and artisans, were styled Honorable homme, and Messire was only reserved for persons of rank.

282 This youth was M. le Tellier, who became Archbishop of Rheims in 1671, when he was only twenty-nine years old, but who already, before that time, received the revenues of six abbeys. (See also page 47, note 126.)

283 Formerly six vingts, hundred and twenty—thus in the original—was as commonly used as quatre-vingt.

284 The first two editions contained a note of La BruyÈre, to say that by mÉdailles d'or he meant louis d'or. This he thought no longer necessary in the other editions; he only wanted to draw attention to the fact that the “youth” received his clerical dues in golden coin, and not by a cheque on some fermier-gÉnÉral, who would have taken a discount for cash payment.

285 This paragraph seems to be a hit at the fermier-gÉnÉral Langeois, whose daughter married the Marshal de Tourville, and whose son was married to a niece of de Pontchartrain, the contrÔleur-gÉnÉral of the finances.

286 Although this remark seems to refer to the Baron de Beauvais, capitaine des chasses, to whom the king had given the right of selling the briars and brambles growing on the road to Versailles, the portrait of Ergastus alludes to those men who were for ever advising to tax articles not already imposed, and by whom France became finally ruined.

287 Berrier, one of the secretaries of Colbert, is said to have been the original of Crito.

288 This is generally believed to refer to de Pontchartrain, mentioned before, who, for some time, was very pious.

289 See page 136, note 266.

290 The old English translations of the “Characters” say this is an allusion to M. Fouquet (1615-1680), surintendant des finances, who, kept in prison by Louis XIV. for more than twenty years, had a great many friends and partisans when in prosperity, but they nearly all turned against him in his adversity.

291 The desire to make one's fortune was so great, that at that time, even at court, it was customary to take money from forgers and scoundrels; thus the Count de Grammont drew about fifty thousand livres from a peculator, and the wife of the son of the king of France received as a present from Louis XIV. the estate of a prisoner who had committed suicide in the Bastile, which was thought to be worth a great deal of money. A similar custom existed also at the courts of Charles II. and James II.; and William Penn was even accused of having become an agent for the maids-of-honour of the court, and of obtaining pardons for a pecuniary consideration, but it is now generally admitted it was another Penn who acted thus.

292 The “Keys” think that either Nicholas d'Orville, the confidant of Louis XIV. and Mdlle. de la ValliÈre, and royal treasurer at OrlÉans, or Boucherat, chancelier de France, and a perfect noodle, according to St. Simon's MÉmoires, were alluded to as the “weak-minded men.”

293 See page 43, note 121.

294 A few of the “Keys” give Racine the poet as the original of such a man, but this is very unlikely, for Racine was a friend of our author, and, moreover, had acquired more glory than riches.

295 Some commentators think that the Marquis de Seignelay, the eldest son of Colbert, is meant here; for after his death, which took place when he was only thirty-nine years old, he is said to have left five millions livres debts; others pretend he left a capital large enough to yield a yearly income of four hundred thousand francs.

296 Boileau, in his fifth EpÎtre, says also: “Qui vit content de rien possÈde toute chose.”

297 Jean Fauconnet, fermier-gÉnÉral des domaines de France, became also receiver-general of two other taxes, which was very unusual. Our author speaks of “Fauconnets,” to indicate farmers of the revenues in general, though there was only one Fauconnet. In La BruyÈre's time the financiers seem to have despised men of letters; but later on, during the Regency and the reign of Louis XV. and Louis XVI., it became the fashion to invite literary men on every festive occasion, and to lionise them—a custom not unknown, even at the present time, and in other countries than France.

298 Our author had RenÉ Descartes' (1596-1650) name printed in small capitals, to remind his readers of the persecutions this philosopher had suffered.

299 Au denier dix in the original.

300 In former times French Governments often suppressed certain monies or diminished their legal value, and a law to this effect had been passed by Louis XIV. as late as 1679.

301 Orontes is supposed to be a certain M. Neyret de la Ravoye, who became later trÉsorier-gÉnÉral de la marine, and who married a Mademoiselle ValiÈre.

302 En bon franÇais in the original; just as we say “in plain English.”

303 A certain Count de Marsan seems to have made his fortune by marrying first one rich widow and then another.

304 These different degrees of legal dignity were formerly in French praticien, officier, magistrat, prÉsident.

305 Without any proof whatever, the “Keys” pretend that a certain intendant des finances, M. du Buisson, was meant.

306 The miser is supposed to have been a M. Morstein, formerly chief treasurer of Poland, who went to reside in Paris, where he died in 1693; two years later his only son was killed at the siege of Namur.

307 Thus M. LanglÉe, a “man sprung from nothing,” as St. Simon calls him, but a first-rate gambler, played for several years every day with the king. See also page 139, note 279. Gourville (see page 137, note 267) gambled with noblemen of the highest rank; and a certain Morin, after having lost large sums of money, was obliged to fly to London, where he managed the gambling table of the Duchess de Mazarin, and is often mentioned by St. Evremond.

308 Our author says in a footnote: “See the narratives about the kingdom of Siam.” The zombay seems to have been a very profound inclination and prostration of the body. In “A New Historical Relation of Siam by M. de LoubÈre, envoy extraordinary from the French king to the king of Siam in the years 1687 and 1688, done out of French,” and printed in London in 1693, we find “they (the Siamese) kept themselves prostrated on their knees and elbows, with their hands joined at the top of their forehead, and their body seated on their heels; to the end that they may lean less on their elbows, and that it may be possible (without assisting themselves with their hands, but keeping them still joined to the top of their forehead) to raise themselves on their knees, and fall again upon their elbows, as they do thrice together, as often as they would speak to their king.”

309 In the French parliaments or courts, councillors were allowed to plead, and justice was administered in the king's name; but these parliaments had no legislative power, and had only to register the royal edicts before they became law.

310 A game of chance played with cards.

311 Those who made their fortune by gambling were, according to the “Keys,” Courcillon, Marquis de Dangeau, who left behind him a very valuable Journal of the sayings and doings of the court of Louis XIV., which has often been printed; but he did not owe his success in life to gambling alone; and Morin, already mentioned, page 155, note 1.

312 All the “Keys” give as the model of a perfect gambler a certain Louis Robert, Seigneur de Fortille, who made his fortune as intendant of different army-corps, and lost almost everything he possessed; but as the passion for gambling was very common, and as the king was the first to give the example of it, ruined gamblers were to be found in plenty. Cheating at play was also not rare.

313 Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, after the death of her husband Odenathus, waged war for five years against the Romans, and was vanquished by Aurelian in the year 273.

314 Ouvrier, in the original, is sometimes used by our author for “artist.”

315 Phidias (490-432 B.C.) was a Greek sculptor of renown; Zeuxis (424-400 B.C.), a Greek painter, who is said to have painted grapes so well that some birds came and pecked at them.

316 The “herdsman” alluded to in the above paragraph seems to have been the financier La Touanne, trÉsorier de l'extraordinaire des guerres. He had a mansion near the park of Saint Maur, part of an estate formerly belonging to Catherine de Medici (Zenobia), on which he spent enormous sums, whilst the other part belonged to the Prince de CondÉ, who in vain tried to induce the parvenu to sell him his property. Hence the attack of our author on the man who dared to oppose the wishes of his noble patron. However, when this paragraph appeared, La Touanne did not yet live at Saint Maur.

317 According to the commentators, this refers to Jacques Bordier, intendant des finances, who, after having spent more than a million on his estate at Raincy, was obliged to leave it; but his creditors did not expel him, for it was sold by his heirs after his death.

318 The Marquis de Seignelay is supposed by some to have been the original of Eumolpus; he did not, however, enjoy a long life. (See page 149, note 255.

319 Libertin, in the original, which first meant a man of free-and-easy manners, came to be chiefly used in the second half of the seventeenth century for a “freethinker.”

320 Superstitieux sometimes had the above meaning; LittrÉ gives two examples of it in his dictionary.

321 Giton and PhÆdo do not apply to any one in particular, though some commentators maintain that by the first the Marquis de BarbÉzieux, the son of Louvois, was meant.

322 Now we speak of town and country, but in La BruyÈre's time people mentioned the town or city and the court, wholly different in customs and manners. Boileau begins his Satires with the two following lines—

Our author places his chapter “Of the Town” before that “Of the Court” and “Of the Great,” and leads up to that “Of the Sovereign.”

323 Le Cours la Reine, familiarly called Le Cours, was a part of the Champs-ElysÉes, planted with trees by order of Maria de Medici, the wife of Henri IV.; hence the name. The theatre finished then at seven o'clock, when it was not too late to take a walk in summer-time. See also MoliÈre's Les FÂcheux, act i. scene 1.

324 The favourite and fashionable walk, during the latter part of the seventeenth century, was from Paris to Vincennes.

325 That bank is now the quays Saint-Bernard and Austerlitz.

326 Bourdaloue (1632-1704), a celebrated preacher, censures a similar behaviour in his sermon on Les Divertissements du Monde.

327 To the grande robe belonged all magistrates; to the petite robe all avouÉs and procureurs, somewhat like attorneys and solicitors; the avocats or barristers were between the two, and the court of justice or parlement above them all.

328 The avocats were generally not considered to belong to the grande robe, and La BruyÈre was one of them; the latter part of the paragraph is a direct attack on the sale of legal offices.

329 This applies, according to the “Keys,” to a certain M. de la Briffe, a maÎtre des requÊtes, or to M. de Saint-Pouange. (See page 134, note 259.)

330 Two celebrated barristers of La BruyÈre's time.

331 J. H. de Mesmes, who became prÉsident À mortier in 1688, when he was only twenty-seven years old, is said to have been a constant companion of profligate young noblemen. A mortier was a round velvet cap, worn by the Chancellor and Presidents of parliaments.

332 See page 165, note 324.

333 The original has et qui a consignÉ, a meaning which we have still in the English word “consignment.” The explanation of this word is given by the author himself.

334 An allusion to the three fleurs de lis of the Bourbons.

335 Litre, in the original, is a kind of mourning hangings, or, rather, a broad velvet band on which the coats of arms of certain nobles were painted, and which was placed around the church, inside as well as outside. The right of using the litre belonged only to noblemen who had founded a church, or to those who had exercised a certain jurisdiction in their domains.

336 The commentators hint at several magistrates as the originals of the Crispins, and imagine that the Sannions were the family of Leclerc de Lesseville, the descendants of rich tanners, who became ennobled for having lent 20,000 crowns to Henry IV. after the battle of Ivry.

337 This “other man” was a certain President de Coigneux, who neglected his legal duties to spend all his time in sport.

338 Laisse-courre in French; formerly courre was used instead of courir, as a sporting term.

339 A. M. JÉrÔme de Nouveau, the head of the post-office, is said to have asked his head huntsman a similar question.

340 Hippolytus, son of Theseus, king of Athens, “a youth who never knew a woman,” thrown from his chariot and killed, is the hero of Racine's tragedy PhÈdre.

341 The Ile meant nearly always the Ile Saint-Louis; the Quartier du Temple, formerly the Marais, is even sometimes now called by that name.

342 The commentators have given the names of several obscure people for those “infatuated men,” and for AndrÉ as well; but it is surely not a rare thing for men to ruin themselves through vanity.

343 The AbbÉ de Villars, who died in 1691, was a son of the Marquis de Villars, French ambassador to the Court of Spain, and is said to have been the original of Narcissus.

344 The Convent of the Feuillants, a branch of the Cistercian monks, was in the Rue Saint-HonorÉ; that of the Minims, an order founded by St. Francis of Paula in 1453, was near the Place Royale.

345 Ombre, a Spanish game of cards, often mentioned by English authors of the eighteenth century; Pope has a poetical description of it in his “Rape of the Lock.” Reversis is another game of cards, played by four persons, and in which those who make the fewest tricks win the game.

346 A golden pistole was usually worth eleven livres.

347 The Gazette de Hollande was a newspaper published in Holland, and in which everything was put that could not be printed or said in France. For the Mercure Galant, see page 24, note 86.

348 Cyrano de Bergerac (1620-1655) was the author of the Histoires Comiques des Etats et Empires de la Lune, etc., of a tragedy, Agrippine, and of a comedy, Le PÉdant JouÉ, from which MoliÈre borrowed two scenes.

349 Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin (1596-1676), an author of various plays, novels, and poems, and one of the first in France to attack the authority of the ancients.

350 Louis de Lesclache (1620-1661), a grammarian and a writer on philosophy.

351 Barbin, a well-known publisher at the time our author wrote.

352 The Plaine was probably the Plaine des Sablons; for the Cours, see page 164, note 2.

353 The “Keys” are unanimous in saying that the Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who had married a sister of the MarÉchal de Luxembourg, and who died at the Hague in 1692, is meant by “this man.”

354 This was the boulevard of the Porte Saint-Antoine, sometimes called the Nouveau Cours, on the road to Vincennes.

355 A large garden in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine was called thus, after a financier of the same name who had laid it out.

356 A sort of mock tilting-match on horseback.

357 The alliance between France and Switzerland was always solemnly sworn, and this was done for the last time in 1663 in Notre-Dame.

358 Every year under Louis XIV.'s reign there were published large engravings, in which the king, the princes, and the principal persons of the court were represented, whilst lower down the citizens, the people, etc., were looking on, and the real almanack was pasted quite at the bottom.

359 Saint Hubert was the patron saint of the chase, and on the 5th of November, when his festival was held, the king and the greatest personages of the court hunted at Versailles.

360 Two small places near Versailles where often soldiers encamped and reviews were held.

361 Bernardi was the director of a celebrated gymnasium at that time, and every year his pupils attacked and defended an artificial fort, erected by his orders.

362 The Marquis de Chamlay was a noted tactician; Jacquier had been the head of the commissariate, and died in 1684; and Berbier du Metz, lieutenant-general of the artillery, was killed at the battle of Fleuras in 1690.

363 Beaumavielle, a celebrated basso-singer at the opera, died about 1688.

364 Marthe de Rochois sang at the opera from 1678 till 1697.

365 The Annales Galantes were published in 1670, and written by Madame de Villedieu; no Journal Amoureux ever saw the light.

366 Roland, an opera by Quinault (see page 28, note 99) and Lulli (see page 25, note 88, and page 46, note), was represented for the first time at Versailles in the beginning of 1685, and Mademoiselle de Rochois played the part of Angelica in it.

367 See page 65, note 161.

368 M. de Terrat, the chancelier of Monsieur, the brother of Louis XIV., is hinted at here, probably merely on account of his name.

369 Le mortier, in the original. See page 168, note 331.

370 La BruyÈre employs le vide de la consignation. See page 169, note 333.

371 PÉcunieux our author uses in its Latin meaning.

372 Gilt nails were the principal ornaments of the heavy and unwieldy coaches of the age of Louis XIV.

373 Some unprincipled suitors borrowed costly jewels which they put in the trousseau of their brides, but which had to be returned after the marriage.

374 Gaultier was the proprietor of a well-known warehouse for the sale of silks and gold and silver-embroidered stuffs in the Rue des Bourdonnais, in Paris, during the latter part of the seventeenth century.

375 According to an immemorial custom in Paris, a young wife showily dressed had to sit up on her bed during the first three days after marriage to receive visits. Several memoirs and letters of the time refer to it. Addison in “The Spectator,” No. 45, speaks also of the “English ladies ... brought up the fashion of receiving visits in their beds.”

376 People were then (1688-1694) in the habit of dining at twelve o'clock, and of taking supper at seven or eight; hence the reference to the “five hours.”

377 We do not know if this refers to Swiss porters or Swiss guards; I should think it meant the former, and intends to point out that the lady made three calls. (See also page 134, note 260.)

378 This paragraph alludes, of course, to the visits ladies pay one another.

379 Sou pour livre, or a penny in the pound, in the original, was a tax on merchandise of a twentieth part of their value.

380 Wax-candles were a luxury at the time La BruyÈre wrote, and chiefly manufactured at Bougiah, on the coast of Africa; hence their name, bougie.

381 In every parliament there were originally two courts, and two kinds of barristers or conseillers; one court was called the grand'chambre, where the cases were heard; in the other court, the chambre des enquÊtes, reports in writing were made of all cases.

382 The nobleman or lady of high rank to whom the education of the children of royalty was intrusted in France bore the title of gouverneur, or gouvernante des enfants de France.

383 Voltaire attacked this paragraph, and maintained it was ridiculous to praise our forefathers for being calculating, slow, coarse, and not very cleanly. Moreover, money should not be stowed away in coffers, but circulate. One of the latest commentators of La BruyÈre, M. Destailleur, observes rightly that our author only praises economy, simplicity, and moderation, and not avarice and uncleanliness, and that he merely attacks the pretended showiness of men wishing to imitate people of high rank; hence the last sentence.

384 Not alone La BruyÈre, but many of the most eminent persons of his time, such as Saint-Simon, Bourdaloue, FÉnelon, Massillon, Madame de Maintenon, the Duke of OrlÉans and his mother, had the same opinion of the court and courtiers.

385 It was only in the sixth edition of the “Characters” that our author printed Versailles in full; until then it was only “V ...”

386 The French has fourriers, petits contrÔleurs, and chefs de fruiterie. The first looked after the lodgings of the persons following the court when the king was travelling; the second superintended the expenses of the king's table and household; and the third set out the dessert and provided the wax-candles for the king's dining-room. A fourrier is still a non-commissioned officer in the French army who has charge of the quarters and provisions of the men.

387 Faire son capital, in the original, a phrase much in vogue during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

388 This paragraph is said to apply to a certain M. de BarÈte, unknown to fame, or to the brother of Madame de Maintenon. (See page 65, note 164.)

389 It was not considered etiquette to knock or to rap at the door of the king's chamber, or at the door of any nobleman's room; but a person asking to be admitted simply scratched the door with his nails, whilst the fashionables used their combs, which they always carried about with them to comb their long wigs. Only the princes, the grand officers of the crown, and some favourite nobles were admitted to the grand levÉe of Louis XIV., then officers of an inferior rank and a certain number of courtiers were allowed to enter the room; the crowd were not admitted, but had to wait till the king left the room, and then stood aside.

390 This is said to be an allusion to a certain Italian quack, Caretto or Caretti, then the fashion, who is mentioned by Saint-Simon in his MÉmoires and by Madame de SÉvignÉ in her Letters.

391 By the Castle is meant Versailles.

393 See p. 135, note 264.

394 Some commentators think this refers to the Duke de Bouillon, because his name means also “beef-tea,” and because he wished to add to his family name, La Tour, that of d'Auvergne, but the name was illustrious. A modern commentator, M. HÉmardinquer, rightly thinks it might apply to the ministers of Louis XIV., who all were descended from citizens, and took for their titles Marquis de Louvois, de Seignelay, de BarbÉzieux, Count de Maurepas, de Maillebois, etc., all of which titles might be considered “not pretty” as names.

395 This points to M. de Clermont-Tonnerre, bishop of Noyon, who always boasted of his lineage, and thought himself a wit because he had been elected a member of the French Academy by the desire of the king.

396 By the princes of Lorraine are probably meant the Guises, whose family name was de Lorraine; they were, however, princes de Joinville. The Rohans were one of the oldest families in Brittany; the ChÂtillons, of whom the Admiral de Coligny was one, were related to the Montmorencys, who date from the tenth century, and had been chiefly rendered famous in history by the connÉtable de Montmorency (1492-1567), the rival of the Duke de Guise.

397 The Oriflamme was the banner of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, and only brought out by order of the king the moment the battle began.

398 Demoiselle was originally the appellation given to any married or unmarried lady of noble birth, but in La BruyÈre's time it was generally applied to ladies of plebeian origin. In several legal contracts our author's mother is called demoiselle veuve.

399 There was no public lottery in France before the year 1700, but the king often had one drawn, and not seldom gave permission to hospitals and other public institutions also to have them drawn.

400 The king usually allowed the holders of certain offices to appoint their successors, or to hold such posts conjointly. But they had to pay heavily for such survivances, as they were called, to the royal tax-gatherers and to the original holders. (See also page 130, note 254.)

401 The original has tout l'appartement. The rooms where the courtiers danced attendance at Versailles were called thus.

402 Some commentators imagine this refers to the Marshal de Luxembourg, who in 1675 was appointed to succeed the Prince de CondÉ as commander-in-chief of the army—an appointment which gave general satisfaction—and four years later fell into disgrace and was exiled. The hero who “appears deformed when compared to his portraits,” seems also to refer to the Marshal, who was humpbacked. However, many other and earlier authors have made similar remarks about favourites of fortune fallen from their high estate.

403 There were three persons named Rousseau, well known to the courtiers: an innkeeper near the Porte Saint-Denis, the doorkeeper of the King's chamber, and the fencing-master of the young royal princes. Fabry was a man who was “burned at the stake for his infamous vices about twenty years ago,” says La BruyÈre; and La Couture, the tailor of the Dauphine, had become insane, and was always about the court.

404 See page 43, note 121.

405 The “Keys” pretend that Artemon is the Marquis de Vardes, who, after having been in exile for twenty years, intrigued to be appointed governor of the youthful Duke of Burgundy, and died in 1688, before he was successful; about a year afterwards the Duke de Beauvilliers was appointed to the vacant post.

406 An allusion to the Duke de Beauvilliers, mentioned in the preceding note.

407 The French Academy, composed of forty members, was established on the 2d of January 1635, and still exists.

408 It is said that the Minister of State Abel Servien (1598-1639) refused politely, and that Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661) did not know how to give.

409 P. Corneille, in his comedy Le Menteur (act i. scene 1), says also—

410 Saint-Simon adopts the word amphibie from our author, and names, among others, a certain M. Saint-Romain, who was ambassador at the court of Portugal, and enjoyed the income of two abbeys. Some commentators think this paragraph refers to M. de Villeroy, who was archbishop as well as governor of Lyons, and died in 1693; whilst others suppose it alludes to the Chevalier de Hautefeuille, grand prieur d'Aquitaine, and lieutenant-general to boot.

411 Menophilus is said to be either Father la Chaise (1624-1709), the Jesuit confessor of Louis XIV., or the celebrated Capuchin monk Joseph (1577-1638), the confidant of Cardinal Richelieu. Most likely the portrait was intended for neither.

412 When our author wrote, it was the fashion for gentlemen and ladies of the best society to be present at public executions. Even Madame de SÉvignÉ went with some ladies of the court to see the poisoners the Marchioness de Brinvilliers and la Voisin executed (1670 and 1680).

413 This “happy” individual seems to have been a certain M. Boucherat, who after his nomination as chancelier de France became very arrogant.

414 Some commentators appear to think this refers to M. de Pontchartrain (see page 143, note 288), who had been Secretary of State for more than a year when this paragraph first appeared in 1691; but this Minister was a friend and patron of our author.

415 There were two kinds of abbÉs. The abbÉ rÉgulier, who was always a priest, wore the habit of his order, not seldom was a high dignitary of the Church, and the abbÉ commendataire, who was a layman, and only enjoyed the revenues of the abbey; in time many a layman, who had no revenues whatever, either from an abbey or from any other source, adopted the semi-clerical dress of an abbÉ and called himself so.

416 A bishop wore a golden cross on his breast; cardinals wear purple dresses.

417 Louis XIV. used on festive occasions to bestow various gifts on his courtiers, as well as abbeys and ecclesiastical appointments on clerical dignitaries.

418 The “Keys” give the names of several well-known financiers as those “knaves.”

419 In the original homme de bien. (See page 43, note 121.)

420 Our author imitates some old French writer, or at least employs antiquated words, of which the only one worthy of notice is saffranier, stained with saffron, because the houses of bankrupt traders were formerly stained yellow; hence saffranier meant “a bankrupt.”

421 Another allusion to the disgrace of the Duke de Luxembourg. (See page 195, note 402), which happened from 1679 to 1681.

422 This new Minister was, according to some, M. Claude le Peletier (see page 54, note 1), appointed contrÔleur-gÉnÉral des finances in 1683, and with whom the Duke de Villeroy, afterwards defeated by Marlborough at Ramillies, 1706, claimed relationship, though without any foundation. It seems more likely to have referred to M. de Pontchartrain. (See page 201, note 414.)

423 Plancus is the Minister for War, Louvois, who died suddenly in 1691, about a year before this paragraph appeared: Tibur stands for Meudon, near Paris. In the ancient Tibur, a town of Latium to the east of Rome, and now called Tivoli, the Latin poet Horace had his country-seat; Plancus, the Consul, was one of his friends.

424 This is a reference to Psalm cxxxv. 16, 17.

425 In French certaines livrÉes, certain liveries. Can this be an allusion to the justaucorps À brevet, or coats only worn by the King's permission?

426 The commentators suppose that a certain AbbÉ de Choisy (1644-1724) is meant, who passed a great part of his life dressed as a woman.

427 See page 121, note 227.

428 The original has tout ce qui paraÎt de nouveau avec les livrÉes de la faveur. See also page 205, note 425.

429 The Italian astronomer T. D. Cassini (1625-1712) was the head of the Parisian Observatoire for astronomical studies.

430 A parhelion is a mock sun or meteor near the sun, sometimes tinged with colours; a parallax is the difference between its position as seen from some point on the earth's surface and its position as seen from some other conventional point.

431 This is a hit at the courtiers, who all simulated piety after the king had married Madame de Maintenon and revoked the edict of Nantes in 1685, and when he was wholly governed by the Jesuits. This paragraph first appeared in the seventh edition of the “Characters” in 1692.

432 Cheminer, in the original; a word much employed by the courtiers of Louis XIV.

433 This country is, of course, the court.

434 By Harlequin's comedies the Italian stage is meant.

435 See page 174, note 356.

436 All the “Keys” say this is an allusion to the Cardinal de Bouillon; but the “Keys” are wrong, for his disgrace did not end until 1690, when this paragraph had already been two years published.

437 Xantippus is supposed to be M. de Bontemps, the son of one of the premiers valets de chambre of the king; but this supposition seems not correct, for he was brought up at court, and was never what can be called “a favourite.”

438 See page 186, note 389.

439 See also page 213, § 75.

440 The court, Versailles, and the mass which Louis XIV. attended daily in the royal chapel are alluded to in the above paragraph. The Iroquois and the Hurons, both tribes of North American Indians, were, at the time La BruyÈre wrote, considered as typical savages, and are often mentioned in the literature of the period.

441 De Bussy-Rabutin, Madame de SÉvignÉ, the Marshal de Villeroy, and the Duke de Richelieu, all describe in their writings the misery they felt on not seeing the king.

442 This seems to be an ironical allusion to the idolatrous worship the courtiers felt, or at least pretended to feel, for Louis XIV., whom they considered “the image of the Divinity on earth.”

443 Pascal expresses a similar thought in his PensÉes, vi. 19, and so do other authors. The commentators mention as known court-wits the Count de Grammont, the Duke de Roquelaure, the Duke de Lauzun, the Count de Bussy-Rabutin, and others.

444 M. de Bontemps and the Marquis de Dangeau, both of whom we have already mentioned (see page 210, note 437, and page 156, note 311), seem to be meant.

445 The commentators give the names of several personages, all already mentioned before, such as the Count d'AubignÉ, the Chancellor Boucherat, the Archbishop of Rheims, Le Tellier, and others.

446 All the “Keys” say that M. de Pomponne (1618-1699) is meant by Aristides; but he was still in disgrace when this paragraph was published (1689), and remained so for two years longer.

447 Straton is undoubtedly the Duke de Lauzun, and his brother-in-law, the Duke de Saint-Simon, admits it. Lauzun had been a great favourite of the king, and had nearly married Louis XIV.'s cousin, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, but he was disgraced, imprisoned for ten years, partly reinstated in the king's favour, banished again from the court, and finally sent with an army of French auxiliaries to assist James II. in Ireland, where he was present at the battle of the Boyne. The Duke died in 1723, at the age of ninety.

448 The first and last paragraphs of this chapter are an epitome of the whole.

449 Nearly all commentators suppose that Theagenes is Phillippe de VendÔme (1655-1727), grand prieur de Malte, a grandson of Henry IV. and Gabrielle d'EstrÉes, and one of the most profligate men of his age; but it is more likely that La BruyÈre wished to reprove his former pupil, the Duke de Bourbon, who at the time this paragraph appeared (1691) was but twenty-three years old, and addicted to very bad company.

450 This seems to be an allusion to Louis XIV., who never felt the loss of any of his ministers or officers. The latter part of the above paragraph probably refers to the successors of Turenne, CondÉ, and Colbert, who had all been dead some time before the year 1689, when it first appeared.

451 If the AbbÉ de Choisy (see page 205, note 426) ever told La BruyÈre how he was brought up, as he mentions in his MÉmoires, there can be no doubt he was the original of Lucilius.

452 In the original, il se fait de fÊte; an expression also used by other authors in La BruyÈre's time.

453 Theophilus is generally believed to have been the AbbÉ Roquette (1623-1707), Bishop of Autun, the supposed prototype of MoliÈre's Tartuffe, and, according to Saint-Simon, “a man all sugar and honey, and mixed up in every intrigue.” The “great man ... scarcely set foot on shore” was James II. of England, who came to France in 1689, two years before the above paragraph was published. The AbbÉ Roquette's character seems not so black as it has been painted, at least according to M. J. Henri Pignot's Life of him, published in 1876.

454 Compare in the chapter “Of Personal Merit,” § 33.

455 Telephon, an odd name now, is said to be a portrait of FranÇois d'Aubusson (1625-1691), Count de la Feuillade, Duke de Rouanez, and Marshal of France, who at his cost erected a bronze monument to the glory of Louis XIV. on the Place des Victoires in Paris, where it still stands.

456 Davus is a certain Prudhomme, a proprietor of bath-and wash-houses, with whom M. de la Feuillade lodged before he became a favourite, in whom he had always the greatest confidence, and whose daughter he is supposed to have married after the death of his first wife.

457 It is even now usual for strict Roman Catholics abroad to celebrate the day of the saint after which they are named, instead of the day on which they are born.

458 Rinaldo is the Achilles of the Christian army in Tasso's “Jerusalem Delivered,” and the rival of Orlando in Ariosto's “Orlando Furioso;” the second is the true hero of the latter poem, the third the friend and companion of Orlando, and the fourth the greatest of the Christian warriors except Rinaldo, in Tasso's poem, already mentioned.

459 Among the great there were such names as TancrÈde de Rohan, Hercule de Fleury, Achille de Harlay, PhÉbus de Foix, Cyrus de Brion, etc.; even citizens took grand classical or romantic names.

460 The original has cÔteaux, most probably because some noblemen only drank certain wines which grew on some hill-slopes, called cÔteaux in French.

461 Thais, an Athenian courtesan, mentioned in Dryden's “Alexander's Feast;” Phryne was another Athenian courtesan, said to have been Apelles' model.

462 Philipsburg, an ancient fortified town of the Grand Duchy of Baden, had been taken by the Dauphin in 1688, after a month's siege.

463 Among the citizens who had “become powerful” may be reckoned J. B. Colbert (see page 132, note 255), whose three daughters married dukes, and whose son married a relative of the Bourbon family.

464 La BruyÈre had, no doubt, experienced this when at the Duke de CondÉ's.

465 The original has mal content, for, during the seventeenth century, mal was more generally placed before an adjective than now; at present mÉcontent would be used, which, when La BruyÈre wrote, had often the meaning of “a rebel.”

466 Gaston d'OrlÉans (1608-1660), the brother of Louis XIII., and even the Prince de CondÉ were examples of such “great.”

467 The original has vertu, in the sense of the Latin virtus, courage.

468 Thersites, according to the Iliad, was squinting, humpbacked, loquacious, loud, coarse, and scurrilous, but he was not a “common soldier,” but a chief. Achilles was the hero of the allied Greek army besieging Troy.

469 Le Brun (1616-1690), a celebrated painter, was still alive when this paragraph appeared. For Lulli and Racine, see page 46, note 124, and page 11, note 33. Compare also page 226, § 19.

470 Achille de Harlay (1639-1712), President of the Parliament of Paris, and descended from an illustrious line of magistrates, is said to have feigned an excess of modesty which was not natural to him. See also page 45, note 122.

471 This beginning of every English town-crier's oration, pronounced “Oh yes! Oh yes!” is merely the imperative of the defective French verb, ouir, “to hear,” now seldom used, except in the present infinitive and in proverbial phrases.

472 Aristarchus also refers to the above President, whose liberality, according to public rumour, was somewhat ostentatious.

473 Another allusion to M. de Harley, whose “wise saws and modern sayings” were proverbial.

474 A cabinet was a sort of social circle in Paris, where people generally met to exchange small talk and to hear the news or lectures on all subjects.

475 See page 19, note 68.

476 M. de Harlay (1625-1695), Archbishop of Paris, is said to have been the original of Theognis. (See page 46, § 26.) He was the nephew of the President mentioned on the previous page, note 122.

477 Pamphilus is the Marquis de Dangeau, of whom we have already spoken (see page 156, note 311), and who made himself ridiculous by his excessive vanity. Saint-Simon, in his MÉmoires, calls the Marquis un Pamphile, but our author speaks of les Pamphiles, and describes them at three different times, namely, in 1681, 1691, and 1692.

478 See page 47, note 127. When this paragraph appeared, the Marquis de Dangeau had been already three years a Knight of the Order of the Holy Ghost. The knights of this order wore a cross hanging from a broad blue ribbon, which were both depicted around their escutcheon.

479 See page 70, note 171.

480 Such an official was in our author's time called le premier commis.

481 The original has il vous coupe, “he will cut you,” an expression also used by Saint-Simon and Madame de SÉvignÉ; the English phrase “to cut a person,” in the sense of passing by him without pretending to see him, seems almost to have the same primary meaning.

482 Two celebrated actors of the seventeenth century; Floridor, whose real name was Josias Soulas de Frinefosse, died in 1672, and Mondori in 1651.

483 See page 240, note 480.

484 This minister is said to have been Louvois (see page 204, note 423), who liked to have many postulants about him.

485 See page 164, note 322.

486 The Rue Saint-Denis was a street in Paris crowded with small tradesmen, and still exists. Our author was nearly always afraid of clearly mentioning Versailles or Fontainebleau, and very often employed only the initial letters and asterisks or dots.

487 The original rÉpublique, which was inserted for the first time in the fourth edition of the “Characters,” is used in the sense of the Latin respublica.

488 During the reign of Louis XIV., the signboards, which were often very large, swung above the heads of the passers-by, and the police tried in vain to reduce their dimensions or to have them fixed against the walls. Sometimes the government interfered in the municipal or provincial elections without any opposition, and sometimes a diminution of town councillors, or a promulgation of a stamp act for legal documents, was violently resisted, and the rebellion had to be quenched by an armed force, as, for example, in Guienne and Brittany from 1673 till 1675.

489 Taxes are meant here.

490 Adolphe de BelleforiÈre, Chevalier de Soyecourt, a captain of the gendarmes of the Dauphin, died two days after the battle of Fleurus (July 1, 1690), of wounds received in this battle, in which his elder brother, the Marquis de Soyecourt, was also killed. Both those young men were the sons of Maximilien Antoine, Marquis de Soyecourt, grand veneur, who died in 1679, and was the original of Dorante in MoliÈre's comedy Les FÂcheux. The name of the Marquis is often mentioned in the lampoons of the times for his reputation of valour in other fields than those of Mars. La BruyÈre was a friend of the family, whose name was always pronounced Saucourt, and even sometimes written so.

491 Dijon, the former capital of Burgundy, had been besieged in 1515 by thirty thousand men, who retired after the conclusion of a treaty of peace which the king, Francis I., did not ratify. Corbie, a town in Picardy, was taken when Burgundy and Picardy were invaded by the Imperials in 1636.

492 This refers to the League of Augsburg, a coalition of England, Germany, Spain, Holland, Sweden, and Savoy against Louis XIV., with whom they were at war when this paragraph was published in 1691.

493 Olivier le Daim, first the barber of Louis XI. (1423-1483), became his favourite, but was hanged in 1484, after that king's death. Jacques Coeur, a rich merchant, rendered great services to Charles VII. (1403-1461), became his treasurer, and was accused of peculation; thrown into prison, he escaped, and died in exile in 1461. The characters of both these men were not very well known when La BruyÈre wrote.

494 The Imperial cavalry had a well-deserved reputation for cruelty and rapaciousness.

495 Another allusion to the battle of Fleurus, won by the Marshal de Luxembourg about a year before this paragraph was published (1691).

496 This refers to Mons, besieged by Vauban, and taken on the 9th of April 1691.

497 In the month of July 1690, a rumour spread in Paris that William III. was dead, upon which many people publicly rejoiced, until the news came that the report was false. The “Keys” of the old English versions name for the first and second prince “the Duke of Savoy and the king of Spain.”

498 The original has halles et fauxbourgs, “markets and suburbs.”

500 At that time the Sultan was Soliman II., who only reigned from 1687 until 1691.

501 The Grand Vizier Kara-Mustapha laid siege to Vienna in 1683.

502 A league formed in the Hague against France was called “The Triple Alliance,” and was entered upon in 1668 between England, Holland, and Sweden. Sometimes the treaty formed in 1717 between George I., the Regent of France, and the United Provinces is also called “Triple Alliance.”

503 Cerberus, a dog with three heads, which keeps guard in the infernal regions.

504 According to the commentators, two insignificant newsmongers are supposed to be portrayed in Demophilus and Basilides, an AbbÉ de Sainte-HÉlÈne and a certain du Moulinet, whom some think might have been an abbÉ or a magistrate, because instead of clothes he speaks of his robe or gown.

505 Proteus, in the mythology, is a sea-god residing in the Carpathian Sea, who could change his form at will.

506 This paragraph is the longest La BruyÈre has written; it covers between eight and nine pages in the original edition.

507 An indirect homage to the assumed gravity of Louis XIV.

508 Most probably this is a discreet allusion to Madame de Maintenon, whom the king had married in 1684, and in whose room generally a Council of State was held.

509 Bas de saye, in the original, is a plaited petticoat worn in Louis XIV.'s time by actors in classical tragedies; it owes its name to the Latin sagum, a military cloak of the ancient Gauls. Brodequins was the name given to the buskins of comic actors; the tragic actors strutted in their cothurnes.

510 This paragraph only appeared for the first time in the fourth edition of the “Characters,” published in 1689, and disappeared, never to be printed again, two years afterwards. It was probably suppressed for fear of offending either Louis XIV., who had allowed his former favourites, Bussy-Rabutin and Lauzun, to reappear at court (see page 18, note 65, and page 218, note 447), or of hurting the feelings of these two noblemen, above all of Bussy-Rabutin, who, after being admitted to the presence of the King, twice left a court where he felt he was not wanted, and could not obtain any command in the army.

511 This refers to Cardinal Georges d'Amboise (1460-1510), Prime Minister of Louis XII.

512 Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) is meant.

513 In politics, La BruyÈre was in advance of his age, but not in religious questions. He shared the idea of “the extirpation of heresy,” not alone with almost all the prelates of his time, but with some of the most eminent men in science, art, and literature, who all applauded the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), and advocated the notion of one religion for the whole State.

514 This is an allusion to the reduction of the interest on the French debt, and the calling in and recoining of certain monies, a measure which was often taken by the French kings, and even by Louis XIV., who, however, made no profit by it. See also page 152, note 300.

515 Colbert has been wrongly accused of having made money by those means; an accusation which was also brought against Mazarin, Fouquet, and the fermiers gÉnÉraux, on far better grounds.

516 Our author had to conciliate Louis XIV. at a time when it was supposed the publication of the “Characters” might make him many enemies. Hence the direct and indirect flatteries he bestows on the king, who prided himself on his complete mastery of details, for which he was praised by some and blamed by others; and amongst these latter must be reckoned FÉnelon, who in his Telemachus (Book xvi.) criticises Louis XIV. in the character of Idomeneus. That the king had a talent for mastering details cannot be doubted, and this is even admitted by the late John Richard Green, in his “Short History of the English People,” chap. ix. sect. vii., whose opinion of Louis XIV. I transcribe here, as a corrective of the flatteries scattered on this royal despot by La BruyÈre: “Louis the Fourteenth, bigoted, narrow-minded, commonplace as he was, without personal honour or personal courage, without gratitude and without pity, insane in his pride, insatiable in his selfishness, had still many of the qualities of a great ruler; industry, patience, quickness of resolve, firmness of purpose, a capacity for discerning greatness and using it, an immense self-belief and self-confidence, and a temper utterly destitute indeed of real greatness, but with a dramatic turn for seeming to be great.”

517 An allusion to an operation for fistula performed on Louis XIV. in 1686.

518 Voltaire, in his SiÈcle de Louis XIV., says: “From 1663 until 1672 every year some new manufactory was established. The fine cloths formerly imported from England and Holland were manufactured at Abbeville.... The cloth manufactories of Sedan, which had almost gone to wreck and ruin, were re-established.” See also page 48, note 133.

519 Louis XII. was called by the States-General assembled at Tours (1506) the “father of his people.”

520 Such was, however, the opinion of Louis XIV. himself, who states in his MÉmoires: “Kings are absolute masters, and naturally dispose fully and entirely of all the property possessed by the clergy and laity.”

521 This is another flattery intended for Louis XIV., who thought that his ministers got their talents “by virtue of their office.” The word subalternes, “subordinates,” seems also out of place applied to such men as Colbert and Louvois.

522 Louis XIV. was certainly not displeased when his presence awed those who were presented to him.

523 All those excellent qualities, which La BruyÈre thinks are necessary to a sovereign, were those generally attributed to Louis XIV., and which Saint-Simon also ascribes to him in his MÉmoires.

524 Another hit at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

525 A reference to the royal edicts against duelling.

526 Louis XIV., from 1667 to 1685, promulgated several laws reforming abuses in civil and criminal jurisprudence, and abolishing certain restrictions on trade, commerce, etc.

527 To say that Louis XIV. increased by his example the influence of religion and virtue, can only apply to him after his marriage with Madame de Maintenon. See page 258, note 508.

528 An allusion to the declaration of the liberties of the Gallican Church, published in 1682, and said to be written by Bossuet.

529 The commentators of La BruyÈre do not explain why the subsidies to be granted to the king were lighter in the provinces. Can it be that in certain provinces, called pays d'État, the subsidies voted by the provincial states were smaller than those voted by the authorities appointed by the king in those provinces not belonging to the pays d'État, and called pays d'Élections?

530 This allusion must greatly have pleased Louis XIV., who thought himself great as a strategist and as a politician.

531 Although this paragraph is only half the size of paragraph 12, page 253, there is only one full stop in it in the original, and that is at the end.

532 The original has avec, which, in the seventeenth century, often was used for “in spite of.”

533 The author adds in a note: “This is not so much a portrait of one individual, as a collection of anecdotes of absent-minded persons. If they please, there cannot be too large a number of them, for as tastes differ, my readers can pick and choose.” The chief traits of Menalcas are based on stories related by the Count de Brancas, who died eleven years before the above paragraph first saw the light (1691); others are said to have happened to the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon, afterwards Prince de Conti (1664-1709), and to a certain AbbÉ de Mauroy, chaplain to Mademoiselle de Montpensier. Eustace Budgell (1685-1736) depicts in No. 77 of the “Spectator” “an absent man,” and also speaks of Monsieur BruyÈre, who “has given us the character of an absent man with a great deal of humour;” and then prints “the heads” of Menalcas' portrait. According to Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, Budgell was the author of a translation of La BruyÈre's “Characters,” published 1699 and 1702; but in the edition of 1702 there is on the title-page, “made English by several hands.”

534 Many of the streets in Paris were so narrow when our author wrote, that two people could hardly pass abreast; it was, therefore, the fashion to “give the wall,” as it was called, to persons of a superior rank.

535 See page 243, note 486.

536 The wigs were already worn very long, and completely concealed the ears.

537 See page 164, note 322.

538 There was usually only one or two arm-chairs in a reception-room, reserved for the master or mistress of the house, or for both.

539 It was reported that Brancas, chevalier d'honneur of the queen-mother, Anne of Austria (1602-1666), behaved in almost a similar manner to his royal mistress.

540 Blotting-paper was not invented when our author wrote; even now it is not unusual abroad to find the ink of letters dried with sand, either plain or coloured.

541 Balais in French, a kind of pale-coloured ruby, so called, according to LittrÉ's Dictionnaire, from Balakschan or Balaschan, not far from Samarcand.

542 The king used to hunt at Fontainebleau almost every day in October. See also page 174, note 359.

543 There existed a great deal of coarseness at the court of Louis XIV. underneath a semblance of extreme polish and refinement, and some of the stories told by Saint-Simon of the habits and customs of the king himself would not bear repeating at the present time, and even be considered disgraceful by the lowest classes of society. As an example of this general coarseness, it will, no doubt, have been observed that it was the usual habit of decent people to expectorate on the floor (see page 277, line 12), as well as to throw there the wine they did not wish to drink; for Menalcas is only laughed at for his absence of mind, and not for his bad habits. See also in the chapter “Of the Gifts of Fortune,” § 83, the character of PhÆdo, page 161, and in the chapter “Of Society, etc.,” the character of TroÏlus, page 106, § 13.

544 See page 65, note 161.

545 In the Convent of the Carthusians, then near the Luxembourg, were to be found the twenty-two celebrated pictures of Eustache Lesueur (1616-1655), representing the history of Saint Bruno, founder of that order, who died in 1101. The greater part of these pictures is now in the Louvre.

546 This picture represents the burial of an eloquent and learned canon, who, whilst being carried to the tomb, rose in his coffin, exclaimed that he was damned, and fell back again.

547 See page 138, note 272.

548 Tallemant des RÉaux, in his Historiettes, tells a more probable story of de Brancas, how one day, being on horseback and stopped by footpads, he mistook them for footmen, and ordered them to let go his horse, and how he did not find out his mistake till they clapt a pistol to his breast.

549 Compare what our author says in the above paragraph with the remarks he makes in § 21, page 260, and § 34, page 266.

550 One of these fathers appears to have been the Duke de Gesvres (1620-1704), who spent all his money on purpose not to leave any to his children.

551 See the chapter “Of Society,” § 63.

552 Epidaurus, a city of Peloponnesus, where Æsculapius, the god of medicine and a son of Apollo, was worshipped.

553 This paragraph appeared for the first time in the eighth edition of the “Characters,” published in 1694, three years after the former favourite of Louis XIV., Madame de Montespan, had left the court, and about ten years after he had married Madame de Maintenon. Madame de Montespan had then become an imaginary invalid, and made frequent journeys to take the waters at different places, and chiefly to Bourbon-l'Archambaud, where, it is said, a doctor made her a similar answer as recorded above. It is doubtful whether La BruyÈre would have spoken of her corpulency, failing sight, and her growing old if Madame de Montespan had still remained a favourite; his former pupil, the Duke de Bourbon, had married, in 1685, Mademoiselle de Nantes, one of her daughters by Louis XIV.

554 See page 68, note 170.

555 This refers to the Prince de Conti (1661-1685), a cousin of the Duke de Bourbon, the pupil of our author. When the Prince's wife, formerly Mademoiselle de Blois, a daughter of Louis XIV. and Mademoiselle de la ValliÈre, was attacked by the small-pox, he nursed her so well that she recovered, but he died.

556 According to the “Keys,” this paragraph alludes to Louvois. See page 132, note 255, and page 242, note 484.

557 The original has “aux Âmes bien nÉes,” a very favourite expression of the French authors of the seventeenth century; thus P. Corneille, amongst others, says in the Cid:

558 Gambling was highly valued at court (see page 154, § 71); the Marquis de Dangeau (see page 156, note 311) owed partly his position to his successes at the gambling-table; and the mathematician Sauveur, a member of the Academy of Sciences, used to give scientific demonstrations before the king and the court of the various combinations of the fashionable games.

559 The Marshal de la Feuillade is supposed to be meant. Besides the monument he erected to Louis XIV. (see page 227, note 455), there are many other proofs of his eccentricity, as, for example, his going with two hundred volunteers to wrest Candia from the Turks, and his voyage to Spain to challenge a certain M. de Saint-Aunay, who was accused of having calumniated Louis XIV.

560 The commentators speak of a certain captain of the guard, Boisselot, and of an Irish officer, Macarthy, one of the generals of James II.; but there would have been nothing astonishing in their “mixing with the people.” It may be that this paragraph points at the Duke of OrlÉans, a brother-of Louis XIV., who had shown some valour at the battle of Cassel in 1677, but who was never more employed, and was not very “judicious.”

561 All the “Keys” say the Archbishop of Paris, M. de Harlay, was meant. See also page 238, note 476.

562 The Cardinal de Bouillon (1644-1715) is supposed to be meant by this remark; he was, however, according to Saint-Simon, always very dissolute in his manners. See page 210, note 436.

563 Some “Keys” name here wrongly Boutillier de RancÉ, the founder of the Trappists, whilst others speak of Le Camus, bishop of Grenoble (see page 47, note 4). La BruyÈre's allusion is far more general.

564 All the “Keys” say this refers to the Dictionnaire de l'AcadÉmie, but its first edition only appeared in 1694, and this paragraph was published four years before. See page 9, note 46. It alludes probably to those encyclopedias called TraitÉs sur toutes les sciences, trÈs abrÉgÉs À l'usage de la noblesse, or to some collection of anecdotes, a kind of omnium gatherum, entitled BibliothÈque des gens de cour; perhaps it might also apply to some verses then in vogue, and called vers abÉcÉdaires, of which the first line began with an “a,” the second with a “b,” and so on. Those “sports of wit,” which our author calls by the name of jeux d'esprit, witticisms, also existed later in England, e.g., “The Foundling Hospital for Wit.”

565 Several persons have been named whose duty it was to distribute charity to the poor, but it has been rightly observed that the person alluded to in this paragraph “makes a display of it,” and therefore it cannot have been his duty.

566 In French, soeurs grises, grey sisters, because the Sisters of Charity wore grey dresses. Bands were then worn by every one, but clergymen's bands were plain and called petits collets, the name our author gives them.

567 Holders of certain legal or financial offices had the right of reversion or next nomination whilst they were alive, and not seldom delayed exercising it until they were very old; but unless they did so within forty days of their death, and had paid an annual tax called le droit de paulette, so called after Charles Paulet, a minister of Henri IV. who established it in 1604, and which tax varied from a sixtieth to a fourth of the value of the office, the king had a right to make fresh appointments. See also page 192, note 400.

568 Jean FranÇois, Marquis d'Hautefort, who was, it is said, the original of Harpagon in MoliÈre's Avare, seems to be partly portrayed in this paragraph.

569 Some of the commentators pretend that the “courtier of a ripe old age” was the Marshal Nicolas de Villeroy, the former governor of Louis XIV., who died in 1685, and whose son, the Duke, is mentioned on page 54, note 3, and on page 204, note 1.

570 It is said that by Philip our author intended to portray the Marquis de SablÉ, a son of the finance minister Servien, who was the proprietor of Meudon, sold it to Louvois (see the chapter “Of the Court,” page 204, note 423), and seems to have been chiefly known by his love for eating and drinking, his eccentricities and his debauchery.

571 Louis Roger Danse, a canon of the Sainte-Chapelle, and a noted gourmand, is supposed to have sat for Gnathon, as well as for the stout Canon Evrard in Boileau's Lutrin.

572 The Count d'Olonne, a well-known lover of good cheer, who died in 1690, is said to have been limned as Clito; others think it was another gourmet, M. de Bruslard, Count de Broussain, who lived until 1693.

573 See page 179, note 376.

574 The potages, in La BruyÈre's time, different from what is now understood by them, seem to have been a sort of stew.

575 These were either entremets or side-dishes not larger than could be contained in a plate or assiette.

576 Trivial in French. See page 136, note 265.

577 See page 181, note 381.

578 This asking for an injunction was called s'opposer au sceau, literally “to oppose one's self to the seal.”

579 See page 130, note 254, and page 192, note 400.

580 Committimus, in the original.

581 The chairman is the syndic de direction.

582 Vieil meuble de ruelle. Vieil was, in La BruyÈre's time, often used instead of vieux, even before a consonant. For ruelle, see page 65, note 161.

583 The original speaks of the “Marais” (see page 172, note 341), and of the “Grand Faubourg,” probably the “Faubourg Saint-Germain.”

584 See page 72, note 175.

585 The “Keys” name for Antagoras two eccentric noblemen of the time now wholly unknown, a Count de Montluc and a Marquis de Fourille.

586 In Louis XIV.'s time France was divided into thirty-three provinces, and as communications were difficult, the inferior noblemen were what our author describes them to be, and had no other amusements but duelling, dining, and drinking.

587 The original has fourrures et mortiers; the gowns of bachelors, licentiates, and doctors of the various faculties were bordered and even sometimes lined with fur. For mortier see page 168, note 331.

588 In French les masses d'un chancelier, for the mace was always carried before the Chancellor of France.

589 La BruyÈre adds in a note: “We can only mean that philosophy which is depending on the Christian religion.”

590 An allusion to the theory of Descartes (see page 151, note 298), that beasts were only automatons without any consciousness of their acts.

591 In French “Alain,” the name of a rustic servant in MoliÈre's École des Femmes.

592 All the names given by our author have already been mentioned before, except that of Claude de Lingendes (1595-1660), one of the best preachers among the Jesuits, and whose reputation must have been great to quote him with such illustrious dead; and whilst Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and FÉnelon were still alive.

593 An allusion to the entertainments given by Louis XIV.

594 Such places were, in our author's time, Versailles, Fontainebleau, Marly.

595 This seems to hit at the courtiers of Louis XIV., who pretended to become devout in order to please the monarch and Madame de Maintenon.

596 La BruyÈre is not in advance of his times in what regards corporal punishment: Montaigne was.

597 For “caps” and “gowns” the original has mortier and fourrures (see page 168, note 331, and page 318, note 587); for fasces see page 139, note 278.

598 Some commentators think that the Marshal de Villeroy (see page 54, note 151) is meant by Timon, but this cannot be, as the Marshal was rather ostentatious, and not at all a misanthrope. Perhaps our author thought of giving another version of MoliÈre's Alceste, as later on he gives another of Tartuffe, in his portrait of Onuphre, in the chapter “Of Fashion,” page 395, § 24.

599 The original has entÊtement, “infatuation,” “obstinacy,” which sometimes meant “enthusiasm,” as in MoliÈre's Femmes Savantes, act iii. scene 2, “J'aime la poÉsie avec entÊtement.”

600 Our author adds in a note, “a pretended pious person.”

601 The original has pÉtitoire et possessoire, printed in italics.

602 M. Terentius Varro (116-26 B.C.) was considered one of the most learned among the Romans. His principal works are De re rustica and De Lingua latina.

604 J. Chapelain (1595-1674), the author of La Pucelle d'OrlÉans, an epic poem of which only twelve cantos appeared, was the wealthiest of all the authors of his time. Rodogune, Princesse des Parthes, one of the most successful tragedies of Pierre Corneille, had been acted in 1644, and this great dramatist died in poverty and want twenty years later, at the age of seventy-eight, four years before the above paragraph was published.

605 Bathyllus is Le Basque or PÉcourt (see page 67, note 167); the names of several long-forgotten female dancers or singers are given for Rhoe, Roscia—the feminised name of the celebrated Roman actor Roscius—and Nerina.

606 An allusion to the wife of Dancourt (1661-1725), an author and comic actor, who is, as an actress, said to have been neither beautiful nor excellent.

607 According to the “Keys,” the actor referred to was Baron (see page 67, note 167), or ChampmeslÉ (1642-1701), an author and actor, and the husband of a lady known to posterity as a friend of the poet Racine.

608 The Cardinal d'EstrÉes (1628-1714) was a member of the French Academy: his nephew, the Marshal, was considered a learned and polished gentleman. There were several magistrates of the name of SÉguier, of whom the best known is the Chancellor SÉguier (1588-1672). The Duke de Montausier, the former governor of the Dauphin, the husband of Mademoiselle de Rambouillet, and the supposed original of MoliÈre's Misanthrope, was still alive when his name appeared, but died about a year later, in 1690. The Duke de Chevreuse, afterwards Duke de Luynes (1620-1690), an author of moral and religious works, was a friend of the Port-Royalists. The first President of the Parliament, Potier de Novion, was a member of the Academy, and died in 1693. There were two Lamoignons—the first, President of the Parliament, who died in 1677, and his son, ChrÉtien FranÇois, prÉsident À mortier, the friend of Boileau and Racine, who lived till 1709. Paul Pellisson (1624-1693), the friend and defender of Fouquet, became perpetual secretary to the French Academy, of which he wrote a history, and was considered the ugliest man of his time. M. de la BruyÈre adds in a footnote, that in speaking of ScudÉry, he meant Mademoiselle ScudÉry, to distinguish her from her brother Georges, also an author; this lady wrote a good many novels then in vogue (see page 123, note 229), and died in 1701, more than ninety years old. For de Harlay see page 237, note 470; for Bossuet see page 47, note 128; and for Wardes or Vardes see page 197, note 405.

609 The Duke de Chartres (1674-1723), only seventeen years old when this paragraph appeared, was reputed very clever for his age; he afterwards became the Regent d'OrlÉans. By CondÉ, either the great CondÉ, who died in 1686, or his son Henri-Jules, the father of La BruyÈre's pupil, was meant. For FranÇois-Louis, Prince de Conti (1634-1709), see page 273, note 533; his father, Armand de Bourbon (1629-1666), had first been an admirer and then an antagonist of MoliÈre. For Bourbon and VendÔme see page 221, note 449; there was also a celebrated general, the Duke de VendÔme (1654-1712). The Duke de Maine (1670-1736), the eldest of the children of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan, was twenty years old when his name appeared in the above paragraph, and was considered a prodigy of learning.

610 The Cardinal d'Ossat (1536-1604) became an able diplomatist and statesman, after having been professor of rhetoric and philosophy at the University of Paris; Cardinal Ximenes (1437-1517) published several works of Aristotle, founded the University of Alcala, and promoted the publishing of a polyglot Bible before becoming prime minister of Charles V. of Spain. Richelieu (see page 261, note 512) wrote several theological works, some tragedies, and founded the French Academy.

611 The original has grimaud, also used by Trissotin in addressing Vadius in MoliÈre's Femmes Savantes, act iii, scene 5: “Allez, petit grimaud, barbouilleur de papier.”

612 JÉrÔme Bignon (1589-1656) was a celebrated magistrate; his son was also a scholar, and his grandson, the AbbÉ Jean-FranÇois (1662-1743), was a member of the French Academy. For the Lamoignons see page 333, note 608.

613 Plato expresses this idea in the seventh book of his “Republic,” but it was often in the mouth of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180), called Antoninus, as being the adopted son of Antoninus Pius.

614 Henri III. of France is said to have fainted if he caught sight of a cat, and some commentators state a certain AbbÉ de Drubec (see page 112, note 217) had this weakness. Shakespeare, in the Merchant of Venice (act iv. scene 1) also says, “Some that are mad, if they behold a cat.”

615 In our author's time there were only feather beds or straw palliasses, but no flock beds.

616 The original has praticien. See page 153, note 304.

617 A footman. We have already seen in the chapter “Of the Town” (page 137, note 1) how many footmen became financiers of the highest order.

618 This stands for Antoine BenoÎt, the royal waxwork maker, who had a gallery of waxworks called cercle royal.

619 B ... was a certain Barbereau who sold Seine water for mineral water, or perhaps Brimbeuf, another quack, who sold a specific for perpetual youth.

620 This may be Caretti (see page 186, note 390), or Domenico Ammonio, another Italian quack.

621 A good many panders at the court of Louis XIV. were politely called Mercuries, after the messenger of Jupiter; it is therefore difficult to say whom La BruyÈre meant. Some say he spoke of Bontemps, first valet-de-chambre of the king; others imagine he wished to hit the Marquis de Lassay, who had the reputation of being pander to the Duke de Bourbon, the former pupil of our author.

622 In La BruyÈre's time people wore long wigs but were closely shaved.

623 Tityrus is a shepherd, who, according to the first line uttered by Meliboeus in Virgil's first “Eclogue,” is one of those men who “lay at ease under their patrimonial beech trees.”

624 This is an allusion to the Siamese ambassadors, who came to Paris in 1686, and produced a great sensation.

625 The original has agreste, taken with the meaning it sometimes has in Latin. La BruyÈre says in a note: “This word is used here metaphorically.”

626 Our author was probably for a month either at Rouen or Caen as trÉsorier-gÉnÉral des finances, an office which he bought in 1673, and, whilst there, might have had a quarrel with some of his colleagues. This is the more likely as in the first three editions of the “Characters” the magistrates alone were named.

627 A game played with four cards, formerly in use; it was primero when the hands were shown, and the four cards were of different colours; grand primero when more than thirty points were made. In Shakespeare's King Henry VIII. (act v. scene 1), Gardiner tells Sir Thomas Lovell that he left the king “at primero with the Duke of Suffolk.”

628 This is supposed to have been a portrait of M. de Noailles, who was Bishop of ChÂlons when La BruyÈre wrote this paragraph, but who in 1695 became Archbishop of Paris and a Cardinal. The number of bishops residing in their dioceses was very small at the end of the seventeenth century.

629 An allusion to some members of the clergy and legal profession who frequented fashionable society.

630 According to the AbbÉ de Chaulieu, ArtÉnice is Catherine Turgot, the wife of Gilles d'Aligres, Seigneur de Boislandry, who, after a scandalous lawsuit, separated from her one year before this “Fragment” appeared (1694). She was then only twenty-one, and became, it is said, the mistress of de Chaulieu; afterwards she married again a certain M. de Chevilly, a captain of the royal guards. Her friend, Mademoiselle de la Force, is supposed to have been Elvira.

631 An allusion to the President de Harlay. See page 237, note 470.

632 This paragraph and the preceding one seem to refer to Pellisson. See page 333, note 608.

633 A grain is the 576th part of an ounce, which is the 16th part of a pound.

634 The original has honnÊte homme (see page 43, note 121) for “gentleman,” homme de bien for “honest man” (see page 49, note 137), and habile homme for “clever man.”

635 For “ombre” see page 172, note 345.

636 A portrait of La Fontaine (see page 335, § 19), who was still alive when this paragraph appeared (1691).

637 This is a sketch of Pierre Corneille (see page 9, note 45, and page 18, note 61), and Augustus, Pompey, Nicomedes, and Heraclius are the names of some of his tragedies.

638 Theodas is Santeul (1630-1697), one of the most elegant of the modern Latin poets, whose character, immediately recognised by all his contemporaries, seems to have been the compound of folly and sense La BruyÈre made it out to be; he is said to have died in consequence of having drunk a glass of wine and snuff given to him by the Duke de Bourbon, the father of our author's pupil.

639 These two men are said to have been the brothers Le Peletier. See page 54, note 150.

640 Bachelors in theology and the canon law were the only graduates compelled to study the history of the first four centuries of the Christian era.

641 Aristotle.

642 Cicero.

643 La BruyÈre did not wish to give a sketch of Socrates, as he himself admitted in one of his letters to MÉnage. It is supposed he meant to give a portrait of himself; at least he was sometimes called “an intelligent madman.”

644 A gambler was in La BruyÈre's time a regular profession, perhaps not considered quite as respectable as any other of the learned professions, but still decent enough to entitle its professors to be received at court and in very good society. The gambler was almost as much admired for his pluck and dash as a gentleman-jockey is at present.

645 It was generally believed that this paragraph refers to the minister Le Tellier (1603-1685) and to his son Louvois, for whom see pages 132 and 242, notes 255 and 484.

646 Cato of Utica (95-46 B.C.). Lucius Calpurnius Piso, the father-in-law of Julius CÆsar, had been accused by Cicero in the year 59 B.C. of extortions, and of plundering Macedonia.

647 See also the chapter “Of Mankind,” pages 308 and 321, §§ 104 and 139.

648 Our author had already praised people of a certain age in his chapter “Of the Court,” page 211, § 74.

649 An allusion to Pierre-Louis de Reich, Seigneur de Penautier, receiver-general of the clergy of France, who had been accused of having poisoned his father-in-law.

650 The Archbishop of Lyons bore the title of primat des Gaules, which is in the original French.

651 See page 192, note 400.

652 Pierre du Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard (1475-1524), a great military commander, deservedly received the name of the “knight without fear and without reproach.” Our author states in a footnote that the Marquis de Montrevel was commissioner-general of the cavalry, and lieutenant-general. Seven years after the death of La BruyÈre, he became Marshal of France. Saint-Simon calls him “a very brave but a rather stupid, not over-honest and ignorant man,” who died of fright by the upsetting of a salt-cellar.

653 This theory was maintained by Descartes.

654 Vauban (1633-1707), the great French military engineer, after the retaking of Namur by William III. in 1695, four years after this paragraph saw the light, was accused of having committed some errors in the erection of the fortifications of that town, but he proved those accusations to be unfounded.

655 Antiphilus is Pope Innocent XI. (1676-1689), who held other opinions as a cardinal than he did as a pope; he opposed the liberties of the Gallican Church.

656 The original has savantasse, a word always used with a bad meaning.

657 In French praticien. See page 153, note 304.

658 See the chapter “Of Mankind,” page 299, § 76.

659 An allusion to the siege of Namur, June 1692, which lasted one month, during which many courtiers and magistrates went there out of curiosity. Racine and Boileau were also present as the king's historians. The above paragraph appeared the same year the siege took place.

660 A French army of eighty thousand men under the Marshal de Luxembourg (see page 195, note 402) prevented William III. from coming to the relief of Namur.

661 According to M. G. Servois's preface to the Lexique of La BruyÈre, ravelin, a synonym of demi-lune, and fausse-braie, a counter breastwork, are antiquated in French. However, “ravelin” and “demi-lune” are still found as English words in certain dictionaries.

662 Montaigne was of the opinion of La BruyÈre and in favour of CÆsar; Pascal, in his PensÉes, on the contrary, thought that CÆsar, assassinated at the age of fifty-six, was too old for the conquest of the world, and that it would have better suited the youthful Alexander. See also page 49, § 31.

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 BruyÈre's 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 447.

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 Cicero's 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 499), 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 502.

676 An allusion to Pope Innocent XI. (see page 361, note 655), 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 355.

692 Four well-known antiquarians, the Duke d'Aumont, 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 392.

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 630). The latter's disciple was the Chevalier de Bouillon.

708 See page 173, note 346.

710 For Voiture see page 20, § 37, and note 72. Sarrazin (1603-1654) was a rival of Voiture in an affected and pretentious style.

711 The original has gens d'esprit. See page 20, note 70.

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 509.

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 319.

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 431.

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 BruyÈre's 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 121.

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 405.

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 MoliÈre's 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 MoliÈre's Tartuffe (act i. scene 5), where Orgon, in speaking of the hypocrite, says:

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 MoliÈre's Tartuffe, act iii. scene 3.

734 An allusion to Joseph's adventure with Potiphar's 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 author's time were continually dangling about the court, and not residing in their dioceses. See page 340, note 628.

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 BruyÈre's own note says “veterans,” a name given to the conseillers (see page 181, note 381), 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 Blount's 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 father's signboards for their family arms. See also MoliÈre's École des Femmes, Act i. Scene 1.

751 The D'Hoziers were a family of genealogists, flourishing from 1592 till 1830. La BruyÈre speaks most probably of Louis Roger and his brother Charles-RenÉ d'Hozier, 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 king's 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 d'hÔtel 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 Plautus' and Terence's 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 285), and of the Marshal de Lorges with Mdlle. FrÉmont, (see page 132, note 255), 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 mother's 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 d'Acre in 1191, or almost a century after Godfrey of Bouillon (1061-1100). Our author only mentioned his ancestor's 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 560.

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 Richelet's Dictionary, published in 1680, mentions the gigue as “une danse anglaise, composÉe de toutes sortes de pas, qu'on 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 723.

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

769 Les fourrures in the original. See page 318, note 587.

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 author's 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 323.

773 The author states in a note that by “making the most of one's 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 author's death, explained that it only referred to monies deposited in the greffe or clerk's 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 270. 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 266.

778 The President Potier de Novion (see page 333, note 608) 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 309.

780 See page 181, note 381.

781 See page 72, note 175.

782 Counsellors of parliament (see page 181, note 381) were obliged to wear bands, by an order of Council obtained at the request of M. de Harlay (see page 45, note 122); before that time they wore cravats like other gentlemen. See also page 65, note 162.

783 The counsellors of parliament wore red gowns, the magistrates red fur-lined cloaks. See page 318, note 587. The original of “on account of his money” is consignation. See page 169, note 333.

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.

787 Our author uses by exception honnÊtes gens for honest men. A certain Marquis de Langlade was put on the rack (1688), and after having been innocently sentenced to the galleys on a false accusation of having robbed the Duke de Montmorency, died there in 1689; and a servant, Le Brun, accused of the murder of Madame Marel, died after having been cruelly tortured (1690). The real criminals were discovered some time afterwards, and this produced a great sensation at the time La BruyÈre wrote (1691).

788 It has been said that the wife of M. de Saint-Pouange (see page 134134, note 259) was robbed of a diamond buckle when leaving the opera, but that it was returned to her by M. de Grandmaison, grand prÉvÔt de la connÉtablie.

789 The “Keys” mention as one of these men the President de Mesmes. See page 168, note 331.

790 During the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV., fire-raising was very common in the rural districts of France, and it was one of the means the peasants chose for revenging themselves on their masters for their exactions and for fiscal cruelties.

791 The original has lanternes, tribunes in Parliament whence people could see what was going on without being seen.

792 Il se voit officier in the original. See page 153, note 304.

793 Titius and Seius were often quoted in Roman law, as “A.” and “B.” are in English law, in stating a case to counsel. MÆvius was a wretched poet of Virgil's time, and seems to be wrongly named by La BruyÈre in apposition to Titius. According to some commentators, the mishap attributed to Titius really happened to a M. Hennequin, procureur gÉnÉral au grand conseil.

794 The notary, M. de Bonnefoi, in MoliÈre's Malade Imaginaire (act i.
scene 9) explains to the hypochondriacal Argan: “You cannot give anything to your wife by your will ... Common law is opposed to it ... in Paris and in all countries where common law exists.... All the good which man and woman joined in wedlock can do to each other, is a mutual donation while living; and then there must be no children.” And when Argan asks what he has to do to leave his wife his property, the honest notary replies: “You can quietly choose an intimate friend of your wife's, to whom you will give, in due form by your will, all that you can; and this friend shall afterwards give it all back to her.”

795 Vaudeville in the original, of which the primitive meaning was “a satirical song.”

796 Le mortier in French. See page 168, note 331. When the king was not present at a sitting of the Parliament, the president claimed the right to represent him, and therefore, to take precedence before any one.

797 A certain de CharnacÉ, formerly lieutenant in the king's body-guard, committed several crimes in Anjou, even coined false money, and finally was obliged to flee for his life. In many of the provinces the conduct of the nobles was so inhuman and disgraceful, that the kings of France were often obliged to appoint special committees, called grands jours, to try and punish them, the latest and most celebrated of which had been held in Auvergne in 1665.

798 The “Keys” name Louis de Crevant, Duke d'HumiÈres, who was made Marshal of France in 1668, and died in 1694; Jacques Henri de Durfort, Duke de Duras, brother to the Earl of Feversham, and also a Marshal of France, who died in 1704, at the age of seventy-four; and the Marshal de CrÉqui, as having displayed great luxury whilst in the field. The king, who had first given the example of such splendour, finally attempted to restrain it, and in vain promulgated edicts against it in 1672.

799 Hermippus is supposed to be a certain Jean-Jacques Renouard, Count de Villayer, maÎtre des requÊtes, a member of the French Academy, who was very ingenious, and always invented new machinery—amongst others, a kind of lift—and who died in 1691.

800 The original has improuver, now antiquated.

801 Leurs pensions in French. See page 381, note 695.

802 A d'Aquin (1629-1696), who was physician to Louis XIV., had one son a magistrate and another a bishop. See also page 273, note 533.

803 See page 186, note 390. Some “Keys” also say that perhaps Adrien HelvÉtius, the grandfather of the philosopher, may be meant, but this seems hardly likely, for HelvÉtius was wealthy, gave his medicine gratis, was a very honest man, and the first to recommend the use of ipecacuanha in certain diseases.

804 In MoliÈre's Malade Imaginaire (act iii. scene 4), Toinette, the servant, dressed up as a physician, says almost the same thing.

805 Constitution (de rentes) understood in the text.

806 Guy Crescence Fagon (1638-1718) became in succession physician to the wife of the Dauphin, the queen, and the royal children, and in 1693, when d'Aquin fell into disgrace, first physician to Louis XIV. He was for his time an able and conscientious man. His eldest son became Bishop of Lombez, and his second intendant des finances.

807 Fagon was a strenuous defender of emetics and of Peruvian bark, which latter remedy was first imported into France in the seventeenth century, and had become so popular that Jean la Fontaine sang its praises in a pretty long poem, le Quinquina, the French name of the Peruvian bark, so called after the Countess del Cinchon, wife of the Viceroy of Peru, whence the bark was first sent to Europe.

808 Fagon was also professor of botany and chemistry in the king's botanical garden, and one of the editors of its catalogue, called Hortus regius, published in 1665.

809 The belief in sorcerers and witchcraft was very general when our author wrote, and there existed an almost universal idea that robbers and murderers might be discovered by means of the motion of a hazel rod. Even the magistrates in France tried sometimes such a rod to find out criminals.

811 The going “open-breasted” was the fashion of the time of Francis I.; ruffs and bands were worn in France during part of the reigns of Henri II. and Henri III., but were no longer in vogue when our author wrote; they were, however, still used in Spain.

812 This is an allusion to the wearing of very tight silk stockings and short breeches, showing the legs.

813 It was never the custom in France for ladies to hide their feet, but in Spain it was considered highly improper and indecent even to show the smallest part of them (see the Countess d'Aulnoy, Relation du Voyage en Espagne, 1690); and as the wife of Louis XIV., Maria Theresa, was a daughter of Philip IV. of Spain, it is probable that the ladies at court followed the fashion set to them by the queen.

814 According to Voltaire's SiÈcle de Louis XIV., chap, viii., the king and his officers went, however, to the trenches wearing head-pieces and breast-plates.

815 Bertrand du Guesclin (1320-1380) was constable of France under Charles V., whilst Olivier de Clisson (1332-1407) filled the same high office under Charles VI.; Gaston de Foix (1331-1391), surnamed “Phoebus,” was Viscount of Bearn, and Jean le Maingre de Boucicault (1364-1421) was Marshal of France. They all four distinguished themselves in the wars against the English during the fourteenth century.

816 Our author now launches into a dissertation about the relative value of certain words which was far from unusual at the time he wrote, and is found in almost the same form in several contemporary writers. I also imagine the late Walter Savage Landor was influenced by La BruyÈre's dissertation when he wrote in his “Imaginary Conversations” the two “Dialogues” between Dr. Johnson and Horne Tooke.

817 Mais, says La BruyÈre in a note, but this word is not an anagram of ains, which comes from the Latin ante, whilst mais is the Latin magis.

818 It is not yet settled whether maint is of Latin, Celtic, or Teutonic origin.

819 Some purists wished to forbid the use of car, which was defended by Voiture. (See page 20, note 72.)

820 A good many words which La BruyÈre thought were going out of fashion are still in use at present.

821 De moi and que c'est que have been employed several times by Malherbe (see page 21, note 76) and other good authors, but these expressions are now quite obsolete.

822 Oraison, phrase in the original; antiquated in this sense.

823 The people formally changed the Latin syllables pro and fro into prou or pour and into frou or four; hence proufit, fourment, or froument, from the Latin proficere and fromentum. The scholars of the sixteenth century brought back these words to their etymological form.

824 In French adjectives in il derived from Latin words with a long i, on which the accent rests, form their feminine by adding an e, whilst adjectives with the termination ile for the masculine and feminine are formed from Latin words with a short i, not accentuated.

825 In the French of the Middle Ages these substantives had the termination els, aus, or iaus in the nominative singular plural, and el in the accusative singular and the nominative plural; aus became generally adopted in all cases, but dropped the s.

826 Vaugelas and his commentators insisted that all words not sanctioned by custom should not be admitted into the French language.

827 Laurent was a wretched versifier at the time of La BruyÈre, who published rhymed descriptions of all kinds of festivals.

828 For Marot. See page 22, note 79. Philippe Desportes (1555-1606), an imitator of the Italian school of poetry, enjoyed a great reputation in his time.

829 See page 122, note 228, and page 20, note 72.

830 The original rondeaux which are given here are not so old as La BruyÈre thought they were, and are merely very fair imitations, written probably about the end of the sixteenth century. The hero of the first rondeau is Ogier, generally called le Danois, which does not mean the Dane, but is a contraction of le D'Ardennois, from the Ardennes.

I owe the above translation to Mr. J. E. Barlas, of New College, Oxford, who has endeavoured to imitate the pseudo-antiquated style of the original, and to use several Chaucerian and Spenserian words.

831 The chapter “Of the Pulpit” was first published in 1688, and our author made additions to it until the eighth edition of the “Characters” saw the light, in 1694. He had heard all the best preachers of his time, such as the Jesuit Claude de Lingendes (see page 323, note 592), and the Oratorians Le Jeune and Senault, who both died in 1672, whilst Bossuet preached in Paris from 1659 to 1669. Bourdaloue began preaching there in 1663, Mascaron in 1666, FlÉchier in 1670, and FÉnelon in 1675. The only great pulpit-orator our author did not hear was Massillon, who did not preach in the capital until 1696. Several sermons on pulpit oratory were preached in France, and many books on the same subject had been published there before and after this chapter was printed.

832 Three barristers of repute in the seventeenth century, Antoine le MaÎtre (1608-1658), whose Recueil de Plaidoyers has been printed; Claude Pucelle, and Bonaventure Fourcroy, a friend of MoliÈre and Boileau, who died in 1691 and was a poet as well as a lawyer.

833 See the Chapter “Of Certain Customs,” § 42.

834 A certain AbbÉ le Tourneur or le Tourneux, who died in 1680 at the age of forty-six, is said to have been such a man, but was, of course, not allowed to remain long at court.

835 Bourdaloue (1632-1704) set the fashion of introducing in his sermons “portraits” or “Characters” of well-known individuals: a fashion which was much exaggerated by his imitators, and which also for some time prevailed in England. The Sermons of Dr. R. South (1633-1716), Prebendary of Westminster and Canon of Christ Church, Oxon, contain also many “portraits.”

836 Our author says in a note; “This was Father Seraphin, a Capuchin monk.” Others have been less favourably inclined towards this preacher than La BruyÈre was. This monk, who had been holding forth in Paris as early as 1671, preached in the parish church of Versailles, and four years later before the court and the king, in the palace.

837 Saint Basil (329-379) was bishop of Cesarea; Saint John Chrysostom was (347-407) bishop of Constantinople, called the “golden-mouthed” for his great eloquence.

838 Our author makes the same observation about dramatic poets. See his Chapter “Of Works of the Mind,” page 9, § 8.

839 Compare in Racine's comedy of Les Plaideurs the speech of “L'IntimÉ” (act iii, scene 3), to ridicule similar quotations.

840 The Pandects of the Roman emperor Justinian were a cyclopÆdia of legal decisions of Roman lawyers; and after they had been discovered at Amalfi in Italy about the year 1137, they changed the whole of the legal aspect of Europe.

841 There were three saints of the name of Cyrillus, but the one mentioned above was probably bishop of Jerusalem (315-388); Saint Thascius CÆcilius Cyprianus (210-285) was bishop of Carthage: whilst Saint Aurelius Augustinus (354-430) was the celebrated author and bishop of Hippo.

842 The preachers accused of a florid style were, according to the “Keys,” the Oratorian Senault, and FlÉchier, who in 1685 had been appointed bishop of NÎmes.

843 Theodorus is supposed to be Bourdaloue (see page 165, note 326). Some other celebrated preachers have also been named.

844 Charles Boileau, abbÉ de Beaulieu, and a member of the French Academy, who died in 1704 (see page 49, note 135), is said to have preached a morality such as is mentioned in the above paragraph.

845 A certain AbbÉ de Roquette, a nephew of the Bishop of Autun (see page 226, note 453), had to preach one Holy Thursday before the king, but through some unfortunate accident Louis XIV. could not be present, and the preacher, disconcerted at the absence of the monarch, for whom probably he had prepared the most fulsome flatteries, did not dare to mount the pulpit and deliver his sermon.

846 In the original clercs, to which our author added a note in the first four editions to say that he meant “clergymen.” The whole paragraph alludes to the missionaries sent into the provinces to convert the Protestants. Did La BruyÈre, in speaking of the “converts who had already been made for these clergymen,” hint at the dragonnades and at the other wretched and inhuman means employed to compel people to change their religion? I am afraid not, though he admits some persons could not be converted.

847 Saint Vincent de Paul (1566-1660), a well-known philanthropical preacher, very successful in his missions; Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1553), a Jesuit missionary, who made many converts in the East Indies.

848 See page 173, note 346.

849 See the chapter “Of Works of the Mind,” page 65, § 3.

850 Some scribbler of the time, a certain GÉdÉon Pontier, author of the Cabinet des Grands, is said to have written almost similar nonsense.

851 In 1689, the same year this paragraph first appeared, seventy-nine royal censors had been appointed, and no book could be printed without their permission.

852 The last sentence of the above paragraph was added in the fifth edition of the “Characters,” published in 1690, about one year after FÉnelon had been appointed teacher of the Duke of Burgundy, the grandson of Louis XIV. FÉnelon became archbishop of Cambrai in 1695.

853 See page 27, note 97. Several eminent divines had already written against “freethinkers,” and about a year before the first edition of the “Characters” appeared, FÉnelon preached a sermon against them. Those freethinkers were not deists nor atheists, but somewhat like those persons, at present called agnostics, who neither affirm nor deny anything, but simply state that they know nothing for certain. Among their sect might be reckoned at the time our author wrote the celebrated traveller Bernier, Saint Evremond, Bayle, Fontenelle, Chaulieu, La Fare, the Dukes de Nevers and de Bouillon, the Grand Prior de VendÔme, and many others.

854 The French name for “freethinker” is esprit fort, literally “strong mind.”

855 Another play on words in the original on esprit fort and esprit faible.

856 This is perhaps an allusion to the traveller F. Bernier, a pupil of Gassendi, who visited Assyria, Egypt, and India, and published a narrative of his travels in 1670.

857 Libertin was another name for freethinker in French. See p. 161, note 319.

858 The original has une personne libre, to which our author adds in a note, une fille.

859 An allusion to some such men as the Duke de la Feuillade, the Minister de Louvois, and the Marquis de Seignelay, who have been mentioned before, and who almost all died after a very short illness.

860 Whenever our author has an opportunity he always opposes esprits forts to esprits faibles, or faibles gÉnies, as in the above paragraph.

861 Leo I., bishop of Rome, called the Great, died 461; St. Jerome (331-420) was one of the fathers of the Latin Church. For Basil and Augustine (see page 446, note 837, and page 447, note 841.)

862 SpÉcieux in the original, with the Latin meaning.

863 This is perhaps a hit at Malebranche's Nouvelle MÉtaphysique.

864 At the time our author wrote it was the custom to allow masked people to enter a ball-room.

865 In “A New Historical Relation of Siam,” by M. de la LoubÈre (see page 155, note 2), we find: “The priests are the Talapoins.... They have umbrellas in the form of a screen which they carry in their hand.... In Siamese they call them ‘Talapat,’ and it is probable that from hence comes the name of ‘Talapir’ or ‘Talapoin,’ which is in use among foreigners only.” The embassy from the King of Siam to Louis XIV. took place in the year 1686. See page 338, note 624.

866 In 1685, when this paragraph was first published, La BruyÈre was forty years old.

867 St. Augustin (see page 447, note 841) and Descartes (see page 150, § 56) had already made use of the above argument.

868 Our author adds in a note: “An objection to the system of freethinkers.” An allusion to the system of Spinosa, which FÉnelon also attempted to refute in his TraitÉ de l'existence de Dieu.

869 “This is what freethinkers bring forward,” says La BruyÈre in a note. He means probably the disciples of Gassendi, and followers of the systems of Epicurus and Lucretius.

870 This is Descartes' doctrine.

871 Lucilius is supposed to have been the Duke of Bourbon, the pupil of La BruyÈre, and the spot of ground, the park of Chantilly, the seat of the CondÉ family. (See page 25, § 48.)

872 Instead of the Nonette and the ThÈve, two small rivers canalised by order of the Prince de CondÉ, our author names two other small streams, the Yvette, which has its source near Rambouillet, and the Lignon, an affluent of the Loire.

873 AndrÉ le NÔtre, a celebrated landscape-gardener, laid out the gardens of Versailles and Chantilly, and died in 1700.

874 The calculations of La BruyÈre were not always exact; thus the mass of the moon is eighty-nine times less than the earth's; it is 2165 miles in diameter, and revolves at a mean distance of 238,800 miles round the earth.

875 Our author argues as if he were no believer in the system of Copernicus (1473-1543), but he only states that the sun appears to move through the firmament, for on page 484 he distinctly mentions that “the earth is carried round the sun.”

876 If we suppose that the earth is immovable, the moon moves at a rate of more than eighteen hundred thousand miles a day, but in reality it moves at the rate of about sixty thousand miles during twenty-four hours.

877 Sound travels at the rate of more than nine hundred miles per hour.

878 It is in reality a hundred and ten times more.

879 Its absolute diameter is 860,000 miles.

880 The volume of the sun is equivalent to about one and a quarter million times the volume of our earth; but its mean density is only a quarter of that of the earth.

881 The mean distance of the sun from the earth, is, according to the latest results, about 92,400,000 miles.

882 Saturn's volume is 686.7 that of the earth; it is the sixth planet in order of distance from the sun, and describes in 10,795,22 days, or twenty-nine years five months and fourteen days, an orbit whose semi-major axis is 872,137,000 miles. In our author's time Saturn was supposed to be the planet the farthest from the sun. See page 135, note 264.

883 “Immensurable” is a word La BruyÈre tried to naturalise in French, but he did not succeed, yet it exists in English; “incommensurable” is to be found in both languages.

884 According to Arago's LeÇons d'Astronomie the star nearest the earth is still 22,800,000,000,000 leagues distant from it.

885 No south polar star exists.

886 Though the number of stars visible to the naked eye is not more than five thousand, thousands of millions of stars are in existence of which only about a hundred thousand have been observed.

887 See page 479, note 875. The sun is not the centre of the universe, but of our planetary system.

888 The atomic system of philosophy started by Leucippus, and adopted by Epicurus, Democritus, and many other philosophers, was that the universe, material and mental, consisted of minute, indivisible, and impenetrable atoms, which atoms were assumed to be the ultimate ground of nature, whilst necessity was supposed to be the cause of all existence.

889 According to Descartes' Discours de la MÉthode, animal spirits, which are so often mentioned in the philosophical and moral works of his time, “are like a very subtle mind, or rather like a very pure and bright flame, which is continually and in great abundance ascending from the heart to the brain, proceeds from thence through the nerves into the muscles, and produces motion in all the members of the body.”

890 Pascal already in his PensÉes (i. 6.) had called man “a thinking reed ... nobler than the universe, even if it were to crush him, because he knows he has to die.”

891 In the original ouvrier. See page 159, note 314.

892 Similar ideas as those expressed in the above paragraph are to be found in a sermon “On Providence” preached by Bossuet at the Louvre in 1662, which was not printed until long after he and La BruyÈre were dead. But as the two men were great friends, it is not unlikely that our author may have heard them expressed by the eloquent pulpit orator, either in private conversation or in a sermon.

893 See the chapter “Of Opinions,” page 364, § 104.