328 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2n'» S. VII. April 16. '59. 



acknowledged merit and fidelity. Thus, respecting the 

 siege of Cumes, which the MS. key describes as being " le 

 sifege de Dunkerque exactement decrit selon la v^rit^," 

 oar author says, " la clef a raison ; car la description que 

 donne le Cyrus est ^videmment faite, non seulement 

 d'aprfes le recit officiel ins^r^ dans le Moniteur du temps, 

 la Gazette, au mois d'Octobre, 1646, sous ce titre: Jour- 

 nal du siege de Dunkerque, mais d'aprfes deux autres rela- 

 tions contemporaines, bien superieures h. celle-la, et tout 

 aussi authentiques, composees et publi^es par deux amis 

 de Mile, de Scud^ry." These relations are, I" Arnauld de 

 Corbeville's relation de ce qui s'est passi en Flandre durant 

 la campagne de 1646 (56 pages 4», Paris, 1647, very 

 scarce) ; and Sarasin's Histoire du Siege de Durikerque 

 (CEuvres, Paris, 1656, S"). The remarks on the battles of 

 Lens and Rocroy are equally striking. 



Chap. V. — U Aristocralie. — Nothing is more piquant 

 than the description M. Cousin gives us of all the cha- 

 racters introduced by Mile, de Scud^rj' in the Cyrus. The 

 Countess de Fiesque, the Countess de Maure, Mile, de 

 Vandy, all the fair ladies which we can now see gracing 

 the galleries of Versailles, and painted by Le Brun or 

 Mignard, here appear before us characterised in a few 

 words with all their qualities and their defects. 



Chaps. VI. VII. — U Hotel de Rambouilkt. AngSlique 

 Paulet. — For an account of the salon which served to 

 diffuse, two hundred years ago, a taste for literature and 

 intellectual pleasures of every kind, we must consult 

 these chapters and the four following. Amongst a va- 

 riety of curious details, M. Cousin gives some particu- 

 larities respecting the celebrated Guirlande de Julie 

 presented by the Duke de Montausier to Mademoiselle 

 de Rambouillet. It is rather singular that editors should 

 persist in ascribing to Pierre Corneille three of the ma- 

 drigals composing the collection. They are from the pen 

 of Conrart, whose name appears on the original MS. 

 yVith reference to Montausier himself, M. Cousin clearly 

 proves that the reputation that nobleman had acquired 

 for pre-eminent virtue was by no means deserved. His 

 sour temper was considered as a mark of stoicism, and 

 the habit he had of finding fault with other people seems 

 to be the only ground for considering him as the original 

 of Moliere's Alceste in Le Misanthrope. 



Chaps. VIII. — XV. — Mademoiselle de Scudery. — The 

 Hotel de Rambouillet was the aristocratic centre of the 

 pricieux and precieuses, but the distinguished persons 

 who used to assemble round the accomplished marquise 

 were as assiduous at the Saturday reunions of the au- 

 thoress of the Grand Cyrus. We may say indeed that 

 Sapho's influence on the literature of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury has been quite as great as the impulse given by 

 Arthenice : Conrart, Godeau, Pellisson, Voiture, Manage, 

 and other men equally distinguished, composed her usual 

 circle of friends. In giving a succinct memoir of these 

 personages, M. Cousin corrects a great many blunders 

 which had escaped the notice of former historians ; for 

 instance, he proves the improbable character (p. 249.) of 

 a famous bon mot ascribed to Madame Cornuel, and makes 

 it perfectly clear (p. 289.) that Molifere, in his play of Les 

 Precieuses ridicules, did not mean to criticise the society 

 of Mile, de Scudery. 



Before concluding this notice of M. Cousin's new work, 

 we must say a few words of the original and hitherto un- 

 published documents which are inserted in the appendices 

 to both volumes. Until lately only one letter ot Madame 

 de Rambouillet was known as extant (cf. M. Cousin, La 

 Jeunesse de Madame de Longueville, chap. 11. p. 124.): we 

 have at present no less than twelve epistles written both 

 by the marchioness and by her daughter Julie (vol. xi. ap- 

 pendix. No. 1.). The second appendix contains some 

 letters and poems of Sarasin, who was considered as the 

 wittiest French author next to Voiture ; in the third are 



put together a number of letters by Mile, de Scudery 

 herself, Pellisson, and one or two other correspondents. 

 These papers are taken chiefly from Conrart's collections, 

 preserved at the Imperial library, and which form an in- 

 exhaustible treasure of pieces justificatives on the history 

 of Frenclf literature. " Gustave Masson. 



BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES 



WANTED TO PDHCIIASE. 



Particulara of Price, &c., of the following Books to be sent direct to 

 the gentlemen by whom tliey are required, and whose names and ad- 

 dresses are given for that purpose. 



Sowerry's Enoltsh Botany. Royal 8vo. Vols. XXXIII. to the end, 



and Index. Numbers or boards. 

 Sir Everabd Home's IvECTtREs on Comparative Anatomy. Vols. V. 



and VI. Large paper, boards. 



Wanted by Mr. J'cofis, Bookseller, White Lion Street, Norwich. 



Camhrian QtrABTEBtr Magazine. 5 Vols. 



Register. 3 Vols. 



Db. Powell's English Edition of Caradoc's History of Wales. 

 Cyfbinach y Beirdd. 

 Tri Babdd MOn. 



Wanted by Evan Jones, Bookseller, &c., 124. Aldersgate Street, E.G. 



An Answer to a Book intituled " The State ok the Protestants 



IN Ireland." London, 1692. 4to. 

 Relation ue la Campagne d'Irlande, 1691, sous le Commandement 



DE M. LE Gen. de Gingel. Amstl. 1693. 8vo. 

 Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the late Charles O'Conor, 



Esq. of Belanaoare. By the Rev. Charles O'Conor, D.D. Dublin, 



1796. 8vo. 



Wanted by Ee». B, H. Blacker, Rokeby, Blackrock, Dublin. 



Bobke's Extinct Peeraoe, Knoland, Scotland, and Ireland. Any 



edition which contains Scotland and Ireland. 

 Wanted by John Bruce, Esq., 5, Upper Gloucester Street, Dorset Square. 



Scpplement to Loudon's Plants. 1840. 



Collins' Perranzabcloe, oa Lost Church. 



Peteb Stebby's Works. 



O'Brien's Round Towers. 



Ryan on Pbostitution. 



Ward's Nuptial Dialogues. 



Aobippa's Occult Philosophy. 



Wanted by Thomas itillard. Bookseller, 70. Newgate Street, City. 



Siatitei ta €arrei^aiitsenti. 



Our Shakspeare Number, to he published on Saturday tiexi, will cotir 

 tain Shakspeare and the old Historical Play, Edward the Third, by Mr. 

 Collier; Shakspeare's Twelfth Night, bu Mr. Husk; Application of the 

 Zodiacal Sign Taurus in Medical Astrolosy, by Mr. Bruce ; Was Shak- 

 speare ever a Soldier? hi/ Mr. Thorns ; besides other Papers and many 

 smaller Notes and Queries respecting Shakspeare and his writings. 



T. T. H. Messrs. Puttick and Simpson would probably give tlie in- 

 formation. But we believe that there is a probability of the Kentish 

 Monuments being published from a copy taken for that purpose with the 

 Proprietor's authority many years since. 



The continuation of the list of Privately Printed Books will be very 

 acceptable, 



Eirionnach's last long and interesting paper s/iall be put in type as 

 soon as we have an opportunity of inserting it. 



Francis Trench. The quotation from Cicero appeared in our 1st S. 

 V. 619. 



Z. The scene of Howard's traaedy The Female Gamester is London, 

 and the dramatis person* are. Men, Andrews, merchant and banker : 

 Wilson. Ooodwin, merchants, his neighbours; Lord Belmom; an English 

 peer; Lord Weston, nephew to Lfnrd BeMnour ; Jeffersrm,flrst clerk and 

 cashier to Mr, Andrews ; Thomas, steward to Mr. Andrews. Women, 

 Mrs. Andrews; Lady Belmour; Constantia, daughter to Mr. Andreivs 

 by a former wife ; Lucia, her kinswoman ; Maria, waiting-woman to 

 Mrs. Andrews, and wife to Thomas, Attendants and other servants, 

 bailiffs, 4'C. 



Atiswers to other correspondents m our next. 



Errata. — 2nd S. vii. p. 234. col. i. 1. U. for " Astrse " read " As- 

 tra!a ; " p. 272. col. i. 1. \.for " sufficient " read " suffered." 



"Notes AND Queries" is published at noon on Friday, and is also 

 issued in Monthly Parts. The subscriptton for Stamped Copies for 

 Skc Months forwarded direct from the Publishers (.including the Half- 

 yearly Index) ts lis. 4r7., which may be paul by Post Office Order in 

 favour ot Messrs. Bell and Daldy,IS6. Fleet Street, E.G.; to whom 

 all Communications for the Editor should be addressed. 



