Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1854-10-07

and Conde; of Turenne and de Longueve, both Duke
and Duchess Of Cardinal de Retz and Mad. Scarron
(not yet Mad de Maintenon y Of MONSIEUR, the Kings
brother and Of the great Vste Does any reader ask
who was Vate vatel the prince of cooks and the
most sensitive Of gentlemen His name should be
toned with honor in all the books cooking from Mrs.
Glass's to Miss Leses, and his life should be given in
full as an appendix to every manual de cusne. Or il
omitted in these his and fame should be commemo-
rated in the hedn 5ucs of ohiyay for yate was the
very soul of honor and the pink of Knights armed not
with lance and sword but with fork and carving knife
Hear what chay letter writer has say Of this
Bayard among sculons, in letter dated Paris, 26th
April, 1871:
1T is Sunday this letter will not be dispatched until
Wednesday. But it is not letter it is narrative which
Moreu has just made to for your sake Of what has
happened at Chantilly touching vatel wrote you last
Friday that he had killed himself with poignard but
these ths dss-;as othe affair." The King arrived on
etsd With daiOds land iii thai. passed oil aaey SOP
per announced There tables left With
any roast by of several dinners more than
were expected This went to the heart Of vatel. He
said again and again, My honor is lost this disgrace
which shall not be able to bear He said to Gourvie
My head swms; have not slept for near fortnight;
help me to give orders Gourve gave him all the con-
ISOLATION he could The roast which had failed not at the
Kings table, but at the twenty fifth kept constantly
ing up in his mind Gourvle went and told the Prince
about It, who sought out Vatel in his chamber and said
to him: Vatel, you are doing finely; never was there
better supper than the Kings Monsegneur, replied
he, your goodness overcomes me que there were two
tables without any roast Not at all, said the Prince
do not fret yourself you are doing finely Midnight
came the fireworks did not succeed, but went off in
fzzle. They cost sixteen thousand francs At four
o'clock Vatel went around every where and found all
asleep He meets with one Of his little purveyors, who
brought him only two messes offresh seahsh He asks
Is that all Z? yes, SIR (He knew not that Vate had
for fish to all the ports Of the sea- Vatel waits
time the other purveyors did not his head
grew hot he thought there to be more fresh fish,
He finds Gouryille and says to him Sir, cannot
vive this Disgrace Gourvile laughs at him. Vatel
to his chamber puts his sword against the door,
and it through his heart; but not until the third
strokeor he gave himself two which were not mortal
he falls dead Meanwhile the fresh fish arrive from all
sides Vatel is sought distribute them they 60 to his
chamber they knock they burst open the door, they
find him wetering in his blood They run and tell the
Prince who put to despair by it. The Duke cried,
for his trip to Burgundy all turned on Vate The Prince
told the sad story to the King it was remarked that the
affair from his having too muck honor after his
way. Some praised him for it, while praised and
others blamed him for his courage"
Thus died Vatel leaving memory to be cherished and
example to be emuated by all chiyalric stewards We
turn to less heroic and less melancholy themes.
These letters Madame de Sevgne throw much light on
the literature and literary of her day. We hnd her
perpetually speaking Of names which now classical
in the annals of French letters We have before said
that Madame de Sevgne was preceus blue stocking
of the Rambouilet ssterhood but Madame de Sevigne
who still live in the pillory of Molieres biting satire
But she requented the Hotel Rambouilet and always
swore by Corneille and the Messieurs de Port Royal
She was good Latin and Italian scholar She read
Tasso constantly and admired him greatly She was
student Of Dava and Guccardn She praises the Pastor
fdo Of Guarin and the Fiji di Seiro Of Count Guda-
bado about which last ashamed TO say we know
nothing what We read in these letters Let nope
for our own credit, that her praises Of Gudaoaldos
Italian verse wisely bestowed than is her ad
miration Mascarons French prose- for Madames lite
rary Judgment though generally good, is not always
infallible.
Among the French authors Of her day she in
stant intercourse with Rochefeucauld Cornele La Fon
tane Moliere,- Racine and Boileau See how many
honored she groups together IN these Few lines Of
o letter to her daughter:
az send you book which my uncle de Sevgne begs
me to give you fancy it is not romance. will not
leave him the occasion send you the Fables of La Fon-
taine which arebut you shall judge of them for your
self We are trying to amuse good Cardinal Cor
nellie has read him piece which will be played before
long and which reminds US Of his former successes
Moliere will read Trissoa to him next Tuesday; it
lis good thing Despreaux will favor him with the
sLyin and the 'Pothque This is all we can do for
him."
Madame de Sevigue read Descartes and Pere Male
branche though not much as her daughter who was
profound in the vorces of the and the vision divine
of the other But the editor of the recea which
reviewing has fit to give US many specimens OF
those ingenious hints Caresisnism in which several Of
| Madame de SIS letters are well known to abound.
Bourdaoue and Fecher-an admiration which it is true
would have been worth if she had not also praised
the pressing Mascaron and the pedantc Able de Bossu
who wrote that melancholy book the "Epop@a of
Homer" OF Bourdaloues eloquence find the follow
ling illustration in one Of these sprighty letters
/ :. The Marshal of Gramont SO transported the
other day BY beauty Of Of Bourdaloues sermons
that he cried aloud, at passage which affected him.
Aordieu he is right MADAME the wife Of the King
brother1 burst out in laugh and the so in
errupsed that We did not know what would come of it,
Madame de Sevignes partality for the sermons Of
Bourdaoue and Bossuet naturally leads us to remark
her religious views Her piety seems to have been as
cheerful as 1t profound Her theological tenets we're
those of the good Jansenists who filed so important
place in the history Of the seventeenth cenury for with
out knowledge Of the life and abors Of those wonderful
men, the Messeurs de Port Royal no adequate history
Of France can be written for the period at least in which
they fourished It is part Of our duty nor have we
the time il this the place. to examine into the merits
Of that theological controversy which so long divided the
French church between the Jansensts and their patrons
on the one hand and the Jesuits with their allies on the
other Madame de Sevgn6 very decided Jansenist
but we cannot single word of bitterness or calumny
By her against the enemies and Of
her sect for they regarded despite all their pro-
scstaons of allegiance and submission to the Catholic
Church, one and indivisble."
The seat Of the Monastery Of Port Royal that ilustr
ous haunt Of scholars saints and ssges, OF Pasco St.
Cyan and Tillemont, is thus charmngly described by
the lively letter.wrter Madame de Sevigne, we may
premise, had uncle among the resident recluses Oh
| the Abbey:
ssThs Port goyal is Thebaid; it is Paradise; it is
solitude in which ID found all the devotion of Chrisan
ty There is holiness spread the whole coun
try for esyue around There five or six recluses
whom nobody knows and who live like pentents Of st.