A five-volume printed book containing transcripts of letters from Antoine Le Fevre
De
La Boderie, French Ambassador to
England
, to King Henri IV
and his administrators in
Paris
. Letter from M. de la Boderie to M. de
Puisieux
;
London
,
13 [i.e. 3] February, 1609. Volume 4, pp.
233-8.
[p. 233]
Par celle qu'il vous a plu m' écrire du 6 de ce mois,
vous m'avez fait faveur de m'advertir de l'honneur fait à M. Carrew & à Madame sa
femme au ballet de la Reine notre maitresse. Par la présente vous sçaurez celui que
Madame de la Boderie
& moi avons reçu en celui de celle ci. Hier la nuit il fut
dansé, & le jour de devant
Don Fernandez de Girone avoit fait voile, après avoir
reçu l'arrêt que s'il ne se h toit de partir, il auroit l'affront que j'y serois appellé
à sa barbe. Comme il partoit, on m'y vint convier & ma femme aussi, tant de la part
du Roi de la Grande
Bretagne que de celle de la Reine, sans nous parler de souper; &
néanmoins comme nous y fûmes, ledit Roi me fit souper avec lui en compagnie des Princes
ses
[p. 234]
deux Fils, & ma femme soupa avec Madame la
Princesse. Durant le souper, il me fit une brinde à la santé de S.M, & voulut que
je
la portasse à M. le Prince
de Galles, & qu'il y fît raison. Au ballet il me fit
seoir auprès de lui, & ma femme au banc préparé proche de-là, où étoient aussi
Messieurs du Conseil, n'ayant pu demeurer près de Madame la Princesse pour la grande
presse qui y étoit. Durant que ledit ballet se dansa, il me fit toujours l'honneur
de
m'entretenir; & dans un des intermédes, comme il n'y en eut que trop & d'assez
tristes, la Reine s'approcha aussitôt de ma femme, & lui fit la même faveur,
s'appuyant sur elle, & lui faisant mille démonstrations de privauté. Ma petite fille
même eut part en ces caresses; car le Duc d'Yorck ayant été pris à danser par une
des
Dames du ballet, il vint aussitôt chercher madite fille où elle étoit, & l'y mena.
La Reine avoit délibéré d'en faire le même de moi; mais comme c'est un métier auquel
je
n'entens guere, & que je ne voulois faire rire la compagnie, comme fit l'an passé
l'Ambassadeur d'Espagne, je la fis prier dès le matin par une Dame
[p.
235]
de mes amies qui devoit danser avec elle, de ne m'y point obliger. Du
ballet, nous fûmes à la collation; & en tout cela & au départir fûmes traités
avec tant de démonstrations de bonne volonté, & avec un applaudissement si général
de tous, que S.M. a grande occasion d'en être satisfaite, & moi, si je ne sçavois
l'histoire de l'Ane qui portoit les Reliques, d'en devenir bien glorieux. En la faveur
que reçut l'Ambassadeur d'Espagne l'an passé, il n'y eut rien de semblable; il ne
fut
point convié du Roi, & ne mangea point avec lui, mais en une chambre ou pas un du
Conseil seulement ne l'accompagna. Le Roi ni la Reine ne furent jamais vus lui dire
un
mot tant que le bal dura, & au partir de-là tout chacun le regardoit de travers.
J'ai outre tout ceci, que je fus incontinent après convié à un autre ballet avec toutes
les meilleures satisfactions qu'on put donner; & de plus que ledit Roi & le
Comte de Salisbury ont déclaré & rendu comme public que cette fête ne se faisoit
principalement que pour l'amour de moi. Une seule chose m'y a f ché, c'est que l'Ambassa
[p. 236]
deur de Venise n'en a point été, encore qu'on lui en
eut donné dès le commencement de grandes espérances; ayant fait tomber sur lui les
Ambassadeurs d'Espagne & des Archiducs, ce qu'ils n'ont put faire sur moi, dont le
pauvre Gentilhomme est infiniment offensé. Comme il vit que j' étois prié & qu'il
ne
l' étoit point, il s'en voulut escarmoucher, & alla trouver le Comte de Salisbury
pour lui en faire ses plaintes. La réponse fut que ledit ballet n' étoit fait que
pour
l'Ambassadeur de
France
, & qu'il se devoit contenter que celui de Flandre, qui
n'avoit point assisté à celui de l'an passé, comme fit son prédécesseur, n' étoit
non
plus convié à celui-ci. Cela ne le satisfait point; de sorte que si ses maîtres le
veulent croire, ils lui donneront bientôt charge de faire décider la dispute que lui
veut former l'Ambassadeur de Flandre, ou bien de se retirer; & je crois certes que
si on en venoit-là, ces Messieurs-ci se trouveroient bien embarasseés.
...
[p. 238]
J'oubliois à vous dire que la faveur de ce ballet s'
étendit tellement sur tous les François, que le
Baron de Bressieux
, que se gouverne
très-bien ici, & parle certes de ce qui l'y a amené avec grande démonstration de la
révérence qu'il porte à S.M, fut mené danser, & mena danser la Reine; comme aussi
que le Roi me dit de lui-même, & sans que je lui en ouvrisse l'occasion, infinis
biens de M. de Soubise, & nommément de ce qu'il avoit reconnu, étant ici, qu'il
portoit beaucoup de zéle au service & à la particuliere personne de S. M.
Translation by Karen Britland and Line Cottegnies
[p. 233] By the letter which it pleased you to write to me on the 6th of this
month, you did me the favour of alerting me to the honour done to
Monsieur Carew
and his
wife at the ballet of the
Queen
, our mistress. By this [letter] you will know
what
Madame de la Boderie
and I received at the ballet of this
Queen
. It was danced
yesterday evening, and
Don Fernandez de Girone took sail the day before, after receiving
the warning that, if he did not hurry his departure, he would be affronted because
I
would be invited to it under his nose. As he left, a person came to invite me and
my
wife, as much on the part of the King
as of the
Queen
, without saying anything about
supping. Nevertheless, once we were there, the King
invited me to sup with him in the
company of the Princes, his [p. 234] two sons, and my wife supped with the
Princess. During the supper, he drank to the health of His Majesty, and asked [me
to drink to]
the Prince of
Wales
, and that he accept it. At the ballet, he made
me sit next to him, and my wife on the bench nearby where the lords of the council
were
[seated], not being able to remain near the Princess because of the great
crowd. While the ballet was danced, he did me the honour of speaking to me continually
and, during one of the interludes (of which there were too many and quite lamentable),
the
Queen
went up to my wife and did her the same favour, leaning on her and giving her
a thousand demonstrations of affection. Even my little daughter participated in these
caresses, because the Duke of York
, having been taken out to dance by one of the ladies
in the ballet, came straight away to seek my daughter and led her to it there. The
Queen
had debated about doing the same with me, but, as it is a business about which I barely
know anything and because I did not want to make the company laugh as the Spanish
Ambassador did last year, I begged her that morning, through a lady who is one of
my
friends and who danced with her [in the ballet], not to force me to do it.
From the ballet, we went to the collation, and in that and until our departure were
treated with so many demonstrations of good-will and with so general an approbation
from
everyone that His Majesty has great reason to be satisfied by it, and I (if I didn't
understand the story of the Ass who carried the relics) [might] become very
self-important because of it.
There was nothing similar in the favour the Spanish
Ambassador received last year. He was not invited by the King
and did not eat with him,
but in a room in which not even one member of the council accompanied him. Neither
the
King
nor
Queen
were seen to speak a word to him as long as the ball lasted, and from
then on everyone looked at him askance. Beyond all that, I was forthwith invited to
another ballet with all the best satisfactions that could be given, and, in addition,
the King
and the
Earl of Salisbury
publicly declared that this celebration was
principally undertaken only out of love for me. One single thing annoyed me, which
was
that the Venetian Ambassador was not there, although from the beginning they had given
him great hopes of it, making him bear the brunt of the [complaints of the]
Spanish and Archdukes' Ambassadors, which they had not been able to do to me, by which
the poor gentleman is infinitely offended. When he saw that I was invited and that
he
was not, he wanted to fight and went to find the
Earl of Salisbury
to make his
complaints. The answer was that the ballet was only put on for the French Ambassador,
and that he had to content himself that the Flanders Ambassador, who was not present
at
the ballet the previous year as his predecessor had been, was not invited to this
one
either. This did not satisfy him; so that if his masters believe him, they will soon
give him instructions to engage in the dispute the Flanders Ambassador wishes to strike
up with him, or to depart; and I believe it certain that, if they come to that, these
Monsieurs here will find themselves very embarrassed. ... [p. 238] I forgot
to tell you that the favour from this ballet spreads so much over all the French that
the
Baron de Bressieux
, who behaves himself very well here and speaks of what has
brought him here with great demonstrations of respect for His Majesty
[
Henri
IV], was led [out] to dance and led the
Queen
in a dance. The King
also told me many good things about
Monsieur de Soubise
, and particularly that he had
noticed, when he was here, that he was very zealous in the service of His Majesty.
Bibliography
La Boderie, Ambassades (1750)
H&S, 10.498-9
M. Sullivan (1913), 211-19