Letter from M. de la Boderie to M. de
Puisieux
;
London
, 1st January, 1608 [i.e. 22 December 1607]
,
discussing the costs of the
Queen
's masque. This is contained in a five-volume printed
book of transcripts of the letters of Antoine Le Fevre de la Boderie, French Ambassador
to
England
, to King Henri IV
of
France
and his administrators in
Paris
. Note: the dates
in the letter are based on the French calendar which was ten days ahead of that in
use
in
England
.
[p. 5]
on ne parle que du bal de la Reine, du
[p. 6]
quel je vous avois derniérement pensé beaucoup dire en vous disant qu'il
couteroit six ou sept mille écus, & maintentant, à ce que j'apprens de fort bon
lieu, il en coutera plus de trente, dont il n'y en a pas un du Conseil qui ne se f che
fort. Jusques ici nul ne peut deviner pourquoi ledit Roi ait voulu s'opini trer à
cette
dépense. Un galant homme disoit l'autre jour à ce propos, qu'en
France
il étoit né un
second fils, en Espagne un autre; qu'en l'un & en l'autre lieu on n'en avoit fait
aucune magnificence publique; qu'ici il étoit mort une fille, & qu'on voyoit ce que
ce Roi faisoit pour cela; & que néanmoins il y avoit bien autant d'argent en
France
& en Espagne comme ici. La vérité est que la plupart des Dames qui en sont, sont
Catholiques; mais si me semble cela tiré de trop loin, pour faire ceux de cette Religion
là en prennent davantage de confiance.
Translation, by Karen Britland and Line Cottegnies
People are speaking of nothing but the
Queen
's ball, which I thought I
was being extravagant about when I told you it would cost six or seven thousand ecus,
and now, according to a very good source, it will cost more than thirty. There is
not
one person on the council who is not extremely enraged about this. Until now, no one
has
been able to divine why the King
has wanted to persist in this expense. A noble
gentleman was saying the other day that in
France
and
Spain
second sons had been born,
but no public celebrations had been made in either place; but here a daughter had
died,
and it was clear what the King
did for that, although there was as much money in
France
and
Spain
as here. The truth is that most of the ladies who are in it are Catholics; but
it seems to me a long shot to give an advantage to those of this religion over the
other.
Bibliography
H&S, 10.456-7, 458
M. Sullivan (1913), 201-7