Voilà le précipice où l'ont enfin jeté Les attraits enchanteurs de la prospérité, we read in this copy: Il se hait de tant vivre après un tel malheur, Et, s'il espère encor, ce n'est qu'en sa douleur, C'est là le seul plaisir qui flatte son courage, Car des autres plaisirs on lui défend l'usage. Voilà, voilà l'effet de cette ambition Qui fait de ses pareils l'unique passion. [85] Edition cited: Vol. V, pp. 46-49. Published for the first time by La Fontaine in his collection _Poésies chrétinnes et diverses,_ 1671, Vol. Ill, p. 34. [86] La Fontaine, Letter to Monsieur Foucquet. Edition cited: Vol. Ill, pp. 307-308. This letter was published for the first time in 1729. [87] Cf. Le procès de Foucquet, a speech pronounced at the opening of Conférence des Avocats, Monday, 27th November, 1882, by Léon Deroy, advocate in the Court of Appeal. Paris, Alcan Lévy, 1882. [88] Recueil des arrêtés de G. de Lamoignon, Paris, 1781. _Vie de M. le premier président,_ by Girard, p. 14. (The fleur-de-Iys was very largely employed in the decoration of the walls, floors, ceiling, etc., of the Parliaments, etc.--Ed.) [89] Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson, Vol. II, p. 26. [90] _Recueil des arrêtés,_ already cited. [91] Madame de Sévigné, letter of the 27th November, 1664. [92] _Ibid.,_ letter of the 2nd December. [93] "The Duc de Sully, the son-in-law of the Chancellor, Séguier, had, in 1652, yielded the crossing of the bridge of Mantes to the Spanish Army." (Note by M. Chéruel.) [94] _Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson,_ Vol. II, p. 263. Letter from Mme. de Sévigné, 9th December. [95] _Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson,_ VOL II, p. 282. Letter from Mme. de Sévigné, 9th December. [96] _Ibid.,_ Vol. II, p. 283. [97] _Ibid.,_ Vol. II, p. 286. [98] The Comte de Vaux, Foucquet's eldest son, having obtained his father's MSS. from Pignerol, published extracts entitled: _Conseils de la Sagesse_ ou _Recueil des Maximes de Salomon._ Paris, 1683, 2 vols. [99] The Duc de Lauzun, said to have married La Grande Mademoiselle, Mlle, de Montpensier, cousin of Louis XIV. (Trans.) [100] Delort, _Détention des Philosophes,_ Vol. I, p. 53. PART II THE CHÂTEAU DE VAUX During his trial Foucquet declared that he had begun the building of his house at Vaux as early as 1640. On this point his memory betrayed him. Reference to the inscription on an engraving by Pérelle, after Israël Silvestre, assigns the commencement of work upon the house to the year 1653, but there is no doubt that Israël Silvestre planned the château on lines which were not absolutely final. Nor was the _ne varietur_ plan, signed in 1666, exactly followed.[1] It is not until 1657 that the registers of the parish of Maincy attest the presence of foreign workmen who had come to undertake certain building operations on the estate of Vaux.