d a small part of
them. Those of the Duke of Berwick are justly considered models of
simple straightforward writing, of clear judgment, and of accurate
statement. The _Souvenirs_ of Madame de Caylus had the honour of having
Voltaire for their first editor, and deserved it. They are purely
personal, and might even be called frivolous, were it not for the
interest and historical importance of the society whose manners they
depict. The memoirs of Torcy give a clear and lucid account of the
negotiations in which that diplomatist was engaged. Last of this long
list come three works of value, the memoirs of Villars, Forbin, and
Duguay Trouin. The last two are among the somewhat rare records of
French prowess on sea. Both are somewhat boastful, and the memoirs of
Forbin, which are the longer and the more amusing of the two, are
suspected of some inaccuracy. They were not, it appears, the unaided
work of their nominal authors. The memoirs of Villars are of greater
historical importance, and of much literary interest.

[Sidenote: Saint Simon.]

A few authors, not included in the collection the order of which has
been followed, have now to be mentioned. Bussy Rabutin, cousin of Madame
de Sevigne, and one of the boldest, most unscrupulous, and most unlucky
of aspirants after fortune, has left a considerable number of letters
and memoirs in which he exposes his own projects and wrongs, and, above
all, a kind of scandalous chronicle called the _Histoire Amoureuse des
Gaules_, in which gossip against all the ladies of the court, not
excepting his own relations and friends, is pitilessly recorded. Bussy
had many of the family qualities which show themselves more amiably in
the cousin whom he libelled. His literary faculty was considerable, his
brain fertile in invention, and his tongue witty in expression; but he
made no very good use of his powers. The Marquis de Dangeau[258] has
left an immense collection of memoirs, describing in the minutest detail
the etiquette of the court of Louis XIV. and all that happened there for
years; but he had hardly any faculty of writing, and his work, except
for its matter, is chiefly remarkable because of the contrast which it
presents to a book which deals with much the same subject, and which has
yet to be noticed. This book, with grave defects and inequalities,
exhibits in the highest degree the merits of the class and period of
literature which is now under review. These are the skill shown by