CHAPELAIN Jean (1595-1674) poète ; membre fondateur... Lot n° 27

L.A.S. "Chapelain", Paris March 2, 1660, [to Pierre-Daniel HUET]; 3 pages in-4. Very beautiful literary letter about an ode in Latin by Huet, Ad Ludovicum XIV, for the peace of the Pyrenees. He thanks Huet for his sending : " I had already seen the Ode in the hands of M. Du Perier [Charles du PERIER] and we had admired it together stanza after stanza resjoing us that you continue to make honor of your virtue and to increase the domain of the letters by your works. I don't know what justice is being done to you in this regard in the place of your birth, but I do know that Paris considers you as you deserve and that you have reason to praise its fairness in the judgment it makes of what comes from your pen. This Ode is of sublime style and leaves nothing to be desired. It is a pity that our Court is not as fine for good Latinity as that of Augustus. You would hold the place of Horace, not only for the lyric genre but also for the epistolary. In truth, there can be nothing purer, more sensible, more just, than this letter to Mr. MENAGE [epistle Ad Ægidium Menagium], on this defect common to all men of making themselves the censor of the inclinations or occupations of others. This is how Philosophy becomes agreeable and how one can benefit the world by reading it. [You have taken the opportunity to name your virtuous friends in the most skillful way possible. Finally, you are a great craftsman and by giving us this essay you have committed yourself to not stop there and to follow this beautiful road. If we had a volume of these moral Epistles marked with your corner I would not pretend to put them immediately after those of the Poet of Venice [Antonio della Paglia] and in front of those of the Chancellor of Lhospital " He is going to distribute the copies of which Huet entrusted him, in particular to HUYGENS and CONRART, who has "no knowledge of the Latin language" Etc.