This letter, which is quoted by Sandoval, in his History of Charles V., bears evidence of Mendoza’s thorough acquaintance with the Papal Court, and his accurate perception of the character of Paul III. The following extract will afford a good specimen of the style of this curious epistle:—
“What prince, or man,” says Mendoza, “ever offered greater offence to your Majesty? Certainly none:—for a little reflection on past events will enable even the blind to see that all the injury that you have sustained from the French was through his (the Pope’s) instigation and scheming; and that all the mischief you may expect from the Turks will have its origin in the same source. And finally, what good service did he ever render you willingly, and not on compulsion, or for his own interest? Your Majesty may rest assured that if the King of France has three fleurs de lis in his ’scutcheon, the Pope has six in his—and, what is more, he has six thousand in his heart. Besides, he will never see a safe opportunity of gratifying his enmity, but that he will take advantage of it. Much more reasonably may your Majesty trust to the King of France in these affairs; for he was born a Prince, and he will act like a Prince, but the other is a man of low origin, and though raised to the greatness which he now holds, he will never cease to be what he is. Does your Majesty require proof of this? Behold his insolent effrontery; for after having offended you as he has done, he is not ashamed to appear in your presence—and he even moreover makes demands, which he would have no right to make, if he had ransomed your Majesty from the Turk. The cowardly fear which possesses him on seeing you approach with an army, does not diminish his evil and perverse feeling, or change his mischievous designs. But he fears and suspects every one; and since your Majesty has him thus far in your power, I once more implore you not to let the opportunity slip. Pay little attention to him. Treat him as a man whose safety and greatness depend on your will.”
Mendoza seized every opportunity that presented itself to endeavour to open the eyes of the Emperor to the schemes of Paul III. In the year 1547, Peter Lewis Farnesio, Duke of Placentia, was assassinated by some noblemen who had joined a conspiracy which his tyranny provoked. Farnesio was a natural son of Paul III., who conferred on him the dignities of Duke of Parma and Placentia, Marquess of Novarra, Captain-General, and Standard-Bearer to the Church. On the occasion of Farnesio’s death, Mendoza wrote a clever little work, entitled, Diálogo entre Caronte y el ánima de Pedro Luis Farnesio, hijo del Papa Paulo III.[76] Fenelon and Fontenelle were not therefore, as is generally supposed, the first who wrote dialogues of the dead in one of the modern languages.
The two brothers of Diego de Mendoza, were both eminent statesmen and writers. Don Antonio succeeded Hernán Cortés, and the Licentiate Luis Ponce in the Government of Mexico; and he was the first Governor who had the titles of Viceroy and Captain-General of New Spain. From Mexico he proceeded to Peru, where he also exercised the vice-regal authority. Antonio de Mendoza is the author of a work entitled, De las cosas maravillosas de Nueva España. (On the Wonders of New Spain.)
Don Bernardino de Mendoza was at once a soldier, a statesman, and a poet. He also wrote a history of the Spanish campaigns in Flanders. (Historia de las guerras de Flandes.)
(M).
“There is a book of letters by Madama Passier, full of erudition and sound morality, which I would recommend to the attention of the author of Don Quixote.” (Page 124).
The volume here alluded to is entitled: Cartas Morales del Señor Narveza traducidas de lengua francesa en la española por Madama Francisca de Passier, dirigidas al excelentísimo Señor Don Pedro Enríquez de Acevedo, Conde de Fuentes.[77]
The name of Francisca de Passier, is not recorded as it deserves to be in the annals of Spanish literature. The celebrated Nicolás Antonio, makes no mention of her in the Biblioteca hispana nova. Some few particulars of her life are given by Doctor Francisco Garci López, who published an edition of the Cartas Morales. She was a native of Savoy, in which country her father, a man distinguished for his literary attainments, filled a government appointment. She was a great linguist, and she spoke and wrote several languages with perfect fluency and correctness. “She spoke Castilian,” says her biographer, Dr. López, “so correctly and with such purity of accent, that to hear her no one could have imagined she had been born among the snowy mountains of Savoy, but rather would have supposed her to have been a native of Spain, and all her life accustomed to the courteous conversation of noble ladies and knights in royal palaces.” She died before she had completed her nineteenth year. Her husband, who was a Counsellor of State to the Prince of Savoy, was inconsolable for her loss, and a singular manifestation of his grief was shown in the destruction, instead of the preservation, of his wife’s papers, most of which, after her death, he consigned to the flames. At the urgent solicitation of Dr. Garci López, he was however induced to spare the manuscript of the Cartas Morales. The funeral obsequies of Madama Passier which are alluded to in the Buscapié, lasted nine days. Several eloquent orations in Latin and French were delivered at her interment, and many elegies to her memory were composed in Latin, French, and Spanish.