CHAPTER XIX.
FRENCH POETRY CONTINUED.
MADAME D'HOUDETOT.
Saint-Lambert, who seemed destined to rival greater men than himself, after carrying off Madame du Châtelet from Voltaire, became the favoured lover of the Comtesse d'Houdetot, Rousseau's Sophie; she for whom the philosopher first felt love, "dans toute son energie, toutes ses fureurs,"—but in vain.
Saint-Lambert is allowed to be an elegant poet: his Saisons were once as popular in France, as Thomson's Seasons are here; but they have not retained their popularity. The French poem, though in many parts imitated from the English, is as unlike it as possible: correct, polished, elegant, full of beautiful lines,—of what the French call de beaux vers,—and yet excessively dull. It is equally impossible to find fault with it in parts, or endure it as a whole. Une petite pointe de verve would have rendered it delightful; but the total want of enthusiasm in the writer freezes the reader. As Madame du Deffand said, in humorous mockery of his monotonous harmony, "Sans les oiseaux, les ruisseaux, les hameaux, les ormeaux, et leur rameaux, il aurait bien pen de choses a dire!"
Madame d'Houdetot was the Doris to whom the Seasons are dedicated; and the opening passage addressed to her, is extremely admired by French critics.
Et toi, qui m'as choisi pour embellir ma vie,
Doux répos de mon cœur, aimable et tendre amie!
Toi, qui sais de nos champs admirer les beautés:
Dérobe toi, Doris! au luxe des cités,
Aux arts dont tu jouis, au monde où tu sçais plaire;
Le printemps te rappelle au vallon solitaire;
Heureux si près de toi je chante à son retour,
Ses dons et ses plaisirs, la campagne et l'amour!
Sophie de la Briche, afterwards Madame d'Houdetot, was the daughter of a rich fermier general; and destined, of course, to a marriage de convenance, she was united very young to the Comte d'Houdetot, an officer of rank in the army; a man who was allowed by his friends to be très peu amiable, and whom Madame d'Epinay, who hated him, called vilain, and insupportable. He was too good-natured to make his wife absolutely miserable, but un bonheur à faire mourir d'ennui, was not exactly adapted to the disposition of Sophie; and there was no principle within, no restraint without, no support, no counsel, no example, to guide her conduct or guard her against temptation.