hominum curiosorum, qui in
aliena acta tam sedulo iniquirunt ut ea fingant quae nunquam fuerunt,
nihil inveniet quod in nobis carpere possit livor, quam quod interdum ad
exemplum prisci Catonii liberalitatis invitare nos patiamur, nec semper
constitimus ultra sobrietatem veterum Sabinorum_[14]. And in another
letter he says, that the most virulent detractor could never reproach
him with any thing, but that he got sometimes drunk. _Malignitas
obtrectatorum nihil aliud in nobis sigillare potest quam quod nimis
commodus sum convivator, et interdum largius adspargor rore liberi
patris_[15].

Balzac made also some little debauches with some of his friends at his
country-house; and what he wrote to an officer who was then prisoner in
Germany, makes it evidently appear that he thought it lawful so to do.
"In relation," says he, "to the German manner of drinking healths, which
you speak of with such trouble, as if they were so many Turkish
bastinadoes, I think your sobriety in that respect to be a little too
delicate, you must learn to howl when you are in company of wolves, as
the proverb has it, and not to instance great generals. Don't you know,
that wise ambassadors of kings have heretofore got drunk for the good of
their master's affairs, and sacrificed all their prudence and gravity to
the necessity of great men, and the custom of the country where they
were. I do not advise you here to any forbidden acts of intemperance,
but I think it no manner of harm now and then to drown your chagrin in
Rhenish wine, and to make use of that agreeable means to shorten the
time, the long continuance of which is ever extremely tedious to
prisoners[16]."

The illustrious professor of Utrecht, whose name shall live as long as
the republic of letters shall subsist, was a great drinker, and valued
himself for drinking a great deal. It is reported of this learned man,
that at the congress of the last peace, a certain German prince, of a
sovereign house, came on purpose to have a brush with our professor, who
accepted the challenge, and came off victorious, having fairly laid his
enemy speechless on the floor.

[Footnote 1: Vide Preface, p. 17, l. 6, where are these words,
viz. Thus shall princes love and cherish you as their most
faithful children and servants, and take delight to commune with
you, inasmuch as amongst you are found men excellent in all kinds
of sciences, and who, thereby, may make their names, who l