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Vigneul de Marville saw him "nearer heaven than earth" in a room which a light curtain divided into two. "The wind, always at the service of philosophers, running ahead of visitors, would lift this curtain adroitly, and reveal the philosopher, smiling with pleasure at the opportunity of distilling the elixir of his meditations into the brain and the heart of a listener."

But M. de Beaufort is at the service of Madame de Montbazon, and she is devoted to Vigneul and the Coadjutor; " at the mention of which he smiled. "I take you, monsieur," said Madame de Chevreuse; "I will answer for him and for her."

So it was said of Nicolas Poussin, the painter, that the rule of his conduct was, that "whatever was worth doing at all was worth doing well;" and when asked, late in life, by his friend Vigneul de Marville, by what means he had gained so high a reputation among the painters of Italy, Poussin emphatically answered, "Because I have neglected nothing."

Corneille made a liberal use of Spanish literature; and the pure waters of Racine flowed from the fountains of Sophocles and Euripides. This vein of imitation runs through the productions of our greatest authors. Vigneul de Marville compares some of the first writers to bankers who are rich with the assembled fortunes of individuals, and would be often ruined were they too hardly drawn on.

So it was said of Nicholas Poussin, the painter, that the rule of his conduct was, that "whatever was worth doing at all was worth doing well;" and when asked, late in life, by his friend Vigneul de Marville, by what means he had gained so high a reputation among the painters of Italy, Poussin emphatically answered, "Because I have neglected nothing."

Not his solemn historical droning under that title, but addressed "To the Cambrio-Britons on their harp." "Les poetes euxmemes s'animent et s'echauffent par la lecture des autres poetes. Messieurs de Malherbe, Corneille, &c., se disposoient au travail par la lecture des poetes qui etoient de leur gout." Vigneul, Marvilliana, I. 64, 65. For example, Waller had said,

"Music and the sounds of instruments," says Vigneul de Marville, "contribute to the health of the body and mind; they assist the circulation of the blood, they dissipate vapours, and open the vessels, so that the action of perspiration is freer."

But M. de Beaufort is at the service of Madame de Montbazon, and she is devoted to Vigneul and the Coadjutor;" at the mention of which he smiled. "I take you, monsieur," said Madame de Chevreuse; "I will answer for him and for her."

Vigneul de Marville asked him one day how he had reached so high a rank among the great painters. 'I tried to neglect nothing, replied Poussin. True, indeed, he had neglected nothing. He gave his days and nights to the acquirement of various sciences.

"I have often admired," said Vigneul de Marville, who knew him at a late period of his life, "the love he had for his art.