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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of Modern France, by Hugo P.  Thieme
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Women of Modern France
+       Woman In All Ages And In All Countries
+
+Author: Hugo P.  Thieme
+
+Release Date: November 26, 2005 [EBook #17159]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF MODERN FRANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Thierry Alberto, William Flis and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team Europe at http://dp.rastko.net
+
+
+
+
+
+  Transcriber's Note: The Table of Contents
+  was added by the Transcriber.
+
+
+
+WOMAN
+
+in all ages and in all countries
+
+
+WOMEN OF MODERN FRANCE
+
+by
+
+HUGO P. THIEME, Ph.D.
+
+Of the University of Michigan
+
+
+THE RITTENHOUSE PRESS PHILADELPHIA
+
+
+
+
+Copyrighted at Washington and entered at Stationer's Hall, London,
+
+1907--1908
+
+and printed by arrangement with George Barrie's Sons.
+
+
+PRINTED IN U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                PREFACE
+
+     Chapter I. Woman in politics
+
+    Chapter II. Woman in Family Life, Education, and Letters
+
+   Chapter III. The Seventeenth Century: Woman at Her Best
+
+    Chapter IV. Woman in Society and Literature
+
+     Chapter V. Mistresses and Wives of Louis XIV
+
+    Chapter VI. Mme. de Sevigne, Mme. de La Fayette, Mme. Dacier,
+                Mme. de Caylus
+
+   Chapter VII. Woman in Religion
+
+  Chapter VIII. Salon Leaders Mme. de Tencin, Mme. Geoffrin, Mme.
+                du Deffand, Mlle. de Lespinasse, Mme. du Chatelet
+
+    Chapter IX. Salon Leaders--(Continued): Mme. Necker, Mme.
+                d'Epinay, Mme. de Genlis: Minor Salons
+
+
+     Chapter X. Social Classes
+
+    Chapter XI. Royal Mistresses
+
+   Chapter XII. Marie Antoinette and the Revolution
+
+  Chapter XIII. Women of the Revolution and the Empire
+
+   Chapter XIV. Women of the Nineteenth Century
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Among the Latin races, the French race differs essentially in one
+characteristic which has been the key to the success of French
+women--namely, the social instinct. The whole French nation has always
+lived for the present time, in actuality, deriving from life more of
+what may be called social pleasure than any other nation. It has been
+a universal characteristic among French people since the sixteenth
+century to love to please, to make themselves agreeable, to bring joy
+and happiness to others, and to be loved and admired as well. With
+this instinctive trait French women have always been bountifully
+endowed. Highly emotional, they love to charm, and this has become
+an art with them; balancing this emotional nature is the mathematical
+quality. These two combined have made French women the great leaders
+in their own country and among women of all races. They have developed
+the art of studying themselves; and the art of coquetry, which
+has become a virtue, is a science with them. The singular power of
+discrimination, constructive ability, calculation, subtle intriguing,
+a clear and concise manner of expression, a power of conversation
+unequalled in women of any other country, clear thinking: all these
+qualities have been strikingly illustrated in the various great women
+of the different periods of the history of France, and according to
+these they may by right be judged; for their moral qualities have not
+always been in accordance with the standard of other races.
+
+According as these two fundamental qualities, the emotional and
+mathematical, have been developed in individual women, we meet the
+different types which have made themselves prominent in history. The
+queens of France, in general, have been submissive and pious, dutiful
+and virtuous wives, while the mistresses have been bold and frivolous,
+licentious and self-assertive. The women outside of these spheres
+either looked on with indifference or regret at the all-powerfulness
+of this latter class, unable to change conditions, or themselves
+enjoyed the privilege of the mistress.
+
+It must be remembered that in the great social circles in France,
+especially from the sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth centuries,
+marriage was a mere convention, offences against it being looked upon
+as matters concerning manners, not morals; therefore, much of the
+so-called gross immorality of French women may be condoned. It will
+be seen in this history that French women have acted banefully on
+politics, causing mischief, inciting jealousy and revenge, almost
+invariably an instrument in the hands of man, acting as a disturbing
+element. In art, literature, religion, and business, however, they
+have ever been a directing force, a guide, a critic and judge, an
+inspiration and companion to man.
+
+The wholesome results of French women's activity are reflected
+especially in art and literature, and to a lesser degree in religion
+and morality, by the tone of elegance, politeness, _finesse_,
+clearness, precision, purity, and a general high standard which man
+followed if he was to succeed. In politics much severe blame and
+reproach have been heaped upon her--she is made responsible for
+breaking treaties, for activity in all intrigues, participating in
+and inciting to civil and foreign wars, encouraging and sanctioning
+assassinations and massacres, championing the Machiavelian policy and
+practising it at every opportunity.
+
+It has been the aim of this history of French women to present the
+results rather than the actual happenings of their lives, and
+these have been gathered from the most authoritative and scholarly
+publications on the subject, to which the writer herewith wishes to
+give all credit.
+
+Hugo Paul Thieme.
+
+_University of Michigan._
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+Woman in politics
+
+
+French women of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries,
+when studied according to the distinctive phases of their influence,
+are best divided into three classes: those queens who, as wives,
+represented virtue, education, and family life; the mistresses, who
+were instigators of political intrigue, immorality, and vice; and the
+authoresses and other educated women, who constituted themselves the
+patronesses of art and literature.
+
+This division is not absolute by any means; for we see that in the
+sixteenth century the regent-mother (for example, Louise of Savoy and
+Catherine de' Medici), in extent of influence, fills the same position
+as does the mistress in the eighteenth century; though in the former
+period appears, in Diana of Poitiers, the first of a long line of
+ruling mistresses.
+
+Queen-consorts, in the sixteenth as in the following centuries,
+exercised but little influence; they were, as a rule, gentle and
+obedient wives--even Catherine, domineering as she afterward showed
+herself to be, betraying no signs of that trait until she became
+regent.
+
+The literary women and women of spirit and wit furthered all
+intellectual and social development; but it was the mistresses--those
+great women of political schemes and moral degeneracy--who were vested
+with the actual importance, and it must in justice to them be said
+that they not infrequently encouraged art, letters, and mental
+expansion.
+
+Eight queens of France there were during the sixteenth century,
+and three of these may be accepted as types of purity, piety, and
+goodness: Claude, first wife of Francis I.; Elizabeth of France, wife
+of Charles IX.; and Louise de Vaudemont, wife of Henry III. These
+queens, held up to ridicule and scorn by the depraved followers of
+their husbands' mistresses, were reverenced by the people; we find
+striking contrasts to them in the two queens-regent, Louise of Savoy
+and Catherine de' Medici, who, in the period of their power, were
+as unscrupulous and brutal, intriguing and licentious, jealous and
+revengeful, as the most wanton mistresses who ever controlled a
+king. In this century, we find two other remarkable types: Marguerite
+d'Angouleme, the bright star of her time; and her whose name comes
+instantly to mind when we speak of the Lady of Angouleme--Marguerite
+de Navarre, representing both the good and the doubtful, the broadest
+sense of that untranslatable term _femme d'esprit_.
+
+The first of the royal French women to whom modern woman owes a great
+and clearly defined debt was Anne of Brittany, wife of Louis XII.
+and the personification of all that is good and virtuous. To her
+belongs the honor of having taken the first step toward the social
+emancipation of French women; she was the first to give to woman an
+important place at court. This precedent she established by requesting
+her state officials and the foreign ambassadors to bring their wives
+and daughters when they paid their respects to her. To the ladies
+themselves, she sent a "royal command," bidding them leave their
+gloomy feudal abodes and repair to the court of their sovereign.
+
+Anne may be said to belong to the transition period--that period
+in which the condition of slavery and obscurity which fettered the
+women of the Middle Ages gave place to almost untrammelled liberty.
+The queen held a separate court in great state, at Blois and Des
+Tournelles, and here elegance, even magnificence, of dress was
+required of her ladies. At first, this unprecedented demand caused
+discontent among men, who at that time far surpassed women in
+elaborateness of costume and had, consequently, been accustomed to
+the use of their surplus wealth for their own purposes. Under Anne's
+influence, court life underwent a complete transformation; her
+receptions, which were characterized by royal splendor, became the
+centre of attraction.
+
+Anne of Brittany, the last queen of France of the Middle Ages and the
+first of the modern period, was a model of virtuous conduct, conjugal
+fidelity, and charity. Having complete control over her own
+immense wealth, she used it largely for beneficent purposes; to her
+encouragement much of the progress of art and literature in France was
+due. Hers was an example that many of the later queens endeavored to
+follow, but it cannot be said that they ever exerted a like influence
+or exhibited an equal power of initiation and self-assertion.
+
+The first royal woman to become a power in politics in the period that
+we are considering was Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis I., a type
+of the voluptuous and licentious female of the sixteenth century. Her
+pernicious activity first manifested itself when, having conceived
+a violent passion for Charles of Bourbon, she set her heart upon
+marrying him, and commenced intrigues and plots which were all the
+more dangerous because of her almost absolute control over her son,
+the King.
+
+At this time there were three distinct sets or social castes at the
+court of France: the pious and virtuous band about the good Queen
+Claude; the lettered and elegant belles in the coterie of Marguerite
+d'Angouleme, sister of Francis I.; and the wanton and libertine young
+maids who formed a galaxy of youth and beauty about Louise of Savoy,
+and were by her used to fascinate her son and thus distract him from
+affairs of state.
+
+Louise used all means to bring before the king beautiful women through
+whom she planned to preserve her influence over him. One of these
+frail beauties, Francoise de Foix, completely won the heart of the
+monarch; her ascendency over him continued for a long period, in spite
+of the machinations of Louise, who, when Francis escaped her control,
+sought to bring disrepute and discredit upon the fair mistress.
+
+The mother, however, remained the powerful factor in politics. With an
+abnormal desire to hoard money, an unbridled temper, and a violent and
+domineering disposition, she became the most powerful and dangerous,
+as well as the most feared, woman of all France. During her regency
+the state coffers were pillaged, and plundering was carried on on all
+sides. One of her acts at this time was to cause the recall of Charles
+of Bourbon, then Governor of Milan; this measure was taken as much
+for the purpose of obtaining revenge for his scornful rejection of her
+offer of marriage as for the hope of eventually bringing him to her
+side.
+
+Upon the return of Charles, she immediately began plotting against
+him, including in her hatred Francoise de Foix, the king's mistress,
+at whom Bourbon frequently cast looks of pity which the furiously
+jealous Louise interpreted as glances of love. As a matter of fact,
+Bourbon, being strictly virtuous, was out of reach of temptation by
+the beauties of the court, and there were no grounds for jealousy.
+
+This love of Louise for Charles of Bourbon is said to have owed most
+of its ardor to her hope of coming into possession of his immense
+estates. She schemed to have his title to them disputed, hoping that,
+by a decree of Parliament, they might be taken from him; the idea in
+this procedure was that Bourbon, deprived of his possessions, must
+come to her terms, and she would thus satisfy--at one and the same
+time--her passion and her cupidity.
+
+Under her influence the character of the court changed entirely;
+retaining only a semblance of its former decency, it became utterly
+corrupt. It possessed external elegance and _distingue_ manners, but
+below this veneer lay intrigue, debauchery, and gross immorality. In
+order to meet the vast expenditures of the king and the queen-mother,
+the taxes were enormously increased; the people, weighed down by the
+unjust assessment and by want, began to clamor and protest. Undismayed
+by famine, poverty, and epidemic, Louise continued her depredations
+on the public treasury, encouraging the king in his squanderings;
+and both mother and son, in order to procure money, begged, borrowed,
+plundered.
+
+Louise was always surrounded by a bevy of young ladies, selected
+beauties of the court, whose natural charms were greatly enhanced by
+the lavishness of their attire. Always ready to further the plans of
+their mistress, they hesitated not to sacrifice reputation or honor to
+gratify her smallest whim. Her power was so generally recognized that
+foreign ambassadors, in the absence of the king, called her "that
+other king." When war against France broke out between Spain and
+England, Louise succeeded in gaining the office of constable for the
+Duc d'Alencon; by this means, she intended to displace Charles of
+Bourbon (whom she was still persecuting because he continued cold to
+her advances), and to humiliate him in the presence of his army; the
+latter design, however, was thwarted, as he did not complain.
+
+To the caprice of Louise of Savoy were due the disasters and defeats
+of the French army during the period of her power; by frequently
+displacing someone whose actions did not coincide with her plans, and
+elevating some favorite who had avowed his willingness to serve her,
+she kept military affairs in a state of confusion.
+
+Many wanton acts are attributed to her: she appropriated forty
+thousand crowns allowed to Governor Lautrec of Milan for the
+payment of his soldiers, and caused the execution of Samblancay,
+superintendent of finances, who had been so unfortunate as to incur
+her displeasure. It was Charles of Bourbon, who, with Marshal Lautrec,
+investigated the episode of the forty thousand crowns and exposed the
+treachery and perfidy of the mother of his king.
+
+Finding that Bourbon intended to persist in his resistance to her
+advances, Louise decided upon drastic measures of retaliation. With
+the assistance of her chancellor (and tool), Duprat, she succeeded in
+having withheld the salaries which were due to Bourbon because of the
+offices held by him. As he took no notice of these deprivations, she
+next proceeded to divest him of his estates by laying claim to them
+for herself; she then proposed to Bourbon that, by accepting her hand
+in marriage, he might settle the matter happily. The object of her
+numerous schemes not only rejected this offer with contempt, but added
+insult to injury by remarking: "I will never marry a woman devoid of
+modesty." At this rebuff, Louise was incensed beyond measure, and when
+Queen Claude suggested Bourbon's marriage to her sister, Mme. Renee
+de France (a union to which Charles would have consented gladly), the
+queen-mother managed to induce Francis I. to refuse his consent.
+
+After the death of Anne of Beaujeu, mother-in-law of Charles of
+Bourbon, her estates were seized by the king and transferred to
+Louise while the claim was under consideration by Parliament. When
+the judges, after an examination of the records of the Bourbon estate,
+remonstrated with Chancellor Duprat against the illegal transfer, he
+had them put into prison. This rigorous act, which was by order of
+Louise, weakened the courage of the court; when the time arrived for a
+final decision, the judges declared themselves incompetent to decide,
+and in order to rid themselves of responsibility referred the matter
+to the king's council. This great lawsuit, which was continued for a
+long time, eventually forced Charles of Bourbon to flee from France.
+Having sworn allegiance to Charles V. of Spain and Henry VIII. of
+England against Francis I., he was made lieutenant-general of the
+imperial armies.
+
+When Francis, captured at the battle of Pavia, was taken to Spain,
+Louise, as regent, displayed unusual diplomatic skill by leaguing the
+Pope and the Italian states with Francis against the Spanish king.
+When, after nearly a year's captivity, her son returned, she welcomed
+him with a bevy of beauties; among them was a new mistress, designed
+to destroy the influence of the woman who had so often thwarted the
+plans of Louise--the beautiful Francoise de Foix whom the king had
+made Countess of Chateaubriant.
+
+This new beauty was Anne de Pisseleu, one of the thirty children of
+Seigneur d'Heilly, a girl of eighteen, with an exceptional education.
+Most cunning was the trap which Louise had set for the king. Anne was
+surrounded by a circle of youthful courtiers, who hung upon her words,
+laughed at her caprices, courted her smiles; and when she rather
+confounded them with the extent of the learning which--with a sort of
+gay triumph--she was rather fond of showing, they pronounced her "the
+most charming of learned ladies and the most learned of the charming."
+
+The plot worked; Francis was fascinated, falling an easy prey to the
+wiles of the wanton Anne. The former mistress, Francoise de Foix, was
+discarded, and Louise, purely out of revenge and spite, demanded the
+return of the costly jewels given by the king and appropriated them
+herself.
+
+The duty assigned to the new mistress was that of keeping Francis
+busy with fetes and other amusements. While he was thus kept under the
+spell of his enchantress, he lost all thought of his subjects and the
+welfare of his country and the affairs of the kingdom fell into the
+hands of Louise and her chancellor, Duprat. The girl-mistress, Anne,
+was married by Louise to the Duc d'Etampes whose consent was gained
+through the promise of the return of his family possessions which,
+upon his father's departure with Charles of Bourbon, had been
+confiscated.
+
+The reign of Louise of Savoy was now about over; she had accomplished
+everything she had planned. She had caused Charles of Bourbon, one of
+the greatest men of the sixteenth century, to turn against his king;
+and that king owed to her--his mother--his defeat at Pavia, his
+captivity in Spain, and his moral fall. Spain, Italy, and France were
+victims of the infamous plotting and disastrous intrigues of this one
+woman whose death, in 1531, was a blessing to the country which she
+had dishonored.
+
+At the time of the marriage of Francis I. to Eleanor of Portugal
+(one of the last acts of Louise), Europe was beginning to look upon
+France as ahead of all other nations in the "superlativeness of
+her politeness." The most rigid etiquette and the most punctilious
+politeness were always observed, fines being imposed for any
+discourtesy toward women.
+
+After the death of Louise, the lot of managing the king and directing
+his policy fell to the share of his mistress, the Duchesse d'Etampes,
+who at once became all-powerful at court; her influence over him was
+like that of the drug which, to the weak person who begins its use,
+soon becomes an absolute necessity.
+
+After the death of the dauphin, all the court flatteries were directed
+toward Henry, the eldest son of Francis. Though his mistress, Diana
+of Poitiers, ruled him, she exercised no influence politically; that
+she was not lacking in diplomacy, however, was proved by her attitude
+toward Henry's wife, Catherine, whom she treated with every indication
+of friendship and esteem, in marked contrast to the disdain exhibited
+by other ladies of the court. These two women became friends, working
+together against the mistress of the king--the Duchesse d'Etampes--and
+causing, by their intrigues, dissensions between father and son.
+
+The duchess was not a bad woman; her dissuasion of Francis I. from
+undertaking war with Solyman II. against Charles V. is one instance of
+the use of her influence in the right direction. By some historians,
+she is accused of having played the traitress, in the interest of
+Emperor Charles V., during the war of Spain and England against
+France. It was she who urged the Treaty of Crepy with Charles V.; by
+it, through the marriage of the French king's second son, the Duke of
+Orleans, to the niece of Charles V., the duchess was sure of a safe
+retreat when her bitter enemy, Henry's mistress, should reign after
+the king's death. Her plans, however, did not materialize, as the duke
+died and the treaty was annulled.
+
+The death of Francis I. occurred in 1547; with his reign ends the
+first period of woman's activity--a period influenced mainly by Louise
+of Savoy, whose relations to France were as disastrous as were those
+of any mistress. The influence exerted by her may in some respects be
+compared with that of Mme. de Pompadour; though, were the merits and
+demerits of both carefully tested, the results would hardly be
+in favor of Louise. Strong in diplomacy and intrigue, she was
+unscrupulous and wanton--morally corrupt; she did nothing to further
+the development of literature and art; if she favored men of genius it
+was merely from motives of self-interest.
+
+With the accession of Henry II. his mistress entered into possession
+of full power. The absolute sway of Diana of Poitiers over this
+weakest of French kings was due to her strong mind, great ability,
+wide experience, fascination of manner, and to that exceptional beauty
+which she preserved to her old age. Immediately upon coming into
+power, she dispatched the Duchesse d'Etampes to one of her estates
+and at the same time forced her to restore the jewels which she had
+received from Francis I., a usual procedure with a mistress who knew
+herself to be first in authority.
+
+After being thus displaced, the duchess spent her time in doing
+charitable work, and is said to have afforded protection to the
+Protestants. Eventually, hers was the fate of almost all the
+mistresses. Compelled to give up many of her possessions, miserable
+and forgotten by all, her last days were most unhappy.
+
+Early in her career, Henry made Diana Duchesse de Valentinois. So
+powerful did she become that Sieur de Bayard, secretary of state,
+having referred in jest to her age (she was twenty years the king's
+senior), was deprived of his office, thrown into prison, and left to
+die. In her management of Queen Catherine, Diana was most politic;
+she never interfered, but constituted herself "the protectress of the
+legitimate wife, settling all questions concerning the newly born,"
+for which she received a large salary. When, while the king was in
+Italy, the queen became ill, she owed her recovery to the watchful
+care of the mistress. The latter appointed to the vacant estates and
+positions members of her house--that of Guise. In time, this house
+gained such an ascendency that it conceived the project of setting
+aside all the princes of the blood royal.
+
+Having (through one of her favorites) gained control of the royal
+treasury, Diana appropriated everything--lands, money, jewels. Her
+influence was so astonishing to the people that she was accused of
+wielding a magic power and bewitching the king who seemed, verily,
+to be leading an enchanted existence; he had but one thought, one
+aim--that of pleasing and obeying his aged mistress. To make
+amends for his adultery, he concluded to extirpate heretics. Such
+a combination of luxury and extravagance with licentiousness and
+brutality, such wholesale murder, persecution, and burning at the
+stake have never been equalled, except under Nero.
+
+Michelet reveals the character of Diana in these words: "Affected by
+nothing, loving nothing, sympathizing with nothing; of the passions
+retaining only those which will give a little rapidity to the
+blood; of the pleasures preferring those that are mild and without
+violence--the love of gain and the pursuit of money; hence, there was
+absence of soul. Another phase was the cultivation of the body, the
+body and its beauty uniquely cared for by virile treatment and a rigid
+regime which is the guardian of life--not weakly adored as by women
+who kill themselves by excessive self-love." M. Saint-Amand continues,
+after quoting the above: "At all seasons of the year, Diana plunges
+into a cold bath on rising. As soon as day breaks, she mounts a horse,
+and, followed by swift hounds, rides through dewy verdure to her royal
+lover to whom--fascinated by her mythological pomp--she seems no
+more a woman but a goddess. Thus he styles her in verses of burning
+tenderness:
+
+  "'Helas, mon Dieu! combien je regrette
+  Le temps que j'ai perdu en ma jeunesse!
+  Combien de fois je me suis souhaite
+  Avoir Diane pour ma seule maitresse.
+  Mais je craignais qu'elle, qui est deesse,
+  Ne se voulut abaisser jusque la.'"
+
+[Alas, my God! how much I regret the time lost in my youth! How often
+have I longed to have Diana for my only mistress! But I feared that
+she who is a goddess would not stoop so low as that.]
+
+Catherine remained quietly in the palace, preferring her position,
+unpleasant as it was, to the persecution and possible incarceration in
+a convent which would result from any interference on her part between
+the king and his mistress. Without power or privileges, she was a
+mere figurehead--a good mother looking after her family. However,
+she was not idle; without taking part in the intrigues, she was
+studying them--planning her future tactics; in all relations she was
+diplomatic, her conversation ever displaying exquisite tact.
+
+While France groaned under the burdens of seemingly interminable wars
+and exorbitant taxes, her king revelled in excessive luxury; the aim
+of his favorite mistress seemed to be to acquire wealth and spend
+it lavishly for her own pleasure. Voluptuousness, cruelty, and
+extravagance were the keynotes of the time. All means were used to
+procure revenues, the king easing any pangs of conscience by burning a
+few heretics whose estates were then quickly confiscated.
+
+Diana, even at the age of sixty, still held Henry in her toils; an
+easy prey for the wiles of the flatterer, he was kept in ignorance of
+the hatred and anger heaping up against him. In the midst of riotous
+festivity, Henry II. died, a victim of the lance of Montgomery;
+and the twelve years' reign of debauchery, cruelty, and shameless
+extravagance came to an end.
+
+Whatever else may be said of Diana, she proved to be a liberal
+patroness of art and letters; this was possible for her, since,
+in addition to inherited wealth and the gifts of lands and jewels
+from the king, she procured the possessions of many heretics whose
+confiscated wealth was assigned to her as a faithful servant and
+supporter of the church.
+
+Her hotel at Anet was one of the most elaborate, tasteful, and elegant
+in all France; there the finest specimens of Italian sculpture,
+painting, and woodwork were to be seen. The king, upon making her
+a duchess, presented her with the beautiful chateau of Chenonceaux,
+which was so much coveted by Catherine. The latter attempted to make
+Diana pay for the chateau, thus interrupting her plans for building;
+upon discovering this, Henry sent his own artists and workmen to carry
+out Diana's desires. Such was the power of his mistress over the weak
+king that he respected her wishes far more than he did those of his
+queen. This was one of those instances in which Catherine saw fit to
+remain silent and plan revenge.
+
+The death of Diana of Poitiers was that common to all women of her
+position. She died in 1566, forgotten by the world--her world. In
+her will she made "provision for religious houses, to be opened to
+women of evil lives, as if, in the depth of her conscience, she
+had recognized the likeness between their destiny and her own."
+Like the former mistresses, she had been required to give up the
+jewels received from Henry II.; but as this order was from Francis
+II. instead of from his mistress, the gems were returned to the
+crown after having passed successively through the hands of three
+mistresses.
+
+Catherine's time had not yet come, for she dared not interfere
+when Mary Stuart (a beautiful, inexperienced, and impetuous girl of
+seventeen) gained ascendency over Francis II.--a mere boy. The house
+of Guise was then supreme and began its bloody campaign against its
+enemies; fortunately, however, its power was short-lived, for in 1560
+the king died after reigning only seventeen months. At this point,
+Catherine enters upon the scene of action. Jealous of Mary Stuart
+and fearing that the young king, Charles IX., then but ten years old,
+might become infatuated with her and marry her, she promptly returned
+the fair young woman to Scotland.
+
+The task before the regent was no light one; her kingdom was
+divided against itself, the country was overburdened with taxes, and
+discontent reigned universally. All who surrounded her were full of
+prejudice and actuated solely by personal aspirations--she realized
+that she could trust no one.
+
+Her first act of a political nature was to rescue the house of
+Valois and solidify the royal authority. Some critics maintain that
+she began her reign with moderation, gentleness, impartiality, and
+reconciliation. This view finds support in the fact that during the
+first years she favored Protestantism; finding, however, that the
+latter was weakening royal power and that the country at large was
+opposed to it, she became its most bitter enemy. To the Protestants
+and their plottings she attributed all the disastrous effects of the
+civil war, all thefts, murders, incests, and adulteries, as well
+as the profanation of the sepulchres of the ancestors of the royal
+family, the burning of the bones of Louis XI. and of the heart of
+Francis II.
+
+The Machiavellian policy was Catherine's guide; bitter experience had
+robbed her of all faith in humanity--she had learned to despise it
+and the judgment of her contemporaries. At first she was amiable and
+polite, seemingly intent upon pleasing those with whom she talked;
+in fact, it is said that she was then more often accused of excessive
+mildness and moderation than of the violence and cruelty which later
+characterized her. Experience having taught her how to deal with
+people, she never lost her self-control.
+
+Subsequent history shows that any gentle and conciliatory policy of
+Catherine was merely a method of furthering her own interests, and
+was therefore not the outcome of any inborn feeling of sympathy or
+womanly tenderness. Whether her signing of the Edict of Saint-Germain,
+admitting the Protestants to all employments and granting them the
+privilege of Calvinistic worship in two cities of every province, and
+her refusal, upon the urgent solicitations of her son-in-law, Philip
+II., to persecute heretics were really snares laid for the Huguenots,
+is a matter which historians have not decided.
+
+Inasmuch as the entire history of France plays about the personality
+of Catherine de' Medici, no attempt will be made to give a detailed
+chronological account of her career; the results, rather than the
+events themselves, will be given. M. Saint-Amand, in his work on
+_French Women of the Valois Court_, presents one of the strongest
+pictures drawn of Catherine. We shall follow him in the greater part
+of this sketch.
+
+According to some historians, Catherine was a mere intriguer, without
+talent or ability, living but in the moment, often caught in her
+own snares; according to others, by her intelligence, ability, and
+strength of character she advanced a cause truly national--that of
+French unity; thus, she worked either the ruin or the salvation of
+France. Michelet calls her a nonentity, a stage queen with merely
+the externals--the attire--of royalty, remaining exactly on a level
+with the rulers of the smaller Italian principalities, contriving
+everything and fearing everything, with no more heart than she had
+sense or temperament. Being a female, she loved her young; she loved
+the arts, but cared to cultivate only their externalities. In this,
+however, Michelet goes to an extreme; for no woman ever lived who had
+so great a talent for intrigues and politics as she--a very type of
+the deceit and cunning which were inherent in her race. If she were
+not important, had not wielded so much influence and decided the
+fate of so many great men, women, and even states, she would not
+be the subject of so much writing, of such fierce denunciation
+and strong praise. To her family, France owes her finest palaces,
+her masterpieces of art--painting, bookmaking, printing, binding,
+sculpture.
+
+M. Saint-Amand declares that "isolated from her contemporaries,
+Catherine de' Medici is a monster; brought back within the circle of
+their passions and their theories, she once more becomes a woman."
+But Catherine was the instigator, the embodiment of all that is vice,
+deceit, cunning, trickery, wickedness, and bold intrigue; she set
+the example, and her ladies followed her in all that she did; "the
+heroines bred in her school (and what woman was not in her school?)
+imitate, with docility, the examples she gives them." She was not
+only the type of her civilization,--brutal, gross, immoral, elegant,
+polished, and _mondain_,--but she was also its leader.
+
+Greatness of soul, real moral force, strict virtue, are not attributes
+of the sixteenth-century woman--they are isolated and rare exceptions;
+these Catherine did not possess. Nor was she influenced deeply by
+her environments; the latter but encouraged and developed those
+qualities which were hers inherently,--will, intelligence, inflexible
+perseverance, tenacity of purpose, unscrupulousness, cruelty;
+hence, to say "She is the victim rather than the inspiration of the
+corruption of her time" is misleading, to say the least. If, upon
+her arrival at court, "she at once pleased every one by her grace and
+affability, modest air, and, above all, by her extreme gentleness,"
+she could not have changed, say her defenders, into the perfidious,
+wicked, and cruel creature she is said to have become as soon as she
+stepped into power. "During the reign of Henry II., she wisely avoided
+all danger; faithful to her wifely duties, she gave no cause for
+scandal, and, realizing that she was not strong enough to overcome her
+all-powerful rival, she bided her time. She was loved and respected by
+everyone for her personal qualities and her benevolence." But why
+may it not be true that all this was but part of her politics, the
+politics in which she had been educated? Wise from experience, she
+foresaw the future and what was in store for her if she remained
+prudent and made the best of the surroundings until the time should
+come when she could strike suddenly and boldly.
+
+Brought up from infancy amidst snares, intrigues, the clash of arms,
+the furious shouts of popular insurrections, tempests, and storms, she
+could not escape the influence of her early environment. Her talent
+for studying and penetrating the designs of her enemies, for facing or
+avoiding dangers with such sublime calmness and prudence, was partly
+inherited, partly acquired. That spirit she took with her to France,
+where her experience was widened and her opportunities for the study
+of human nature were increased.
+
+It is not generally known that her mother was a French woman--a
+Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne, daughter of Jean, Count of Boulogne,
+and Catherine of Bourbon, daughter of the Count of Vendome; thus, her
+gentler nature was a French product. Her mother and father both died
+when she was but twenty-two days old, and from that time until her
+marriage she was cast about from place to place. But from the very
+first she showed that talent of adapting herself to her surroundings,
+living amidst intrigues and discords and yet making friends. She
+has been called "the precocious heiress of the craftiness of her
+progenitors."
+
+In her thirteenth year, after being sought by many powerful princes,
+Clement VII. (her greatuncle), in order to secure himself against the
+powerful Charles V., married her to Henry, Duke of Orleans, the second
+son of Francis I. Even at that early age she was fully aware of all
+the dreariness and danger attached to positions of power, and knew
+that the art of governing was not an easy one. She had studied
+Machiavelli's famous work, _The Prince_, which had been dedicated to
+her father, and it was from it, as well as from her ancestors, that
+she derived her wisdom and astuteness. Her childhood had prepared
+her for the work of the future, and she went at it with caution and
+reserve until she was sure of her ground.
+
+She first proceeded to study the king, Francis I., watching his
+actions, extracting his secrets; a fine huntress and at his side
+constantly, she pleased him and gained his favor. Brantome says
+she was subtle and diplomatic, quickly learning the craft of her
+profession; she sought friends among all classes and ranks, directing
+her overtures specially toward the ladies of the court, whom she soon
+won and gathered about her.
+
+In 1536 the dauphin died, and Catherine's husband became heir to
+the throne of France. Though they had been married three years,
+no offspring had resulted, which unfortunate circumstance made her
+position a most uncertain one, especially as Diana of Poitiers was
+then at the height of her power, controlling Henry absolutely. A
+furious rivalry sprang up between the Duchesse d'Etampes, mistress
+of Francis I., and Diana and Catherine; the two mistresses formed two
+parties, and a war of slanders, calumnies, and unpleasant epigrams
+ensued. Queen Eleanor, the second wife of Francis I., took no active
+part, thus leaving all power in the hands of the mistress of her
+husband. (It was at this time that the Emperor Charles V. gained the
+Duchesse d'Etampes over to his cause.) Poets and artists, politicians
+and men of genius took sides, extolling the beauty of the one they
+championed. Catherine, although befriended and treated with apparent
+respect by Diana, remained a good friend to both women, thus evincing
+her tact. By keeping her own personality in the background, she won
+the esteem of both her husband and the king.
+
+Brantome leaves a picture of Catherine at this time: "She was a fine
+and ample figure; very majestic, yet agreeable and very gentle when
+necessary; beautiful and gracious in appearance, her face fair and her
+throat white and full, very white in body likewise.... Moreover, she
+dressed superbly, always having some pretty innovation. In brief,
+she had beauties fitted to inspire love. She laughed readily, her
+disposition was jovial, and she liked to jest." M. Saint-Amand
+continues: "The artistic elegance that surrounded her whole person,
+the tranquil and benevolent expression of her countenance, the good
+taste of her dress, the exquisite distinction of her manners, all
+contributed to her charm. And then she was so humble in the presence
+of her husband! She so carefully avoided whatever might have the
+semblance of reproach! She closed her eyes with such complaisance!
+Henry told himself that it would be difficult to find another woman
+so well-disposed, another wife so faithful to her duties, another
+princess so accomplished in point of instruction and intelligence. The
+_menage a trois_ (household of three) was continued, therefore, and if
+the dauphin loved his mistress, he certainly had a friendship for his
+wife. And, on her part, whenever she felt an inclination to complain
+of her lot, Catherine bethought herself that if she quitted her
+position she would probably find no refuge but the cloister, and
+that--taking it all around--the court of France (in spite of the
+humiliations and vexations one might experience there) was an abode
+more desirable than a convent;" this, then, is the secret of her
+submission. In spite of her beauty, mildness, and distinction of
+manner, she could not overcome the prestige of Diana.
+
+After nine years, Catherine was still without children and began to
+fear the fate in store for her; but when she gave birth to a son in
+1543, she felt assured that divorce no longer threatened her and she
+resolved that as soon as she came into power she would be revenged
+upon her enemies and Diana of Poitiers. When, in 1547, her husband
+succeeded his father as King of France, she did not feel that the time
+had yet arrived to interfere in any social or domestic arrangements
+or affairs of state; not until ten years later did she show the first
+sign of remarkable statesmanship or ability as a politician.
+
+After the battle and capture of Saint-Quentin, France was in a most
+deplorable state; the enemy was believed to be beneath the walls of
+Paris; everybody was fleeing; the king had gone to Compiegne to muster
+a new army. Catherine was alone in Paris "and of her own free will
+went to the Parliament in full state, accompanied by the cardinals,
+princes, and princesses; and there, in the most impressive language,
+she set forth the urgent state of affairs at the moment.... With so
+much sentiment and eloquence that she touched the heart of everybody,
+the queen then explained to the Parliament that the king had need of
+three hundred thousand livres, twenty-five thousand to be paid every
+two months; and she added that she would retire from the place of
+session, so as not to interfere with the liberty of discussion;
+accordingly, she retired to another room. A resolution to comply with
+the wishes of her majesty was voted, and the queen, having resumed her
+place, received a promise to that effect. A hundred nobles of the
+city offered to give at once three thousand francs apiece. The queen
+thanked them in the sweetest form of words, and thus terminated this
+session of Parliament--with so much applause for her majesty and such
+lively marks of satisfaction at her behavior, that no idea can be
+given of them. Throughout the city, nothing was spoken of but the
+queen's prudence and the happy manner in which she proceeded in this
+enterprise" (Guizot). From this act dates Catherine's entrance into
+political consideration.
+
+During the reign of Francis II., Catherine de' Medici exercised no
+influence at court, the king being completely under the dominion
+of his wife and the Duke of Guise, who was not favorable to the
+queen-mother's schemes and policies. Catherine, however, was plotting;
+caring little about religion so long as it did not further her plans,
+she connected herself with the Huguenots; her scheme was to bring the
+Guises to destruction and to form a council of regency which, while
+composed of the Huguenot leaders, was to be under her guidance. As
+this plan failed, bringing ruin to many princes, she deserted the
+Huguenots and allied herself with the Catholics.
+
+She is next found attempting the assassination of the Duke of Conde,
+but she failed to accomplish that crime because her son, the king,
+refused his consent. Soon after, Francis II. died, it is said from
+the effect of poison dropped into his ear while he was sleeping; it
+is probable that this crime was committed at the instigation of the
+mother, since by his death and the accession of Charles IX. she became
+regent (1560). She was then all-powerful and in a position to exercise
+her long dormant talents.
+
+Her first plan was to incapacitate all her children by plunging
+them "into such licentious pleasure and voluptuous dissipation
+that they were speedily unfitted for mental activity or exertion."
+Most unprejudiced historians credit her with the Massacre of Saint
+Bartholomew; she is said to have boasted about it to Catholic
+governments and excused it to Protestant powers. For a number of
+years, she had been planning the destruction of the Huguenot princes,
+and as early as 1565 she and Charles IX. had an interview with the
+Duke of Alva (representative of Philip II), to consult as to the means
+of delivering France from heretics. It was decided that "this great
+blessing could not have accomplishment save by the deaths of all the
+leaders of the Huguenots."
+
+That fearful crime, the bloody Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, is
+familiar to everyone. The only excuse offered for this most heinous of
+Catherine's many offences is her intense sentiment of national unity;
+the actual reason for it is to be sought in the fact that as long
+as the Protestants retained their prestige and influence, Catherine
+and her Catholic party could not do as they pleased, could not
+gain absolute control over the government. History holds her more
+responsible than it does her weak son. The climax came on the occasion
+of the wedding of Marguerite of Valois with the Prince of Navarre,
+which meant the union of the branches--the Catholic and the
+Protestant. This resulted in the first breach between the king and
+Catherine; the latter at that time perpetrated one of her dastardly
+deeds by poisoning the mother of the Prince of Navarre--Jeanne
+d'Albret, her bitter enemy.
+
+After the death of Charles IX., Henry III. was the sole survivor of
+the four sons of Catherine. Although her power was limited during his
+reign, she managed to continue her murderous plans and accomplished
+the death of Henry of Guise and his brother the cardinal, which crime
+united the majority of the Catholics of France against the king and
+was the cause of his assassination in 1589. This ended the power of
+Catherine de' Medici; when she died, no one rejoiced, no one lamented.
+Wherever she had turned her eyes, she had seen nothing but occasions
+for uneasiness and sadness; she had retired from court, feeling her
+helplessness and disgrace as well as the decline in power of that son
+in whom her hopes were centred. She decided to reenter the scene of
+action and save Henry. The stormy scenes of the Barricades and the
+League and the murder of the Duke of Guise hastened her death, which
+occurred in 1589.
+
+Catherine de' Medici may rightfully be called the initiator and
+organizer of social and court etiquette and courtesy--of conventional
+and social laws. However great her political activity, she made
+herself deeply felt in the social and moral worlds also. She taught
+her husband the secret of being king; she introduced the _lever_
+audience; in the afternoon of every day, she held a reunion of all the
+ladies of the court, at which the king was to be found after dinner
+and every lord entertained the lady he most loved; two hours were
+spent in this pleasure which was continued after supper if there were
+no balls; bitter railleries and anything that passed the restrictions
+of good company were forbidden.
+
+Her ladies of honor obeyed her as they would their God. Marguerite
+of Valois said of her: "I did not dare to speak to her, and when
+she looked at me I trembled for fear of having done something that
+displeased her." Ladies who had been delinquent were stripped and
+beaten with lashes; for correction--frequently for mere pastime--she
+would have them undressed and slapped vigorously with the back of
+the hand. Francoise of Rohan, cousin of Jeanne d'Albret, wrote the
+following poem:
+
+  "Plus j'ai de toi souvent este battue,
+  Plus mon amour s'efforce et s'evertue
+  De regretter ceste main qui me bat;
+  Car ce mal-la m'estait plaisant esbat.
+  Or, adieu done la main dont la rigueur
+  Je preferais a tout bien et honneur."
+
+[The more often I have been struck by you, the more my love struggles
+and strives to regret the hand that beats me; for that punishment
+was a pleasant pastime for me. Now farewell to the hand whose rigor I
+preferred to every fortune and honor.]
+
+The following portrait and poetry, taken from M. Saint-Amand, does
+the subject full justice: "Catherine de' Medici represented with a
+sinister glance, deadly mien, mysterious and savage aspect--a spectre,
+not a woman--is not true to nature. Her self-possession, cool cunning,
+supreme elegance, imperturbable tranquillity, calmness, moderation,
+noble serenity, and dignified poise, gave her an individuality such as
+few women ever possessed. Gentle in crime and tragedy, polite like an
+executioner toward his victim--this Machiavellianism which is equal
+to every trial, which nothing alarms or surprises, and which
+with tranquil dexterity makes sport of every law of morality and
+humanity--this is the real character of Catherine de' Medici." The
+following burlesque poetry was composed for her:
+
+  "La reine qui ci-git fut un diable et un ange,
+  Toute pleine de blame et pleine de louange,
+  Elle soutint l'Etat, et l'Etat mit a bas;
+  Elle fit maints accords et pas moins de debats;
+  Elle enfanta trois rois et trois guerres civiles,
+  Fit batir des chateaux et ruiner des villes,
+  Fit bien de bonnes lois et de mauvais edits.
+  Souhaite-lui, passant, enfer et paradis."
+
+[The queen lying here was both devil and angel, blamed and praised;
+she both put down and upheld the state; she caused many an agreement
+and no end of disputes; she produced three kings and three civil wars;
+she built castles and ruined cities, made many good laws and many bad
+decrees. Wish her, passer-by, hell and paradise.]
+
+With the reign of Henry IV.--the first king of the house of Bourbon,
+and the first king of the sixteenth century with a will of his own and
+the courage to assert it--begins a period of revelling, debauch, and
+the most depraved immorality. Three mistresses in turn controlled
+him--morally, not politically.
+
+Henry was master of his own will, and, had he desired to do so, could
+have overcome his evil tendencies; instead, he openly countenanced and
+even encouraged dissoluteness and elegant debauchery, as long as he
+himself was not deprived of the lady upon whom his capricious fancy
+happened to fall. His advances were but seldom repulsed; but upon
+making his usual audacious proposals to the Marquise de Guercheville,
+he was informed that she was of too insignificant a house to be the
+king's wife and of too good a race to be his mistress; and when the
+king, in spite of this rebuff, made her lady of honor to his wife,
+Marie de' Medici, she continued to resist him and remained virtuous.
+Such types of purity, honor, and moral courage were very exceptional
+during this reign.
+
+The three principal mistresses of this sovereign represent three
+phases of influence and three periods of his life. Corisande
+d'Andouins, Comtesse de Guiche and Duchesse de Gramont, fascinated him
+for eight years, while he was King of Navarre (1582-1590); to her he
+was deeply attached, and recompensed her for her devotion; this is
+called his _chevaleresque_ period. The beautiful Gabrielle d'Estrees,
+Duchesse de Beaufort, was called his mate after victory; "she refined,
+sharpened, softened, and tamed his customs; she made him king of the
+court instead of the field." It was she who ventured to meddle in his
+politics, she whom Marguerite of Valois, his wife, so detested that
+she refused to consent to a divorce as long as Gabrielle (by whom he
+had several children) remained his mistress. The latter even went so
+far as to demand the baptism, as a child of France, of her son by the
+king. Sully, in a rage, declared there were no "children of France,"
+and took the order to the king, who had it destroyed; he then asked
+his minister to go to his mistress and satisfy her, "in so far as you
+can." To his efforts she replied: "I am aware of all, and do not care
+to hear any more; I am not made as the king is, whom you persuade that
+black is white." Upon receiving this report, the king said: "Here,
+come with me; I will let you see that women have not the possession
+of me that certain malignant spirits say they have." Accompanied by
+Sully, he immediately went to the Duchesse de Beaufort, and, taking
+her by the hand, said: "Now, madame, let us go into your room, and let
+nobody else enter except Rosny. I want to speak to you both and teach
+you how to be good friends." Then, having closed the door, holding
+Gabrielle with one hand and Rosny with the other, he said: "Good God,
+madame! What is the meaning of this? So you would vex me from sheer
+wantonness of heart in order to try my patience? By God, I swear to
+you that, if you continue these fashions of going on, you will find
+yourself very much out in your expectations! I see quite well that you
+have been put up to all this pleasantry in order to make me dismiss
+a servant whom I cannot do without, and who has served me loyally for
+five-and-twenty years. By God, I will do nothing of the kind! And I
+declare to you that if I were reduced to such a necessity as to
+choose between losing one or the other, I could better do without ten
+mistresses like you than one servant like him." Shortly after this
+episode, Gabrielle died so suddenly that she was supposed to have been
+poisoned. Immediately after her death the divorce was granted, and
+Henry married Marie de' Medici.
+
+The third mistress, Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues, Marquise de
+Verneuil, who led Henry IV. along a path of the worst debauchery,
+gained control over him by lewd, lascivious methods. While
+negotiations were being carried on for his divorce from Marguerite,
+only a few weeks after the death of Gabrielle, he signed a promise to
+marry Henriette; this, however, he failed to keep. She, more than any
+other of his mistresses, was the cause of national distress and of
+more than one ruinous war. When, after the marriage of the king
+to Marie de' Medici, Henriette began to nag, rail, intrigue, and
+conspire, she was disgraced by Henry, who at least had the courage to
+honor his own family above that of his mistresses. She is accused of
+having had, solely from motives of revenge, a hand in the death of the
+king.
+
+Thus, around the queens-regent and the mistresses of the kings of
+France in the sixteenth century there is constant intriguing, murder,
+assassination, immorality, and debauchery, jealousy and revenge,
+marriage and divorce, honor and disgrace, despotism and final
+repentance and misery. The greatest and lowest of these women
+was Catherine de' Medici; Diana of Poitiers was famed as the most
+marvellously beautiful woman in France, and she was the most powerful
+and intelligent mistress until the time of Mme. de Pompadour. Amid all
+this bribery and corruption, elegant and refined immorality, there
+are some few types that represent education, family life, purity, and
+culture.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Woman in Family Life, Education, and Letters
+
+
+The queens of France exerted little or no influence upon the cultural
+or political development of that country. Frequently of foreign
+extraction and reared in the strict religious discipline of
+Catholicism, they spent their time in attending masses, aiding the
+poor and, with the little money allowed them, erecting hospitals and
+other institutions for the weak and needy. Thus, they are, as a rule,
+types of gentleness, virtue, piety, and self-sacrifice.
+
+The little information which history gives concerning them is confined
+mainly to their matrimonial alliances. To them, marriage represented
+nothing more than a contract--a union entered into for the purpose of
+settling some political negotiation; thus they were often cast upon
+strange and unfriendly soil where intrigues and jealousy immediately
+affected them.
+
+Seldom did they venture to interfere with the intrigues of the
+mistress; in their uncertain position, any manifestation of resentment
+or opposition resulted in humiliation and disgrace; if wise, they
+contented themselves with quietly performing their functions as
+dutiful wives. Such women were Claude, daughter of Louis XII., and
+Eleanor of Spain--wives of Francis I.; lacking the power to act
+politically, both passed uneventful and virtuous lives in comparative
+obscurity. The wife of Charles IX.--Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of
+Maximilian II.--had absolutely no control over her husband; however,
+he condescended to flatter himself with having, as he said, "in an
+amiable wife, the wisest and most virtuous woman not only of France
+and Europe, but of the universe." Her nature is well portrayed in
+the answer she gave to the remark made to her, after the death of her
+husband: "Ah, Madame, what a misfortune that you have no son! Your
+lot would be less pitiful and you would be queen-mother and regent."
+"Alas, do not suggest such a disagreeable thing!" she replied. "As
+if France had not afflictions enough without my producing another to
+complete its ruin! For, if I had a son, there would be more divisions
+and troubles, more seditions to obtain the administration and
+guardianship during his infancy and minority; all would try to profit
+themselves by despoiling the poor child--as they wanted to do with the
+late king, my husband." Returning to Austria, she erected a convent,
+treated the nuns as friends and refused to marry again even to ascend
+the throne of Spain.
+
+Louise de Vaudemont, wife of Henry III, was a French woman by
+birth and blood. After the death of the Princess of Conde, whom he
+passionately loved and desired to marry, Henry conceived an intense
+affection for Louise, daughter of Nicholas of Lorraine, Count of
+Vaudemont--a young lady of education and culture--"a character of
+exquisite sweetness lends distinction to her beauty and her piety;
+her thorough Christian modesty and humility are reflected in her
+countenance." Brantome wrote: "This princess deserves great praise;
+in her married life she comported herself so wisely, chastely, and
+loyally toward the king that the nuptial tie which bound her to him
+always remained firm and indissoluble,--was never found loosened or
+undone,--even though the king liked and sometimes procured a change,
+according to the custom of the great who keep their full liberty."
+Soon after the marriage, however, Henry began to make life unpleasant
+for the queen, one of his petty acts being to deprive her of the moral
+ladies in waiting whom she had brought with her.
+
+Louise de Vaudemont was a striking contrast to the perverted woman of
+the day; the latter, no longer charmed by the gentler emotions, sought
+the exaggerated and the eccentric, extraordinary incidents, dramatic
+situations, unexpected crises, finding all amusements insipid unless
+they involved fighting and romantic catastrophes. "_Billets doux_ were
+written in blood and ferocity reigned even in pleasure."
+
+In the midst of this turmoil, Louise busied herself with charity,
+appearing among the poor and distributing all the funds which her
+father gave her for pocket money; the evils of her surroundings threw
+her virtues, by contrast, into so much the brighter light. Though she
+held herself aloof from intrigues and rivalries, favoring no one and
+encouraging no slander, she was, strange to say, respected, admired
+and honored by Protestants and Catholics alike.
+
+Calumny and all the agitations about her did not disturb Louise in her
+prayers. "The waves of the angry ocean broke at the foot of the
+altar as the queen knelt; but Huguenots and Catholics, leaguers and
+royalists, united to pay her homage. They were amazed to see such
+purity in an atmosphere so corrupt, such gentleness in a society so
+violent. Their eyes rested with satisfaction on a countenance whose
+holy tranquillity was undisturbed by pride and hatred. The famous
+women of the century, wretched in spite of all their amusements and
+their feverish pursuit of pleasure, made salutary reflections as they
+contemplated a woman still more highly honored for her virtues than
+for her crown." That she was not a mother was, with her, an enduring
+sorrow; even that, however, did not alter her calmness and benign
+resignation.
+
+Louise de Vaudemont was indeed a bright star in a heaven of
+darkness--one of the best queens of whom French history can boast;
+she is an example of goodness and gentleness, of purity, charity, and
+fidelity in a world of corruption, cruelty, hatred, and debauch--where
+sympathy was rare and chastity was ridiculed. Although a highly
+educated woman, the faithful performance of her duties as queen and
+as a devout Catholic left her little time for literature and art; she
+remains the type of piety and purity--an ideal queen and woman.
+
+A heroine in the fullest sense of that word was Jeanne d'Albret, the
+great champion of Protestantism; she was the mother of Henry IV. and
+the wife of the Duke of Bourbon, Count of Vendome, a direct descendant
+of Saint Louis. This despotic, combative, and war-loving queen reigned
+as absolute monarch, and was as autocratic and severe as Calvin
+himself, confiscating church property, destroying pictures and
+altars--even going so far as to forbid the presence of her subjects
+at mass or in religious processions. "Her natural eloquence, the
+lightning flashes from her eyes, her reputation as a Spartan matron
+and an intractable Calvinist, all contributed to give her great
+influence with her party. The military leaders--Coligny, La
+Rochefoucauld, Rohan, La Noue--submitted their plans of campaign to
+her."
+
+Though Jeanne was, perhaps, as fanatical, intolerant, and cruel as her
+adversaries, she was driven to this by the hostility shown her by
+the Catholic party--a party in which she felt she could place no
+confidence. Her retreat was amid rocks and inaccessible peaks, whence
+she defied both the pope and Philip II. She brought up her son--the
+future Henry IV.--among the children of the people, exercising toward
+him the severest discipline, and inuring him to the cold of the winter
+and the heat of the summer; she taught him to be judicious, sincere,
+and compassionate--qualities which she possessed to a remarkable
+degree. Chaste and pure herself, she considered the court of France
+a hotbed of voluptuousness and debauchery, and at every opportunity
+strengthened herself against its possible influence.
+
+The political and religious troubles of Jeanne d'Albret began when
+Pope Paul IV. invested Philip II. of Spain with the sovereignty of
+Navarre--her territory; she resisted, and, following the impulses of
+her own nature, formally embraced Calvinism, while her weak husband
+acceded to the commands of the Church, and, applying to the pope for
+the annulment of his marriage, was prepared, as lieutenant-general of
+the kingdom, a position he accepted from the pontiff, to deprive
+his wife of her possessions. His death before the realization of his
+project made it possible for Jeanne to retain her sovereignty; alone,
+an absolute monarch, she declared Calvinism the established religion
+of Navarre. After the assassination of Conde she remained the champion
+of the Huguenots, defying her enemies and scorning the court of
+France.
+
+So great were her power and influence over the soldiery that Catherine
+de' Medici, her bitter enemy, desiring to bring her into her power,
+or, at least, to conciliate her, planned a marriage between Jeanne's
+son and Marguerite of Valois--sister of Charles IX. When the
+suggestion that the marriage should take place came from the king of
+France, Jeanne d'Albret suspected an ambush; with the determination
+to supervise personally all arrangements for the nuptials, she set
+out for the French court. Venerated by the Protestants, and hated but
+admired by the Catholics, she had become celebrated throughout Europe
+for her beauty, intelligence, and strength of mind; thus, her arrival
+at Paris created a sensation.
+
+She was so scandalized at the luxury and bold debauchery at court that
+she decided to give up the marriage; she had detected the intrigues
+and falsity of both the king and Catherine, and had a foreboding of
+evil. She wrote to her son Henry:
+
+"Your betrothed is beautiful, very circumspect and graceful, but
+brought up in the worst company that ever existed (for I do not see
+a single one who is not infected by it) ... I would not for anything
+have you come here to live; this is why I desire you to marry and
+withdraw yourself and your wife from this corruption which (bad as I
+supposed it to be) I find still worse than I thought. Here, it is not
+the men who invite the women, but the women who invite the men. If you
+were here, you could not escape contamination without a great grace
+from God."
+
+In the meantime, Catherine, undecided whether to strike immediately or
+to wait, was redoubling her kindness and courtesy and her affectionate
+overtures; her enemies were in her hands. Although Jeanne suspected
+that Catherine was capable of every perfidy, she at times believed
+that her suspicions were unjust or exaggerated. The situation between
+these two great women was indeed a dramatic one: both were tactful,
+powerful, experienced in war and diplomacy; both were mothers with
+children for whose future they sought to provide. Jeanne's hesitancy,
+however, was fatal; physically exhausted from suffering and sorrow,
+worry and excitement, she suddenly died, in the midst of her
+preparations for the marriage. While it is not absolutely certain that
+her death was due to poison, subsequent events lead strongly to the
+belief that Catherine was instrumental in causing it--that, probably,
+being but the first act toward the awful catastrophe she was planning.
+
+"A few hours before her agony, Jeanne dictated the provisions of her
+will. She recommended her son to remain faithful to the religion
+in which she had reared him, never to permit himself to be lured by
+voluptuousness and corruption, and to banish atheists, flatterers, and
+libertines.... She begged him to take his sister, Catherine, under his
+protection and to be, after God, her father. 'I forbid my son ever
+to use severity towards his sister; I wish, to the contrary, that he
+treat her with gentleness and kindness; and that--above all--he have
+her brought up in Bearn, and that she shall never leave there until
+she is old enough to be married to a prince of her own rank and
+religion, whose morals shall be such that the spouses may live happily
+together in a good and holy marriage.'" D'Aubigne wrote of her:
+"A princess with nothing of a woman but sex--with a soul full of
+everything manly, a mind fit to cope with affairs of moment, and a
+heart invincible in adversity."
+
+It was in deep mourning that her son, then King of Navarre, arrived at
+Paris; the eight hundred gentlemen who attended him were all likewise
+in mourning. "But," says Marguerite de Valois, "the nuptials took
+place in a few days, with triumph and magnificence that none others,
+of even my quality, had ever beheld. The King of Navarre and his troop
+changed their mourning for very rich and fine clothes, I being dressed
+royally, with crown and corsage of tufted ermine all blazing with
+crown jewels, and, the grand blue mantle with a train four ells long
+borne by three princesses. The people down below, in their eagerness
+to see us as we passed, choked one another." (Thus quickly was Jeanne
+d'Albret forgotten.) The ceremonies were gorgeous, lasting four days;
+but when Admiral Coligny, the Huguenot leader, was struck in the hand
+by a musket ball, the festive aspect of affairs suddenly changed.
+On the second day after the wounding of Coligny, and before the
+excitement caused by that act had subsided, Catherine accomplished
+the crowning work of her invidious nature, the tragedy of Saint
+Bartholomew.
+
+Peace and quiet never appeared upon the countenance of Catherine
+de' Medici--that woman who so faithfully represents and pictures the
+period, the tendencies of which she shaped and fostered by her own
+pernicious methods; and Charles IX., her son, was no better than his
+mother. Saint-Amand, in his splendid picture of the period, gives a
+truthful picture of Catherine as well: "It is interesting to observe
+how curiously the later Valois represented their epoch. Francis I. had
+personified the Renaissance; Charles IX. sums up in himself all the
+crises of the religious wars--he is the true type of the morbid and
+disturbed society where all is violent; where the blood is scorched
+by the double fevers of pleasure and cruelty; where the human soul,
+without guide or compass, is tossed amid storms; where fanaticism
+is joined to debauchery, superstition to incredulity, cultured
+intelligence to depravity of heart. This wholly unbalanced
+character--which stretches evil to its utmost limits while preserving
+the knowledge of what is good, which mistrusts everybody and yet
+has at least the aspiration toward friendship and love, if not its
+experience--is it not the symbol and living image of its time?"
+
+Marguerite de Valois, sister of Charles IX. and wife of Henry IV., by
+her own actions and intrigues exercised little influence politically;
+she was, above all else, a woman of culture and may be taken as an
+example of the type which was largely instrumental in developing
+social life in France. Famous for her beauty, talents, and profligacy,
+it seems that historians are prone to dwell too exclusively upon the
+last quality, overlooking her principal role--that of social leader.
+
+She first came into prominence through her relations with the Duke of
+Guise who paid assiduous court to her for some time; for a while, no
+topic was more discussed than that of their marriage. When, however,
+Charles IX. heard that the duke had been carrying on a secret
+correspondence with his sister, he exclaimed, savagely: "If it be so,
+we will kill him!" Thereupon, the duke hurriedly contracted a marriage
+with Catherine of Cleves. That Marguerite, at this early date, had
+become the mistress of Henry of Guise is hardly likely and becomes
+even less probable when it is considered how closely she was watched
+by her mother, Catherine de' Medici.
+
+Her marriage, previously mentioned, to Henry of Navarre was a mere
+political match, there being absolutely no love, no affection, no
+sympathy. This union was looked upon as the surest covenant of peace
+between Catholicism and Protestantism and put an end to the disastrous
+religious wars that had been carried on uninterruptedly for years;
+both the parties to this contract lived at court, leading an existence
+of pleasure and immorality. Remarkably intelligent, Marguerite was a
+scholar of no mean ability; she displayed much wit and talent, but
+no judgment or discretion; though conveying the impression of being
+rather haughty and proud, she lacked both self respect and true
+dignity. Her beauty was marvellous, but "calculated, to ruin and damn
+men rather than to save them."
+
+Henry, the husband of Marguerite, was constantly sneered at and
+taunted by the Catholics; although Catholic in name he was Protestant
+at heart and keenly felt his false position. During Catherine's short
+term as queen-regent, he was held in captivity until the arrival
+of Henry III., when he escaped to his own Bearn people; for this,
+Marguerite was held responsible and kept under guard.
+
+Although hating his religion, his wife went to live with him,
+tolerating his infidelities while he refused to tolerate her religion.
+The unhappiness of this marriage was not due to Marguerite alone; the
+first trouble arose when she discovered his love for his mistress,
+Gabrielle d'Estrees, and, thinking herself equally privileged,
+she began to indulge in the same excesses. The result of so many
+annoyances and debaucheries, so much vexation, was an illness; as soon
+as she became convalescent, she returned to her mother at court where
+she speedily gained the ill will of the king by her profligate habits,
+her quarrels with both Catholics and Protestants, her intimacy with
+the Duke of Guise, her plottings with her younger brother, her cutting
+satires on court favorites.
+
+She was sent back to Henry, upon the way meeting with the mishap of
+being insulted by archers and, with her maids, led away prisoner. Her
+husband was with difficulty persuaded to receive her, and, finding him
+all attentive to his mistress, Marguerite fled to Agen, where she
+made war upon him as a heretic; unable to hold her position there on
+account of her licentious manner of living and the exorbitant taxes
+imposed upon the inhabitants, she fled again and continued moving
+from one place to another, causing mischief everywhere, "consuming the
+remainder of her youth in adventures more worthy of a woman who had
+abandoned her husband than of a daughter of France." At last, she was
+seized and imprisoned in the fortress of Usson; here she was supported
+mainly by Elizabeth of Austria, widow of Charles IX.
+
+When her husband became King of France, he refused to liberate her
+until she should renounce her rank; to this condition she refused
+to accede until after the death of her rival, the mistress of
+Henry--Gabrielle d'Estrees, Duchess de Beaufort. After the annulment
+of the marriage, Marguerite said: "If our household has been little
+noble and less bourgeois, our divorce was royal." She was permitted
+to retain the title of queen, her debts were paid and other great
+concessions granted. Her subsequent relations with Henry IV. were very
+cordial and fraternal; she even revealed political plots to him.
+
+When, after nearly twenty years of captivity, Marguerite returned to
+Paris (1605), she gained the favor of everybody--the king, dauphin,
+and court ladies. She was present at the coronation of Marie de'
+Medici, and, by being tactful enough to keep apart from all intrigues,
+quarrels, and jealousies, she managed to win the good will of the
+king's favorites. She became the social leader, the queen inviting her
+to all court ceremonies and consulting her on all disputed questions
+of etiquette--even going so far as to intrust her with the reception
+of the Duke of Pastrana, who had come to ask the hand of Elizabeth
+of France. It is reported that in her last years she led a worse life
+than in her earlier days--she had become a woman of the bad world,
+resorting to every possible means to hide her age and to gain any
+vantage ground. In order to be well supplied with blond wigs, she kept
+fair-haired footmen who were shorn from time to time to furnish
+the supply. In the latter part of her life, spent at Paris and its
+vicinity, she fell a victim to hypochondria, suffering the most bitter
+pangs of remorse and terrible fear at approaching death. To alleviate
+this, she founded a convent where she taught the children music. She
+died in 1615, in Paris, "in that blended piety and coquetry which
+formed the basis of a character unable to give up gallantries and
+love."
+
+One of the very few historians who give due credit to her social
+importance and assign her the position she may rightfully command
+among French women of the sixteenth century is M. Du Bled. According
+to him, she was the leader of fashion, and in all its components
+she showed excellent taste and judgment. Forced to marry the king of
+Navarre, she said, after the ceremony: "I received from marriage all
+the evil I ever received, and I consider it the greatest plague of my
+life. They tell me that marriages are made in heaven; heaven did not
+commit such an injustice;" and this seems to be the secret of her
+"vicious life."
+
+As soon as she discovered that the king's favorites were determined
+to make life hard and disagreeable for her, she sought consolation in
+love and the toilette, in balls and fetes, in ballets and hunting, in
+promenades and gallant conversations, in tennis and carousals, and in
+an infinite variety of ingeniously planned pleasures. The spirit of
+chivalry, the habits of exalted devotion, were again in full sway
+about her. She worried little about virtue: "She had the gift of
+pleasing, was beautiful, and made full use of the liberality of the
+gods. Whatever may be said of her morals, it can truthfully be stated
+that she showed art in her love and practised it more in spirit than
+with the body." Music was a favorite art with her; she encouraged
+and rewarded singing, especially in the convent which she founded and
+where she spent almost all of her later days instructing the children.
+
+Her court at Usson, where, as a prisoner, she lived for twenty years,
+was the most brilliant and least material of all France; there poets,
+artists, and scholars were held in high esteem, and were on familiar
+footing with Marguerite; the latter showed no despotism, but, with the
+most consummate skill, directed conversations and proposed subjects,
+encouraging discussion, and skilfully drawing from her friends the
+most brilliant repartees. She received people of distinction without
+ceremony.
+
+She introduced the two elements which were combined in the
+eighteenth-century salon: a fine cuisine and freedom among her friends
+from the restraint usually imposed by distinction. She was, also,
+one of the first to have a circle--well organized according to modern
+etiquette--where the highest aristocracy, men of letters, magistrates,
+artists, and men of genius met on equal terms and in familiar and
+social intercourse; Montaigne, Brantome, and other great writers
+dedicated their works to her. She also directed a select few, an
+academy, to instruct and distract herself. It is said that every
+coquette, every bourgeois woman, and almost every court lady
+endeavored to imitate her. When she died, at the age of sixty-two,
+poets and preachers sang and chanted her merits, and all the poor wept
+over their loss; she was called the queen of the indigent. Richelieu
+mentioned her devotion to the state, her style, her eloquence, the
+grace of her hospitality, her infinite charity. "She remains, _par
+excellence_, the one great sympathetic woman of the sixteenth century;
+her admirers, during life and after death, were legion. She shared
+in the lesser evils of the century, but it cannot be said that she
+participated in the brutalities, grossness, or glaring immoralities
+of her time; her weaknesses, compared with the great debauches of the
+age, seemed like virtues."
+
+Such is this great woman of the sixteenth century, who has received
+almost universal condemnation at the hands of historians. It is to be
+taken into consideration that she was forced to marry a man whom she
+did not love, and to live in a country utterly uncongenial to
+her nature and opposed to the religion in which she was reared;
+furthermore, that her husband first defiled the marital union, thus
+driving her to follow the general tendencies of the time or to seek
+solace in religious activity, for which she had too much energy. After
+due consideration of the extenuating circumstances, her faults and
+vices, such as they were, may easily be condoned. Because she was the
+wife of a powerful Protestant king, she was condemned by Catholics and
+by them regarded with suspicion; and, in order to save herself, she
+was forced to commit unwise acts and even follies.
+
+In fine, whatever may be said against Marguerite de Valois, whom
+despair drove to acts which are not generally pardoned, she stands
+foremost among the social leaders and cultured women of the sixteenth
+century, a century whose prominent women were notorious for their
+licentiousness and lack of conscience rather than famous for their
+virtue and womanly accomplishments. Undeniably powerful and brilliant,
+these unscrupulous women were never happy; usually proud, they finally
+suffered the most cruel humiliations; "voluptuous, they found anguish
+underlying pleasure." Their misfortunes are, possibly more interesting
+than those successes of which chagrin anxiety, and heavy hearts were
+the inseparable associates.
+
+Religion, which in the sixteenth century was so badly understood, and
+practised even worse--obscured and falsified by fanaticism, disfigured
+and exaggerated by passion and hatred--was the secret cause of all
+downfalls crimes, horrors, intrigues, and brutality. Yet, it alone
+survives, and all the important figures of history return to it after
+a period of negligence and forgetfulness. In their religious aspect,
+the women of the sixteenth century differ as a rule, from those of
+the eighteenth, who, though equally powerful, witty, refined, sensual,
+frivolous, and scoffing, were far less devout; for "'tis religion
+which restores the great female sinners of the sixteenth century 'tis
+religion which saves a society ploughed up by so many elements of
+dissolution and so many causes of moral and material ruin, rescuing
+it from barbarism, vandalism, and from irretrievable decay;" but the
+women of the eighteenth century clung, to the end, to the scepticism
+and material philosophy which served them as their religion, their
+God.
+
+Among the conspicuous women of the sixteenth century to whom, thus
+far, we have been able to attribute so little of the wholesome
+and pleasing, the womanly or love-inspiring, there is one striking
+exception in Marguerite d'Angouleme, a representative of letters, art,
+culture, and morality. With the study of this character we are taken
+back to the beginning of the century and carried among men of letters
+especially, for she formed the centre of the literary world. She, her
+mother, Louise of Savoy, and her brother, Francis I., were called a
+"trinity," to the existence of which Marguerite bore witness in the
+poem:
+
+  "Such boon is mine--to feel the amity
+  That God hath putten in our trinity
+  Wherein to make a third, I, all unfitted
+  To be that number's shadow, am admitted."
+
+Marguerite inherited many of her qualities from her mother, "a most
+excellent and a most venerable dame," though anything but moral and
+conscientious; she, upon discovering that her daughter possessed rare
+intellectual gifts, provided her with teachers in every branch of the
+learning of the age. "At fifteen years of age, the spirit of God
+began to manifest itself in her eyes, in her face, in her walk, in her
+speech, and in all her actions generally." Brantome says: "She had
+a heart mightily devoted to God and she loved mightily to compose
+spiritual songs. She devoted herself to letters, also, in her young
+days and continued them as long as she lived, in the time of her
+greatness, loving and conversing with the most learned folks of her
+brother's kingdom, who honored her so greatly that they called her
+their Maecenas." Tenderness, particularly for her brother, seemed to
+develop in her as a passion.
+
+Marguerite was a rare exception in a period described by M.
+Saint-Amand as one in which women were Christian in certain aspects
+of their character and pagan in others, taking an active part in
+every event, ruling by wit and beauty, wisdom and courage; an age of
+thoughtless gaiety and morbid fanaticism, and of laughter and tears,
+still rough and savage, yet with an undercurrent of subtle grace and
+exquisite politeness; an age in which the extremes of elegance and
+cruelty were blended, in which the most glaring scepticism and intense
+superstitions were everywhere evident; an age which was religious as
+well as debauched and whose women were both good and evil, innocent
+and intriguing. Everything was fluctuating; there was inconstancy
+even in the things most affected: pleasure, pomp, display. The natural
+outcome of this undefined restlessness was dissatisfaction; and when
+dissatisfaction brought in its train the inevitable reaction against
+falseness and immorality, Marguerite d'Angouleme stood at the head of
+the movement.
+
+With her begins the cultural and moral development of France. It was
+she who encouraged that desire for a new phase of existence,
+which arose through contact with Italian culture. The men of
+learning--poets, artists, scholars--who soon gathered about the French
+court received immediate recognition from the king's sister, who had
+studied all languages, was gay, brilliant, and aesthetic. While her
+mother and brother were in harmony with the age, no better, no worse
+than their environment, Marguerite aspired to the most elevated morals
+and ideals; thus, she is a type of all that is refined, sensitive,
+loving, noble, and generous in humanity, a woman vastly superior to
+her time; in fact, the modern woman, with her highest attributes.
+
+In Marguerite d'Angouleme contemporaries admired prudence, chastity,
+moderation, piety, an invincible strength of soul, and her habit of
+"hiding her knowledge instead of displaying it." "In an age wholly
+depraved, she approached the ideal woman of modern times; in spite
+of her virtue, she was brilliant and honored, the centre of a coterie
+that delighted in music, verse, ingenious dialogues and gossip, story
+telling, singing, rhyming. Deeply afflicted by the sad and odious
+spectacle of the vices, abuses, and crimes which unroll before her,
+she suffers through her imagination, mind and heart." Serious and
+sympathetic, she was interested in every movement, feeling with those
+who were persecuted on account of their religious opinions.
+
+Various are the names by which she is known: daughter of Charles of
+Orleans, Count of Angouleme, Duchesse d'Alencon through her first
+marriage, and Queen of Navarre through her second, she was called
+Marguerite d'Angouleme, Marguerite of Navarre, of Valois, Marguerite
+de France, Marguerite des Princesses, the Fourth Grace, and the Tenth
+Muse. A most appreciative and just account of her life is given by
+M. Saint-Amand, which will be followed in the main outline of this
+sketch.
+
+She was born in 1492, and, as already stated, received a thorough
+education under the direction of her mother, Louise of Savoy. At
+seventeen she was married to Charles III., Duke of Alencon; as he
+did not prove to be her ideal, she sought consolation in love for her
+brother, sharing the almost universal admiration for the young king,
+whose tendency to favor everything new and progressive was stimulated
+by her. She became his constant and best adviser in general affairs
+as well as in those of state. The foreign ambassadors sought her after
+having accomplished their mission, and were referred to her when
+the king was busy; they were enraptured, and carried back wonderful
+reports of Marguerite.
+
+The world of art was opened to the French by a bevy of such painters
+and sculptors as Leonardo da Vinci, Rosso, Primaticcio, Benvenuto
+Cellini, and Bramante, and they were encouraged and feted by
+Marguerite especially. In those days a new picture from Italy by
+Raphael was received with as much pomp and ceremony as, in olden
+times, were accorded the holiest relics from the East.
+
+Men of letters gathered about the sister of the king, forming what
+might be termed a court of sentimental metaphysics; for the questions
+discussed were those of love. This refined gallantry, empty and vapid,
+formed the foundation of the seventeenth-century salon, where the
+language and fine points of sentiment were considered and cultivated
+until sentiment acquired poise, grandeur, and an air of dignity and
+reserve.
+
+The period was one in which, during times of trial and misfortune, the
+presence of an underlying religious sentiment became unmistakable. In
+such an atmosphere, the propensity toward mysticism, which Marguerite
+had manifested as a child, grew more and more apparent. When Francis
+I. was captured at the battle of Pavia, his sister immediately sought
+consolation in devotion, the nature of which is well illustrated in a
+letter to the captive king:
+
+"Monseigneur, the further they remove you from us, the greater becomes
+my firm hope of your deliverance and speedy return, for the hour
+when men's minds are most troubled is the hour when God achieves His
+masterstroke ... and if He now gives you, on one hand, a share in the
+pains which He has borne for you, and, on the other hand, the grace
+to bear them patiently, I entreat you, Monseigneur, to believe
+unfalteringly that it is only to try how much you love Him and to give
+you leisure to think how much He loves you. For He desires to have
+your heart entirely, as, for love, He has given you His own; He has
+permitted this trial, in order, after having united you to Him by
+tribulation, to deliver you for His own glory--so that, through you,
+His name may be known and sanctified, not in your kingdom alone, but
+in all Christendom and even to the conversion of the infidels. Oh, how
+blessed will be your brief captivity by which God will deliver so many
+souls from that infidelity and eternal damnation! Alas, Monseigneur!
+I know that you understand all this far better than I do; but seeing
+that in other things I think only of you, as being all that God has
+left me in this world,--father, brother, husband,--and not having the
+comfort of telling you so, I have not feared to weary you with a
+long letter, which to me is short, in order to console myself for my
+inability to talk with you."
+
+After his incarceration in the gloomy prison in Spain where he was
+taken ill, Francis asked for the safe conduct of Marguerite; this
+was gladly granted. Ignorant of her future duty in Spain, she wrote:
+"Whatever it may be, even to the giving of my ashes to the winds to do
+you a service, nothing will seem strange, difficult or painful to me,
+but will be only consolation, repose, and honor." So impatient was she
+to arrive at her brother's side that she could not travel fast enough.
+
+Her presence only increased his fever and a serious crisis soon came
+on, the king remaining for some time "without hearing or seeing or
+speaking." Marguerite, in this critical time, implored the assistance
+of God. She had an altar erected in her chamber, and all the French of
+the household, great lords and domestics alike, knelt beside the
+sick man's sister and received the communion from the hands of the
+Archbishop of Embrun, who, drawing near the bed, entreated the king to
+turn his eyes to the holy sacrament. Francis came out of his lethargy
+and asked to commune likewise, saying: "It is my God who will heal my
+soul and body; I entreat you that I may receive him." Then, the
+Host having been divided in two, the king received one half with the
+greatest devotion, and his sister the other half. The sick man felt
+himself sustained by a supernatural force; a celestial consolation
+descended into the soul that had been despairing. Marguerite's prayer
+had not been unavailing--Francis I. was saved.
+
+She then proceeded to visit different cities and royalties,
+endeavoring to secure concessions for her brother. From the people in
+the streets as well as from the lords in their houses, she received
+the most unmistakable proofs of friendly feeling; in fact, her favor
+was so great that Charles V. informed "the Duke of Infantado that, if
+he wished to please the emperor, neither he nor his sons must speak to
+Madame d'Alencon." The latter, unable to secure her brother's release,
+planned a marriage between him and Eleanor of Portugal, sister of
+Charles V.; her successes at court and in the family of the emperor
+furthered this scheme. Brantome says: "She spoke to the emperor so
+bravely and so courteously that he was quite astonished, and she spoke
+even more to those of his council with whom she had audience; there
+she produced an excellent impression, speaking and arguing with an
+easy grace in which she was proficient, and making herself rather
+agreeable than hateful or tiresome. Her reasons were found good and
+pertinent and she retained the high esteem of the emperor, his court
+and council."
+
+Although she failed in her attempts to free the king, she succeeded,
+by arranging the marriage, in completely changing the rigorous
+captivity to which Charles had subjected him. Finally, by giving his
+two eldest sons as hostages, the king obtained his release, and in
+March, 1526, he again set foot, as sovereign, on French soil. Thus the
+king's life was saved and he was permitted to return to his country,
+Marguerite's devotion having accomplished that in which the most
+skilled diplomatist would have failed.
+
+All historians agree that Marguerite d'Angouleme was a devout
+Catholic, but that she was too broad and liberal, intelligent
+and humane, to sanction the unbridled excesses of fanaticism. The
+acknowledged leader of moral reform, she protected and assisted those
+persecuted on account of their religious views and sympathized with
+the first stages of that movement which revolted against abuses, vice,
+scandals, immorality, and intrigue. With her, the question was not one
+of dogma, but concerned, instead, the religion which she considered
+most conducive to progress and reform. It grieved her to see her
+religion defile itself by cruel and inhuman persecutions and tortures,
+by intolerance and injustice. She felt for, but not with, the heretics
+in their errors. "She typifies her age in all that is good and noble,
+in artistic aspirations, in literary ideals, in pure politics--in
+short,--in humanity; in her is not found the chaotic vagueness which
+so often breaks out in license and licentiousness, cruelty, and
+barbarism."
+
+During the absence in Spain of Francis I. and Marguerite, the
+mother-regent sought to gain the support and favor of Rome by ordering
+imprisonments, confiscations, and punishments of heretics; but upon
+the return of the king and his sister, the banished were recalled and
+tolerance again ruled. When (in 1526) Berquin was seized and tried for
+heresy, he found but one defender. Marguerite wrote to her brother,
+still at Madrid:
+
+"My desire to obey your commands was sufficiently strong without
+having it redoubled by the charity you have been pleased to show poor
+Berquin according to your promise; I feel that He for whom I believe
+him to have suffered will approve of the mercy which, for His honor,
+you have had upon His servant and your own."
+
+Marguerite had saved Berquin and had even taken him into her service.
+Her letter to the constable, Anne de Montmorency, shows her esteem of
+men of genius and especially of Berquin:
+
+"I thank you for the pleasure you have afforded me in the matter of
+poor Berquin whom I esteem as much as if he were myself; and so you
+may say you have delivered me from prison, since I consider in that
+light the favor done me."
+
+When on June 1, 1528, a statue of the Virgin was thrown down and
+mutilated by unknown hands, a reversion of feeling arose immediately,
+and even Marguerite was not able to save poor Berquin, and he was
+burned at the stake. Upon learning of his imminent peril, she wrote to
+Francis from Saint-Germain:
+
+"I, for the last time, very humbly make you a request; it is that
+you will be pleased to have pity upon poor Berquin, whom I know to be
+suffering for nothing other than loving the word of God and obeying
+yours. You will be pleased, Monseigneur, so to act that it be not
+said that separation has made you forget your most humble and obedient
+sister and subject, Marguerite."
+
+Encouraged by their success in that instance, the intolerant party
+began furious attacks upon her, one monk going so far as to say from
+the pulpit that she should be put into a sack and thrown into the
+Seine. Upon her publication of a religious poem, _Miroir de l'ame
+pecheresse_, in which she failed to mention purgatory or the saints,
+she was vigorously attacked by Beda, who had the verses condemned
+by the Sorbonne and caused the pupils of the College of Navarre to
+perform a morality in which Marguerite was represented under the
+character of a woman quitting her distaff for a French translation
+of the Gospels presented to her by a Fury. This was too much even for
+Francis, and he ordered the principal and his actors arrested; it was
+then that Marguerite showed her gentleness, mercy, and humanity by
+throwing herself at her brother's feet and asking for their pardon.
+
+After but a short respite the persecution broke out anew, and with
+the full sanction of the king, who, upon finding at his door a placard
+against the mass, went even so far as to sign letters patent ordering
+the suppression of printing (1535). While away from the soothing
+influence of his sister, Francis I. was easily persuaded to sign, for
+the Catholic party, any permit of execution or cruelty. The life
+of Marguerite herself was constantly in danger, but in spite of
+persistent efforts to turn brother against sister, the king continued
+to protect and defend the latter; and though she gradually drew closer
+to Catholicism, she continued to protect the Protestants. She founded
+nunneries and showed a profound devotion toward the Virgin; although
+realizing the dangers and follies of the new doctrine, she had too
+much humanity to encourage cruelty.
+
+The husband whom the king forced upon her was twelve years her junior,
+poor, and subsidized by Francis; by him she had a daughter, Jeanne
+d'Albret, who became the champion of Protestantism. Her married life
+at Pau, where she had erected beautiful buildings and magnificent
+terraces, was not happy; the subjects of love that formerly had amused
+her had lost their charm; and the incurable disease with which her
+brother was stricken caused her constant worry and mental suffering.
+When banquets, the chase, and other amusements no longer attracted
+Francis, he summoned Marguerite to comfort and console him; her
+devotion and goodness never failed. Unable to recover from the grief
+caused by his death in 1547, she expressed her sorrow in the most
+beautiful poems.
+
+She gave the remainder of her life to religion and charity, abandoning
+her literary ambitions and plans. "The life after death gave her much
+trouble and many moments of perplexity and uneasiness. She survived
+her brother only two years, dying in 1549; the helper and protector
+of good literature, the defence, consolation, and shelter of the
+distressed, she was mourned by all France more than was any other
+queen." Sainte-Marthe says: "How many widows are there, how many
+orphans, how many afflicted, how many old persons, whom she pensioned
+every year, who now, like sheep whose shepherd is dead, wander hither
+and thither, seeking to whom to go, crying in the ears of the wealthy
+and deploring their miserable fate!" Poets, scholars, all learned and
+professional men, commemorated their protectress in poems and funeral
+orations. France was one large family in deep mourning.
+
+Marguerite d'Angouleme must first be considered as the real power
+behind the supreme authority of her period, her brother the king;
+secondly, as a furtherer of the development and encouragement of
+good literature, good taste, high art, and pure morals; thirdly, as
+a critic of importance. She is entitled to the first consideration by
+the fact that as the confidential adviser of Francis I. she moulded
+his opinions and checked his evil tendencies: the affairs of the
+kingdom were therefore, to a large extent, in her hands. She collected
+and partly organized the chaotic mass of material thrown upon the
+sixteenth-century world, leaving its moulding into a classic
+French form to the next century; and by her spirit of tolerance she
+endeavored to further all moral development: thus is she entitled to
+the second consideration. Gifted with rare delicacy of taste, solidity
+of judgment, and the ability to select, discriminate, and adapt, she
+set the standards of style and tone: therefore, she is entitled to the
+third consideration.
+
+The love of Marguerite for her brother, and her unselfish devotion to
+his interests, is a precedent unparalleled in French history until
+the time of Madame de Sevigne. In all her letters we find the same
+tenderness, gentleness, passion, inexhaustible emotion, sympathy, and
+compassion that distinguished her actions.
+
+In her _Contes_ (the _Heptameron_) _de la Reine de Navarre_ we have
+an accurate representation of society, its manners and style of
+conversation; in it we find, also, remnants of the brutality and
+grossness of the Middle Ages, as well as reflections of the higher
+tendencies and aspirations of the later time. In having a thorough
+knowledge of the tricks, deceits, and follies of the professional
+lovers of the day, and of their object in courting women, Marguerite
+was able to warn her contemporaries and thus guard them against
+immorality and its dangers. In her works she upheld the purity of
+ideal love, exposing the questionable and selfish designs of the
+clever professional seducers. A specimen may be cited to show her
+style of writing and the trend of her thought:
+
+"Emarsuite has just related the history of a gentleman and a young
+girl who, being unable to be united, had both embraced the religious
+life. When the story is ended, Hircan, instead of showing himself
+affected, cries: 'Then there are more fools and mad women than there
+ever were!' 'Do you call it folly,' says Oisille, 'to love honestly
+in youth and then to turn all love to God?' ... 'And yet I have the
+opinion,' says Parlemente, 'that no man will ever love God perfectly
+who has not perfectly loved some creature in this world.' 'What do you
+by loving perfectly?' asks Saffredant; 'do you call perfect lovers
+who are bashful and adore ladies from a distance, without daring
+to express their wishes?' 'I call those perfect lovers,' replies
+Parlemente, 'who seek some perfection in what they love--whether
+goodness, beauty or kindness--and whose hearts are so lofty and honest
+that they would rather die than perform those base deeds which honor
+and conscience forbid; for the soul which was created only to return
+to its Sovereign Good cannot, while it is in the body, do otherwise
+than desire to win thither; but because the senses, by which it can
+have tidings of that which it seeks, are dull and carnal on account
+of the sin of our first parents, they can show it only those visible
+things which most nearly approach perfection; and the soul runs after
+them, believing that in visible grace and moral virtues it may find
+the Sovereign Grace, Beauty and Virtue. But without finding whom it
+loves, it passes on like the child who, according to his littleness,
+loves apples, pears, dolls and other little things--the most beautiful
+that his eye can see--and thinks it riches to heap little stones
+together; but, on growing larger he loves living things, and,
+therefore, amasses the goods necessary for human life; but he knows,
+by the greatest experiences, that neither perfection nor felicity is
+attained by possessions only, and he desires true felicity and the
+Maker and Source thereof.'"
+
+In her writings, much apparent indelicacy and grossness are
+encountered; but it must be remembered for whom she was writing, the
+condition of morality and the taste of the public at that time, and
+that she aimed faithfully to depict the society that lay before her
+eyes. It is argued by some critics that these indecencies could not
+have emanated from a pure, chaste woman; that Marguerite must have
+experienced the sins she depicted; but such reasoning is not sound.
+The expressions used by her were current in her time; there
+was greater freedom of manners, and coarseness and drastic
+language--examples of which are found so frequently in the writings of
+Luther--were very common.
+
+Marguerite was less remarkable for what she did than for what she
+aspired to do. "She invoked, against the vices and prejudices of her
+epoch, those principles of morality and justice, of tolerance and
+humanity, which must be the very foundation of all stable society. She
+wished to make her brother the protector of the oppressed, the support
+of the learned, the crowned apostle of the Renaissance, the promoter
+of salutary reforms in the morals of the clergy; in politics, he was
+to follow a straight line and methodically advance the accomplishment
+of the legitimate ambitions of France."
+
+She expressed the most modern ideas on the rights of woman,
+particularly on her relative rights in the married state:
+
+"It is right that man should govern us as our head, but not that he
+should abandon us or treat us ill. God has so well ordered both man
+and woman, that I think marriage, if it is not abused, one of the most
+beautiful and secure estates that can be in this world, and I am sure
+that all who are here, no matter what pretense they make, think as
+much or more; and as much as man calls himself wiser than woman, so
+much the more grievously will he be punished if the fault be on his
+side. Those who are overcome by pleasure ought not to call themselves
+women any longer, but men, whose honor is but augmented by fury and
+concupiscence; for a man who revenges himself upon his enemy and slays
+him for a contradiction is esteemed a better companion for so doing;
+and the same is true if he love a dozen other women besides his wife;
+but the honor of woman has another foundation: it is gentleness,
+patience, chastity."
+
+Desire Nisard says that Marguerite d'Angouleme was the first to write
+prose that can be read without the aid of a vocabulary; in verse, she
+excels all poets of her time in sympathy and compassion; her poetry
+is "a voice which complains--a heart which suffers and which tells us
+so." "It is not so much her own deep sentiment that is reflected, but
+her emotion, which is both intellectual and sympathetic, volitional
+and spontaneous." Her letters were epoch-making; nothing before
+her time nor after her (until Madame de Sevigne) can equal them in
+precision, purity of language, sincerity and frankness of expression,
+passion and religious fervor.
+
+In spite of what may be said to the contrary, her life was an
+ideal one, an example of perfect moral beauty and elevation; noble,
+generous, refined, pious, and sincere, she possessed qualities which
+were indeed rare in her time. She was attacked for her charity, and is
+to-day the victim of narrow sectarian and biased devotees. Her act of
+renouncing all gorgeous dress, even the robes of gold brocade so much
+worn by every princess, in order to give all her money to the poor;
+her protection of the needy and persecuted; her court of poets and
+scholars; her visits to the sick and stricken; even her untiring love
+for her brother and her acts of clemency--all have frequently been
+misinterpreted.
+
+The greatest poets and men of letters of the sixteenth century
+were encouraged financially and morally or protected by Marguerite
+d'Angouleme--Rabelais, Marot, Pelletier, Bonaventure-Desperiers,
+Mellin de Saint-Gelais, Lefevre d'Etaples, Amyot, Calvin, Berquin.
+Charles de Sainte-Marthe says: "In seeing them about this good lady,
+you would say it was a hen which carefully calls and gathers her
+chicks and shelters them with her wings."
+
+Many critics believe that her literary work was imitative rather than
+original; even if this be true, it in no measure detracts from her
+importance, which is based upon the fact that she was the leading
+spirit of the time and typified her environment. Her followers, and
+they included all the intellectual spirits, looked up to her as
+the one incentive for writing and pleasing. Her disposition was
+characterized by restlessness, haste--too great eagerness to absorb
+and digest and appropriate all that was unfolded before her. She
+imitated the _Decameron_ and drew up for herself a _Heptameron_; her
+poetry showed much skill and great ease, but little originality.
+Her extreme facility, her wonderfully active mind, her power of
+_causerie_, and her ability to discuss and write upon philosophical
+and religious abstractions, won the deep admiration and respect of her
+followers, who were not only content to be aided financially by her,
+but looked to her for guidance and counsel in their own work, though
+she never imposed her ideas and taste upon others. By her tact,
+she was able practically to control and guide the entire literary,
+artistic, and social development of the sixteenth century. Every form
+of intellectual movement of this period is impregnated with the spirit
+of Marguerite d'Angouleme.
+
+With her affable and loving manners, her refined taste and superior
+knowledge, she was able to influence her brother and, through him,
+the government. Just as her mother controlled in politics, so
+did Marguerite in arts and manners. In her are found the main
+characteristics to which later French women owed their influence--a
+form of versatility which included exceptional tact and enabled the
+possessor to appreciate and sympathize with all forms of activity, to
+deal with all classes, to manage and be managed in turn.
+
+The writings of Marguerite are quite numerous, consisting of six
+moralities or comedies, a farce, epistles, elegies, philosophical
+poems, and the _Heptameron_, her principal work--a collection of prose
+tales in which are reflected the customary conversation, the morals of
+polite society, and the ideal love of the time. They are a medley of
+crude equivocalities, of the grossness of the _fabliaux_, of Rabelais,
+and of the delicate preciosity of the seventeenth century. Love is
+the principal theme discussed--youth, nobility, wealth, power, beauty,
+glory, love for love, the delicate sensation of feeling one's self
+loved, elegant love, obsequious love; perfect love is found in those
+lovers who seek perfection in what they love, either of goodness,
+beauty, or grace--always tending to virtue.
+
+Thoroughly to appreciate Marguerite d'Angouleme's position and
+influence and her contributions to literature, the conditions existing
+in her epoch must be carefully considered. It was in the sixteenth
+century that the charms of social life and of conversation as an art
+were first realized; all questions of the day were treated gracefully,
+if not deeply; woman began to play an important part, to appear
+at court, and, by her wit and beauty, to impress man. From the
+semi-barbaric spirit of the Middle Ages to the Italian and Roman
+culture of the Renaissance was a tremendous stride; in this cultural
+development, Marguerite was of vital importance. In intellectual
+attainments far in advance of the age, among its great women she
+stands out alone in her spirit of humanity, generosity, tolerance,
+broad sympathies, exemplary family life, and exalted devotion to her
+brother.
+
+Of the other literary women of the sixteenth century, mention may be
+made of two who have left little or no work of importance, but who are
+interesting on account of the peculiar form of their activity.
+
+Mlle. de Gournay, _fille d'alliance_ of Montaigne, is a unique
+character. Having conceived a violent passion for the philosopher
+and essayist, she would have no other consort than her honor and good
+books. She called the ladies of the court "court dolls," accusing
+them of deforming the French language by affecting words that had
+apparently been greased with oil in order to facilitate their flow.
+She was one of the first woman suffragists and the most independent
+spirit of the age. In 1592, to see the country of her master, she
+undertook a long voyage, at a time when any trip was fraught with the
+gravest dangers for a woman.
+
+She is a striking example of the effect of sixteenth-century sympathy,
+admiration, and enthusiasm; she was protected by some of the greatest
+literary men of the age--Balzac, Grotius, Heinsius; the French Academy
+is said to have met with her on several occasions, and she is said
+to have participated in its work of purifying and fixing the French
+language. Her adherence to the Montaigne cult has brought her name
+down to posterity.
+
+M. du Bled relates a droll story in connection with her meeting
+Richelieu. Mlle. de Gournay was an old maid, who lived to the ripe age
+of eighty. Being a pronounced _feministe_, she--like her sisters of
+to-day--cultivated cats. The story runs as follows:
+
+"Bois-Robert conducted her to the Cardinal, who paid her a compliment
+composed of old words taken from one of her books; she saw the point
+immediately. 'You laugh over the poor old girl, but laugh, great
+genius, laugh! everybody must contribute something to your diversion.'
+The Cardinal, surprised at her ready wit, asked her pardon, and said
+to Bois-Robert: 'We must do something for Mlle. de Gournay. I give
+her two hundred ecus pension.' 'But she has servants,' suggested
+Bois-Robert. 'Who?' 'Mlle. Jamyn (bastard), illegitimate daughter
+of Amadis Jamyn, page of Ronsard.' 'I will give her fifty livres
+annually.' 'There is still dear little Piaillon, her cat.' 'I give her
+twenty livres pension, on condition that Piaillon shall have tripes.'
+'But, Monseigneur, she has had kittens!' The Cardinal added a pistole
+for the little kittens."
+
+A woman of large fortune, she spent it freely in study, in her
+household, and especially in alchemy. Her peculiar ideas about love
+kept her from falling prey to the wealth-seeking gallants of the time.
+She was one of the few women who made a profession of writing; she
+compiled moral dissertations, defences of woman, and treatises on
+language, all of which she published at her own expense; while they
+are of no real importance, they show a remarkable frankness and
+courage.
+
+Mlle. de Gournay was, possibly, the first woman to demand the
+acceptance of woman on an equal status with man; for she wrote two
+treatises on woman's condition and rank, insisting upon a better
+education for her, though she herself was well educated. Following the
+events of the day with a careful scrutiny and interpreting them in her
+writings, she showed a remarkable gift of perspective and deduction
+and an intimate knowledge of politics. The fact that she was severely,
+even spitefully, attacked in both poetry and prose but proves that her
+writings on women were effective.
+
+Some writers claim that the founding of the French Academy had its
+inception at her rooms, where many of the members met and where, later
+on, they discussed the work of the Academy. Her one desire for the
+language was to have it advance and develop, preserving every word,
+resorting to old ones, accepting new ones only when necessary. Thus,
+among French female educators, Mlle. de Gournay deserves a prominent
+place, because of her high ideals and earnest efforts in the study of
+the language, for the courage with which she advanced her convictions
+regarding woman, and for the high moral standard which she set by her
+own conduct.
+
+In Louise Labe--_La Belle Cordiere_--we meet a warrior, as well as a
+woman of letters. The great movement of the Renaissance, as it swept
+northward, invaded Lyons; there Louise Labe endeavored to do what
+Ronsard and the Pleiade were doing at Paris. A great part of her youth
+she passed in war, wearing man's apparel and assuming the name of
+"Captain Loys"; at an early age, she left home with a company of
+soldiers passing through Lyons on the way to lay siege to Perpignan,
+where she showed pluck, bravery, and skill. Upon her return, she
+married a merchant ropemaker, whence her sobriquet--_La Belle
+Cordiere_.
+
+She soon won a reputation by gathering about her a circle of men, who
+complimented her in the most elegant language and read poetry with
+her. Science and literature were discussed and the praises of love
+sung with passionate, inflamed eloquence. In this circle of congenial
+spirits, "she gave rise to doubts as to her virtue." As her husband
+was wealthy, she was able to collect an immense library and to
+entertain at her pleasure; she could converse in almost any language,
+and all travellers stopped at Lyons and called to see her at her
+salon. Her writings consisted of sonnets, elegies, and dialogues in
+prose; her influence, being too local, is not marked. Her greatest
+claim to attention is that she encouraged letters in a city which was
+beyond the reach of every literary movement. Such were the women of
+the sixteenth century; in no epoch in French history have women played
+a greater role; art, literature, morals, politics, all were governed
+by them. They were active in every phase of life, hunting with men,
+taking part in and causing duels, intriguing and initiating intrigues.
+"In the midst of battle, while cannon-balls and musket-shots rained
+about her, Catherine de' Medici was as brave and unconcerned as the
+most valiant of men. Diana of Poitiers was called the most wondrous
+woman, the woman of eternal youth, the beautiful huntress; it was
+she whom Jean Goujon sculptured, nude and triumphant, embracing with
+marble arms a mysterious stag, enamoured like Leda's swan."
+
+In general, the women of that century "liked better to be feared
+than loved; they inspired mad passions, insensate devotions, ecstatic
+admirations. The epoch was one in which life counted for little, when
+balls alternated with massacres; when virtue was befitting only
+the lowly born and ugly (Brantome recommends the beautiful to be
+inconstant because they should resemble the sun who diffuses his light
+so indiscriminately that everybody in the world feels it). It was the
+age of beauty--a beauty that fascinated and entranced, but the glow
+of which melted and killed; but this glow also reacted upon them
+that caused it and they became victims of their own passions--through
+either jealousy or their own weaknesses. No age was ever more
+luxurious, pompous, elegant, brilliant, and wanton, yet beneath all
+the glitter there were much misery and bitter repentance; amongst the
+violent wickedness there were noble and pure women such as Elizabeth
+of Austria and Louise de Vaudemont."
+
+The whole century seemed to be afire and to tingle with that spirit of
+liberty, imitation, and experimentation, which, so often abused, led
+to much disaster. In spite of that unsettled and excited condition,
+the sixteenth century attained greater development, had more avenues
+of intellectual activity opened to it, imitated, thought and imagined
+more and produced as much as any other century; in every field,
+we find the names of its masters. As M. Faguet says, the sixteenth
+century was, in France, the century _createur par excellence_; and in
+this, woman's part was, above all, political, her social, moral, and
+literary influence being less marked.
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+The Seventeenth Century: Woman at Her Best
+
+
+In the seventeenth century, the influence exerted by the women of
+France, departing from the political aspect which had characterized it
+in the preceding century, became of a social, literary, religious,
+and moral nature, the last predominating. Inasmuch as the reins of
+government were in the hands of the king and his ministers, political
+affairs were but slightly affected by the feminine element. Woman,
+realizing the uselessness as well as danger of plotting against
+the inviolate person and power of the king, contented herself with
+scheming against those ministers whose attitudes she considered
+unfavorable to her plans.
+
+Of all social and literary movements, however, woman was the
+acknowledged leader; in that institution of culture and development,
+the seventeenth century salon, her undisputed supremacy placed her in
+the position of patroness and protectress of men of letters. In the
+general religious movement her role was one of secondary importance;
+and as mistress, she ceased with the sixteenth century to be either
+active politically or disastrous morally and became merely a temporary
+recipient of capriciously bestowed wealth and favors. In order
+to fully comprehend woman's position and the exact nature of her
+influence in this century and the following one, the position and
+constitution of the nobility before, during and after the ministry of
+Richelieu, must be studied.
+
+The great houses of Carolingian origin were those of Alencon,
+Bourgogne, Bourbon, Vendome, Kings of Navarre, Counts of Valois,
+and Artois; the great gentlemen were the Dukes of Guise, Nemours,
+Longueville, Chevreuse, Nevers, Bouillon, Rohan, Montmorency, and,
+later, Luxembourg, Mortemart, Crequi, Noailles; names which are
+constantly met with in French history. Before the time of Louis XIV.,
+men of such rank, when dissatisfied or discontented, might leave
+court at their will and were requested to return; but with Louis XIV.,
+departure from court was considered a disgrace, and offending parties
+were permitted, not asked, to return.
+
+Outside the army, there was open to the princes of the nobility no
+occupation in which they might expend their surplus energy; thus,
+being free from the burden of taxes, it was but natural that they
+should seek amusement in literature, society, and intrigue. The honor
+of their respective houses and the fear of being damned in the next
+world were their only sources of deep concern; other than these, they
+assumed no responsibilities, desiring absolute freedom from care.
+
+Legal, judicial, and ecclesiastical offices were open to them but were
+little favored except as convenient means of obtaining revenues
+and positions otherwise not procurable. The first requisites toward
+advancement were bravery and skill, not learning; the majority of
+the members of the nobility much preferred buying a regiment to being
+president of a tribunal, and their primary ambition was to acquire a
+reputation for magnificence, heroism, and gallantry. They fought for
+glory, to show their skill and courage; the sentiment of patriotism
+was but weakly developed, and war was indulged in merely for the sake
+of fighting, passing the time, and being occupied. As in the preceding
+century, death was but little feared; in fact, the scorn of it was
+carried to the extreme. "The French went to death as though they were
+to be resuscitated on the morrow."
+
+That man went to war was not sufficient proof of his bravery; in
+addition, he must, upon the smallest pretext, draw his sword, must
+fight constantly, and especially with adversaries better armed and
+larger in force; the love of woman was for such men only. Adventure
+was the fad: it is said of one seigneur that he took pleasure in going
+every night to a certain corner and, from pure malice, striking with
+his sword the first person who chanced that way; this unique pastime
+he continued until he himself was killed.
+
+Marriage, until the eighteenth century, was not a union of affection,
+but merely an alliance between two families and in the interest of
+both; women, to preserve their identity after marriage, signed their
+family names. As maturity was reached at the age of twelve, marriage
+meant simply cohabitation. Until the Revolution, free marriages, or
+liaisons, were recognized as natural if not legitimate institutions,
+and the offspring of such unions, who were said to be more numerous
+than legitimate children, were legitimatized and became heirs simply
+through recognition by the father. (At first, princes were unwilling
+to accept, as wives, the natural daughters of kings; however, the Duke
+of Orleans and the Prince of Conti married the natural daughters
+of Louis XIV.) As a rule, titles could not be transmitted through
+females; when a woman married beneath her rank she lost her titles,
+but they were given to her children.
+
+In the seventeenth century, woman's influence was of a nature vastly
+superior to that exerted by her in the sixteenth century, in that it
+rendered sacred both her and her honor; but, in spite of the refining
+restraint of the salon, brutality was still the main characteristic
+of man. To express beautiful sentiments in the midst of jealousies,
+rivalries, adventures, complaints, and despair, was the _savoir-vivre_
+of the Catherine de' Medici type of elegance brought from Italy in the
+sixteenth century. This caused the extremes of external fastidiousness
+and internal grossness to be embodied in the same individual; in the
+eighteenth century, man was, inwardly as well as outwardly, refined,
+mild, kind, a friend of pleasure; and therein lies the fundamental
+difference between the _honnete homme_ of Louis XIV. and the _homme
+du monde_ of Louis XV. The seventeenth century type of man is midway
+between that of the sixteenth and eighteenth--more polished and less
+gross than the former, yet lacking the knowledge and culture of the
+latter.
+
+When in the seventeenth century the two all-powerful forces, brute
+force and money, of the preceding century were replaced by those of
+money and the pen, the decay of the impoverished and unintellectual
+nobility became but a question of time. The day when great gentlemen
+might scorn men of letters and learning was rapidly passing; with
+the French Academy arose a new spirit, a fresh impulse was given to
+intellectual attainments. Although treated as inferiors, the literary
+men of the seventeenth century spoke of the aristocracy in a spirit
+of raillery, but slightly veiled with respect; and the nobility while
+remaining, in its way, courageous and glorious, lost its prestige,
+force, and influence.
+
+In the seventeenth century, money acquired a certain purchasing value
+which procured advantages and luxuries impossible in the preceding
+period when the brave man was worth infinitely more than the rich
+who, scorned and considered as a rapacious Jew, was isolated and in
+constant fear of being robbed or killed. As the number of government
+officials increased, individual fortunes grew; men became enormously
+wealthy through the various offices bought by them or given to them by
+the government. The financier was a king and many marriages of princes
+and dukes with daughters of men of wealth are recorded. Women of
+station, however, seldom married beneath their rank, because they
+lost their titles by so doing, and titles were still the only road
+to social success. As a rule, titles could not be transmitted through
+females; when a woman made a misalliance her titles were given to her
+children. Almost all rich men of the period, from the time of Louis
+XIII. to the Revolution, became nobles, as almost every brave man was
+made a knight up to the seventeenth century. It was possible for
+the wealthy to buy a marquisate or baronetage and give it to their
+children; a grand-marshal of France was no longer so powerful as a
+rich banker.
+
+The complete change, under Louis XIV., of the customs of the time,
+caused numberless petty jealousies, scandals, and intrigues in the
+aristocracy, which could no longer maintain its old form and yet had
+to be considered by the government. The question of reform arose--how
+to restrict the number of nobles, which increased every year. Rank
+was bestowed for service and, sometimes, even for wealth; the old
+families, being poor, had no distinctive prestige except that given by
+their privileges at court; their titles no longer distinguished them
+from the newcomers, whom they gradually began to disdain, and the
+result was a general lowering of the standing, importance, and
+influence of nobility. Another party which gained prominence was that
+of the bench; the judges, as interpreters of the king's laws, became
+powerful, for law was absolute. A deadly rivalry sprang up between the
+parties of rank with no money or power and of power and money without
+rank.
+
+The desire of every man of rank to be independent, to be a force in
+himself instead of a part of a unit which might be useful to the
+state as a whole, was one of the principal defects of the French
+aristocracy; poverty crushed it, idleness robbed it of its alertness,
+intriguing and gradual oppression reduced it to despair. Appointed to
+offices, its members failed in the performance of their duties; the
+latter fell to the under men who, while the aristocracy was busy at
+fetes, in society, at the table, became experts in the affairs of the
+government--shrewd politicians and financiers. The new nobility,
+that of the robe, replaced that of the sword in all interests of the
+government except war; gradually, Parliament was made up of men who,
+having been elevated to the rank of nobility, retained their aversion
+to those who were noble by birth, recognizing only the king as their
+superior and refusing precedence to even the princes of the blood.
+Louis XIV., however, objecting to and fearing such a strong class as
+that of the robe, employed, wherever possible, people of lower rank.
+Thus it happened in the seventeenth century that the still powerful
+nobility of higher rank was scorned and kept down; but in the
+eighteenth century, when the gentlemen of the robe had become
+all-powerful and therefore constituted a dangerous party, it was they
+who became the objects of scorn and persecution, while the aristocrats
+of blood, the gentlemen of the court, recovered the royal favors
+through their political powerlessness.
+
+French aristocracy really had no object, no _raison d'etre_, after
+its disappearance from all governmental functions; it became an
+encumbrance to the state; having no particular part to play, it did
+nothing; this is one of the causes of its dissolution and of the
+Revolution as well. Thus France gradually passed from inequality of
+classes under the sanction of custom to equality of classes before
+the law: this change in the condition and constitution of the French
+nobility accounts for many intrigues and scandals and explains the
+social and moral actions of French women, as well as the difference
+in the nature of their activities in the seventeenth and eighteenth
+centuries.
+
+The seventeenth was, _par excellence_, the century which can boast
+of that incomparable society the cult of which was the highest in all
+things--art, religion, philosophy, poetry, politics, war, and beauty.
+From the convent of the Carmelites to the Hotel de Rambouillet, from
+the Place Royale to the various chateaux and salons, we must seek only
+that which is elevating and spiritual, beautiful and religious. In
+the famous society which kept pace with the political reputation
+and influence of France is found a coterie of women who combined
+remarkable beauty and intelligence with a high moral standard, and
+whose names are intimately connected with the history of France.
+Where again can we find such a galaxy of beauties as that formed by
+Charlotte de Montmorency, Mme. de Chevreuse, Mme. de Hautefort, Mme.
+de Montbazon, Mme. de Guemene, Mme. de Chatillon, Mme. de Longueville,
+Marie de Gonzague, Henriette de la Valliere, Mme. de Montespan, Mme.
+de Maintenon, without enumerating such great writers and leaders of
+salons as Mme. de Rambouillet, Mlle. de Scudery, Mme. de Lambert,
+Mme. de Sevigne, and Mme. de la Fayette? The seventeenth century
+could tolerate no mediocrity; grandeur was in the very atmosphere;
+its political movements were great movements; it produced in art
+a Poussin, in letters a Corneille, in science and philosophy a
+Descartes.
+
+The various movements of which woman was the head may be divided into
+two periods, and each period into two parts. The political women may
+well be grouped about Marie de' Medici,--whose career will not be
+given separate treatment, inasmuch as there was no drop of French
+blood in her veins,--and the social and literary women about Mme.
+de Rambouillet and her salon. In the latter half of the seventeenth
+century and at the beginning of the eighteenth, politics are
+represented by Mme. de Montespan--the mistress--and Mme. de
+Maintenon--the wife; social life and literature have their purest
+representative in Mme. de Lambert. The two queens of the seventeenth
+century, Anne of Austria and Maria Theresa, were without influence;
+the religious movement was represented by the galaxy of women of whom
+we write in a later chapter.
+
+After the death of Henry IV., Marie de' Medici succeeded in having
+herself made queen-regent for Louis XIII., who was then but nine years
+old. A woman of no particular capacity, who had in no way adapted
+herself to French life and customs, she allowed herself to be governed
+by an adventurer, an Italian who understood and appreciated French
+ideals no more than did Marie; these two--the queen and Concini, her
+minister--immediately began to concoct plans to gain control of the
+state. The king was kept in virtual captivity until he reached the age
+of seventeen, when, having asserted his rights, Concini was killed,
+and Marie's dominant power and influence came to an abrupt end.
+
+Louis XIII. reigned, with his minister, the Prince de Luynes, from
+1617 to 1624, when he became reconciled to his mother and appointed
+her favorite, Richelieu, his minister. From 1610 to about 1640,
+Marie de' Medici exercised more or less influence, always of a nature
+disastrous to France.
+
+After the king's death, Anne of Austria, as queen-regent, with
+Mazarin, directed the destinies of France. During the ministry of the
+two cardinals, Richelieu and Mazarin, occurred the political intrigues
+and astute diplomatic movements of Mme. de Chevreuse and the unwise
+and short-sighted aspirations of Mme. de Longueville. These intimate
+friends were women of the highest intelligence, most perfect beauty,
+and uncapitulating devotion, and were working for the same cause,
+though from different motives.
+
+Mme. de Chevreuse was the daughter of M. de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon.
+She had married M. de Luynes, the minister of Louis XIII., who
+overthrew the power of Marie de' Medici, and who, by initiating his
+wife into his secrets, gave her the schooling and experience which she
+later used to such advantage. De Luynes presented her at court
+with instructions to ingratiate herself with the queen--Anne of
+Austria--and the king. In this design she succeeded so well that she
+was soon made superintendent of the household of the queen, and became
+as influential with Anne as was her husband with the king.
+
+In 1621 M. de Luynes died; a year later his widow married Claude of
+Lorraine, Duke of Chevreuse; but as that was an unhappy union,
+she soon began her career as an intriguer. On the arrival of Lord
+Kensington, the English ambassador, she fell in love with him, that
+escapade being the first of a long series; the two proceeded to
+inveigle Queen Anne into a liaison with the Duke of Buckingham, which
+scheme, as history so well records, partly succeeded.
+
+When Mme. de Chevreuse accompanied to England the new queen,
+Henriette-Marie, wife of Charles I., both Buckingham and Kensington
+outdid themselves in showing her attention, Richelieu, fearing her
+influence and intrigues at the court of England, hastened the recall
+of her husband, but she received through her friends, from the English
+monarch himself, an invitation to remain; during the time, she gave
+birth to a child.
+
+Her next famous undertaking, which involved the lives of various
+persons of high rank, was the scheme to persuade Monsieur the Dauphin
+to refuse to marry Mlle. de Montpensier; Queen Anne was opposed to
+this union, and Mme. de Chevreuse gained to their cause a number of
+influential friends who were all madly in love with her. The ever
+vigilant Richelieu having discovered the plot, Monsieur confessed.
+In this conspiracy, M. de Chalais lost his head, other plotters lost
+their positions, and some were exiled. Mme. de Chevreuse was forced
+to retire to Lorraine; there she set in movement a vast plan against
+Richelieu and France, allying England and various princes, but, by the
+arrest of Montaigu, the plot was discovered, the alliance broken up,
+and peace restored.
+
+In 1626, by request of England, Mme. de Chevreuse returned to France.
+For a time she was quiet and seemed to favor Richelieu, but she soon
+captivated one of his ministers, the Marquis of Chateauneuf.
+Richelieu discovered the latter's weakness, and, having captured his
+correspondence, sent him to prison, where he remained for ten years.
+The fair intriguer was exiled to Dampierre, the cardinal fearing to
+send her out of France on account of her influence with the Duke of
+Lorraine. She managed to steal into Paris at night and see the
+queen; when discovered, she was sent to Touraine where she began the
+dangerous task of carrying on the correspondence between the Dukes of
+Savoy and Lorraine and England, and between Spain and Queen Anne. Even
+when this correspondence was intercepted and the queen confessed all,
+Richelieu was afraid to banish Mme. de Chevreuse; though he believed
+her to be at the bottom of all the current intrigues, he knew that out
+of France she would stir up the rulers of England and Spain as well as
+the Duke of Lorraine and others hostile to the cardinal.
+
+Violence being out of the question, because of her influence in
+England and of the prominence of her family, he decided to win her
+over by kindness; he even sent her money, but she was too shrewd to
+permit Richelieu to outwit her, always paying him back in his own
+coin. However, that kind of play was too dangerous for her and she
+escaped to Spain. As soon as her departure became known, Richelieu
+set to work every means in his power to bring her back, sending her an
+urgent invitation to return and promising to pardon her past. When his
+messages reached her, she was already in Madrid, where she was royally
+received as the friend of the king's sister, Anne; there, by means of
+her beauty and wonderful intelligence, she conquered every cavalier.
+When the war broke out between France and Spain, she left for England
+where she was welcomed like a visiting queen.
+
+Richelieu, anxious for the support of the Duke of Lorraine in his
+war against Spain and Austria, needed the cooeperation of Mme. de
+Chevreuse, and with that end in view sent ambassadors to London
+to arrange for her return; but an agreement was not an easy matter
+between two such astute politicians, and negotiations went on
+unsuccessfully for over a year. Her subtleness, apparent docility
+and invincible precautions were pitted against the artifices and
+dissimulation of the cardinal; both employed all the astute manoeuvres
+of diplomacy and exhausted the resources of consummate skill in
+gaining the point desired by each. The cardinal failed to convince her
+of her safety.
+
+Mme. de Chevreuse soon formed about her a circle of emigres--Marie de'
+Medici, Duc La Vallette, Soubese, La Vieuville, and many others. This
+coterie was in open correspondence with Spain, Austria, and the Duke
+of Lorraine. From every side, Richelieu felt the intriguing hand
+and influence of Mme. de Chevreuse, and decided to put forth another
+effort to get her to return, this time sending her husband; but
+not sure of the latter's sincerity and in fear of him, the duchess
+concluded to leave England for Flanders, and, escorted by a squad of
+dukes and lords, departed like a queen.
+
+At Brussels, she entered into open relations with Spain, drawing
+over the Duke of Lorraine. She was accused of being in the plot of
+Cinq-Mars and the Duke of Bouillon with Spain; when Richelieu exposed
+this to Queen Anne, the latter for the first time became her enemy.
+Just at this time of his triumph, Richelieu died, his death being
+followed soon after by that of Louis XIII., who left a special
+order for the exile forever of Mme. de Chevreuse, whom he called _Le
+Diable_. The queen-regent, however, recalled her, and set at liberty
+her friend, Chateauneuf, who had been imprisoned for ten years.
+
+When Mme. de Chevreuse returned to Paris after an absence of ten
+years, her beauty was still unimpaired, she possessed an experience
+such as no man of the day could boast, was personally acquainted with
+nearly every great statesman and aware of the weak points in every
+court of Europe. While she could now count on the support of
+the majority of the princes, plots were being formed about the
+queen-regent, the object of which was to persuade the latter to give
+up the friends who had served her faithfully for so many years. La
+Rochefoucauld was sent to meet Mme. de Chevreuse and to inform her of
+the change of attitude of the queen-regent; as her devoted friend, he
+advised her to abandon, for the present, all hopes of governing the
+queen and to devote herself entirely to regaining her favor and to
+preparing for the possible fall of Mazarin.
+
+After securing the release of her friend Chateauneuf, Mme. de
+Chevreuse set to work to restore him to his former office of Guard
+of the Seals, but did not succeed. She then turned her attention to
+undermining the power of Mazarin, agitating all emigres returning to
+France and starting the most outspoken denunciation of the policy
+of the cardinal, his injustice and tyranny against the nobility. The
+cries of disapproval became so general that Mazarin was kept busy
+warding off the blows aimed at him by his enemy; the latter succeeded
+in placing Chateauneuf as _Chancelier des ordres du roi_ and in having
+his estates restored to him, while Alexandre de Campion she placed in
+the household of the queen. Mazarin, living in constant dread of her,
+managed to thwart two of her cherished schemes--the restoration to
+the Duke of Vendome of the government of Brittany and the placing of
+Chateauneuf in the ministry--upon the success of which depended her
+own influence and power.
+
+Finding that ruse, flattery, insinuation, and ordinary court intrigues
+were of no avail, she turned to other methods. The Importants, a party
+made up of adventurers and a large number of the nobility, were making
+themselves felt more and more; they were opposed to Richelieu and
+Mazarin, and Mme. de Chevreuse became their chief and instigator.
+Failing to succeed with the cardinal's own methods, she decided to
+assassinate him, but the plot was discovered, the Duke of Beaufort
+was arrested and all the princes of the party of the Importants were
+ordered to leave Paris. Mme. de Chevreuse was compelled to depart from
+court and retire to Dampierre, and then to Touraine, where she did
+everything in her power to assist the friends who had compromised
+themselves for her. During her first exile she had had the consolation
+of the friendship of the queen; but now she was banished by the very
+friend whom she had served so well and who had up to this time been
+able and willing to afford her comfort and protection. Through
+Lord Goring, Count Craft, and the Commander de Jars, she opened up
+correspondence and negotiations with England, but was again surprised
+by the vigilant Mazarin and sent to Angouleme; determining to escape,
+after many hardships, she successfully reached Liege; from there, as
+head of all foreign intrigues against France, she continued to thwart
+Mazarin's foreign policy.
+
+As soon as the first signs of the Fronde broke out, Mme. de Chevreuse
+became active and succeeded in attracting to her the young Marquis de
+Laigues with whom, later on, she contracted a _mariage de conscience_.
+As ambassador of the Fronde, she prevailed upon Spain to promise
+troops and subsidies to her party. After the peace of 1649, she went
+to Paris where she found almost all her friends ready to follow
+her and to pay her homage. It was she who conceived the idea of an
+aristocratic league which, under the auspices of the two great princes
+of the blood, the Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Conde, would unite
+the best part of the nobility.
+
+Her plan was to marry her daughter to the Prince de Conti and the
+young Duc d'Enghien to one of the daughters of the Duke of Orleans.
+The contracts were signed and all was in readiness when Mazarin was
+exiled, and the following Frondists came into power: the Duke
+of Orleans at court, Conde and Turenne at the head of the army,
+Chateauneuf in the Cabinet, Mole in Parliament, while Mme. de
+Chevreuse and Mme. de Longueville managed to keep harmony among all.
+Queen Anne in a short time annulled the marriage contracts; and on the
+return of Mazarin, Mme. de Chevreuse took up her work with him, the
+cardinal being wise enough to appreciate the fact that she was a
+greater force with than against him.
+
+Strange as it may seem, Mme. de Chevreuse in time became the great
+acting and controlling force of royalty, winning over the Duke of
+Lorraine and becoming a staunch friend to both the regent and the
+cardinal; after the death of the latter, she became all-powerful, and
+it may be said that she made Colbert what he was. In the fulness of
+her power, she gradually retired, having seen, in turn, the passing
+away or the fall of Richelieu, Mazarin, Louis XIII., Anne of Austria,
+the Queen of England, Chateauneuf, the Duke of Lorraine, her daughter,
+and the Marquis de Laigues. She ceased plotting, renounced politics
+and intrigues, and retired to the country, where she died in 1679.
+
+Mme. de Chevreuse was undoubtedly one of the most important political
+characters of the seventeenth century, just as she was also one of its
+greatest beauties--possibly the most seductive and charming woman of
+her epoch. A consummate diplomat and an untiring worker, she was at
+the head of more intrigues and plots, had more thrilling adventures,
+controlled and ruined more men, than any other woman of her century,
+if not of all French history. Thinking little of religion, she was
+yet in the very midst of the Catholic party; unswerving in her
+friendships, she scorned danger, opinion, fortune, for those whom she
+loved or whose cause she espoused; an implacable foe, she was the most
+dreaded enemy of both Richelieu and Mazarin.
+
+With a remarkable ability for grasping the details of an antagonist's
+position she combined all the other qualities of an astute politician;
+thus, upon the desired consummation of her plots she brought to bear
+a sagacity, finesse, and energy that baffled all her adversaries. With
+her, politics became a passion and a necessity; even while in exile,
+her zeal was unflagging and she intrigued over all Europe. Scorning
+peril as well as all petty restraints, and characterized by courage,
+loyalty, and devotion, she was without an equal among the members of
+her sex.
+
+Mme. de Hautefort, while less powerful than Mme. de Chevreuse and of
+quite a different type, is associated with her in the history of the
+time. Pure, beautiful, and virtuous, she everywhere inspired love and
+respect; without political aspirations and seeking neither power nor
+favors, she refused to deliver her soul or betray her friends for
+Richelieu or Mazarin; she was their enemy, but not their rival.
+
+Because of her desire to serve the queen, of whom she was an intimate
+friend, and to further her interests, she was connected with the first
+intrigues of Mme. de Chevreuse, but as an innocent and disinterested
+party. Louis XIII. conceived an ardent attachment for her, and
+Richelieu endeavored to win her over to his policies, but she remained
+faithful to her queen and refused to sacrifice her honor to the king.
+
+The cardinal did not rest until he had prevailed upon the king to
+exile her, ostensibly for only fifteen days; and as her unselfishness
+and generosity had made an impression upon the whole court, her
+departure was much regretted, though no demonstration was made. When,
+after the king's death, Mme. de Hautefort returned to Paris, she soon
+reestablished herself in the affection, admiration, and respect of her
+associates.
+
+As Mazarin gained ascendency over Queen Anne, that regent changed her
+policy and abandoned her former friends. Mme. de Hautefort was opposed
+to the queen on account of her liaison with her minister and her lack
+of fidelity to those who, in time of trouble, had served her so well.
+As _dame d'atours_, she was forced either to close her eyes to all
+scenes between the cardinal and Anne or to combat the regent and
+resign. She was not to be tempted by the honors and favors with which
+the two sought to purchase her criminal connivance or her silence;
+preferring poverty and exile to a guilty conscience, she soon retired
+to the convent of the Daughters of Sainte-Marie, where she was
+followed by her admirers, who were willing to place themselves and
+their fortunes at her disposal. At the age of thirty she accepted
+the hand of the Duke of Schomberg, and, away from the court and its
+intrigues, lived in peace.
+
+Indifferent to the powerful, but kind and compassionate to the poor
+and oppressed, Mme. de Hautefort is a type of those great women of
+the seventeenth century who stood for honor, courage, generosity,
+sympathy, and virtue; fervently, even austerely, religious, she was
+yet far removed from anything resembling bigotry. Among the ladies
+of the Hotel de Rambouillet, she was one of the most popular; her
+vivacity, modesty, and reserve, combined with a tall figure, imposing
+bearing, and large, expressive blue eyes, won the hearts of many
+cavaliers, among whom the most prominent were the Dukes of Lorraine
+and La Rochefoucauld.
+
+A close second to Mme. de Chevreuse in influence and power, was Mme.
+de Longueville, a woman of exquisite and aristocratic beauty, of
+brilliant mind, and an adept in the art of conversation. Tender and
+kind, but ambitious, she, like many others of her time and sex, had
+two distinct periods--one of conquest and one of penitence and pious
+devotion.
+
+Born in a prison at Vincennes during the captivity of her father,
+the great Henry of Bourbon, Prince of Conde, she in time developed
+remarkable personal charms. Her early days were spent at the convent
+of the Carmelites and at the Hotel de Rambouillet, her mind--in these
+opposite worlds of religion and society--being divided between pious
+meditations and romantic dreams. At the time of the execution at
+Toulouse of her uncle, M. de Montmorency, she seriously considered
+entering the Carmelite convent.
+
+Upon making her social debut, she immediately became one of the
+leaders about whom all the gallants gathered. She formed a fast
+friendship with Mme. de Sable, Mme. de Rambouillet, Mme. de
+Bouteville, and Mlle. du Vigean. Her beauty, which was quite
+phenomenal, soon became the subject of poetry. Voltaire wrote:
+
+  "De perles, d'astres et de fleurs,
+  Bourbon, le ciel fit tes couleurs,
+  Et mit dedans tout ce melange
+    L'esprit d'un ange!
+  L'on jugerait par la blancheur
+  De Bourbon, et par sa fraicheur,
+  Qu'elle a prit naissance des lis."
+
+[The heaven made thy colors, Bourbon, of pearls, of stars, of flowers,
+and to all this mixture added the spirit of an angel. One would judge
+by the whiteness and freshness of Bourbon that she was born of the
+lilies.]
+
+In 1642, at the age of twenty-three, she was married, against her
+will, to M. de Longueville who was, after the princes of the blood,
+the greatest seigneur of France; he was old and indifferent, and
+enamored of another woman, while she was young and full of hopes,
+ambitions, and love. His conduct, being anything but correct,
+immediately set the young wife, with her instincts of refinement and
+principles and habits of the _precieuses_, against her husband. The
+advent of a rival in the person of Mme. de Montbazon, one of the
+most noted beauties of the day, made the state of affairs even more
+unpleasant, the humiliation being so much keener because it was on
+account of her charms that Montbazon was preferred to the wife. The
+latter's fate was a cruel one; she could not respect her husband, and,
+for her, respect was the only road to love. She continued to live at
+the Hotel de Longueville and to attend all court functions, where,
+through her beauty, she early became the object of much attention from
+the young lords, among whom Coligny seemed to impress her more than
+any other.
+
+About this time occurred the deaths of Richelieu and Louis XIII., and
+the Importants, flocking to Paris to regain their rights and to share
+in the spoils of the new regency, began to make themselves felt. The
+leaders expected great favors from Anne of Austria who had been forced
+into obedience by the cardinal, but she was a great disappointment to
+them. A born lady of leisure, she was only too glad to be relieved
+of the arduous duties of government, and this her minister, Mazarin,
+quickly proceeded to do; his first object was to crush the influence
+of the Importants, who were very powerful in the salons, society, and
+politics.
+
+The house of Conde declared in favor of Mazarin, but at first this
+did not affect Mme. de Longueville, whose kindness of heart and
+indifference to politics and intrigues were generally known. Probably,
+she never would have taken a part in the Fronde had it not been for
+the rival who had been seeking, by every possible means, to injure her
+reputation--a design which Mme. de Montbazon well-nigh accomplished by
+declaring that two letters which, at a reception, had fallen from the
+pocket of Coligny had been written by Mme. de Longueville. In reality,
+they had been written by Mme. de Fouquerolles to the Marquis of
+Maulevrier. Mme. la Princesse, mother of Mme. de Longueville demanded
+full reparation, threatening that unless it was at once granted the
+house of Conde would withdraw from court, and Mazarin managed to
+induce the queen to compel Mme. de Montbazon to apologize publicly. It
+may be of interest to give, in full, the apology, to show the nature
+of court etiquette, hypocrisy, and intrigue of that day. Mme. de
+Montbazon called at the hotel of the princess and spoke the following
+words, which were written on a paper attached to her fan: "Madame, I
+come here to attest that I am innocent of the spitefulness of which
+they accuse me, there being no person of honor capable of uttering
+such a calumny; and if I had committed such a crime, I would have
+submitted to the punishments that the queen would have imposed upon
+me, would never have shown myself before the world again, and would
+have asked your pardon. I beg you to believe that I shall never be
+lacking in the respect that I owe you because of the opinion which
+I have of the merit and virtue of Mme. de Longueville." To which the
+princess replied: "I very willingly receive the assurance you give
+me of having had no part in the spitefulness that was published,
+deferring all to the order the queen has given me."
+
+After this episode, the princess refused to be in the same place with
+Mme. de Montbazon. On one occasion, Mme. de Chevreuse had invited the
+queen to a collation at a place where the queen enjoyed walking; she
+requested the princess to join her, giving her word of honor that Mme.
+de Montbazon would not be there; she was present, however, and the
+princess was about to leave when the queen ordered Mme. de Montbazon
+to feign illness and retire; this she refused to do and remained,
+whereupon the queen and the princess left, and shortly afterward Mme.
+de Montbazon received orders to leave Paris.
+
+This excited the Importants to fever heat and a plot was formed, with
+Mme. de Chevreuse as the leader, to assassinate the cardinal. Shortly
+after this, Coligny, as champion of the cause of Mme. de Longueville,
+challenged the Duc de Guise to a duel. The whole court was made up
+of two parties: the Importants with Mme. de Montbazon and Mme. de
+Chevreuse; and Conde and Mme. de Longueville with their friends;
+the result was the death of Coligny. Mme. de Longueville was a true
+_precieuse_ and hardly loved Coligny, but allowed him and any other to
+serve and adore her in a respectable way--a principle followed by
+the better women of the age, such as Mme. de Rambouillet and Mme. de
+Sable.
+
+Some time after these occurrences, Mme. de Longueville was stricken
+with smallpox which, fortunately, did not impair her beauty; it was
+said, on the contrary, that in taking away its first flower it left
+all the brilliancy which, joined to her culture and charming
+languor, made her one of the most attractive persons in France. La
+Rochefoucauld has left the following picture of her: "This princess
+had all the advantages of _esprit_ and beauty to as great a degree as
+if nature had taken pleasure in completing, in her person, a perfect
+work; but these qualities shone less brilliantly on account of one
+characteristic which led her to imbibe so thoroughly the sentiments of
+those who adored her that she no longer recognized her own."
+
+After her twenty-fifth year, Mme. de Longueville became more and more
+imbued with the general spirit of the seventeenth century: coquetry
+and _bel esprit_ became her chief occupation. The glory of her
+brother, the Duc d'Enghien, who was rapidly becoming a power, and the
+probability of the house of Conde becoming dangerous, made Mazarin
+realize that Mme. de Longueville was to be reckoned with, inasmuch as
+she had full control over D'Enghien and was constantly instilling new
+ideas into his mind and requesting from him the distribution of all
+sorts of favors. Mazarin, in 1646, succeeded in causing her withdrawal
+to Muenster for one year; there she ruled as queen of the Congress. On
+the death of her father, the Prince of Conde, and at the request
+of her mother to come home for her lying-in, the husband of Mme. de
+Longueville consented to her return to Paris.
+
+In the meantime, everything was being done by the Importants to win
+over the house of Conde and cause a breach between it and Mazarin.
+The court at this time was in full glory; to amuse the queen-regent,
+Mazarin was lavishing money on artists from Italy, and the nobility
+outdid itself in its attempts to rival royalty in elegance and luxury.
+Upon her return, everyone paid homage to Mme. de Longueville; it
+was at this period that La Rochefoucauld, who was anxious about his
+position at court, as he was accused of being in league with the
+Importants and was therefore refused the favors he desired, met Mme.
+de Longueville who was in the height of her glory and in full control
+of the most prominent house of the time--that of the Duc d'Enghien and
+the Prince de Conti, her brothers.
+
+In order to conquer for himself what the cardinal would not grant him,
+La Rochefoucauld put forth every effort to win Mme. de Longueville;
+captivated by his fine appearance, his chivalry and, above all, by his
+powerful intellect, she gave herself up entirely, willing to share his
+destiny, to sacrifice all her interests, even those of her family, and
+the deepest sentiment of her life--the tenderness for her brother.
+
+France at this time, 1648, was in a position to gain for herself a
+peace with the world at her own terms, and her future seemed to be
+without a cloud. It was the Fronde that checked her growth and glory,
+and the cause of this was the estrangement of the house of Conde
+through the action of Mme. de Longueville in passing with her husband
+over to the party of the Importants, she being the first of her family
+to forsake the government. Under the leadership of La Rochefoucauld,
+she cast her lot with the opposing party, allowing herself to be
+identified with the interests of those who had endeavored to tarnish
+her early reputation. Becoming a leader with Mme. de Chevreuse and
+Mme. de Montbazon (her rival), she easily won over her young brother,
+the Prince de Conti. After the imprisonment of her husband and her two
+brothers, she began her real career as a woman of tactics, politics,
+and generalship.
+
+With the connivance of Mme. de Chevreuse and the Princess Palatine, a
+general plan had been formed to create a new government by the union
+of the aristocracy. The marriage, already spoken of, between the Duke
+of Enghien and one of the daughters of the Duke of Orleans and that
+arranged between the Prince of Conti and the daughter of Mme. de
+Chevreuse were to have united the Fronde with the house of Conde. The
+alliances, however, were declared off, and Mme. de Chevreuse went
+over to the cardinal and the queen; Conde's fall and Mazarin's success
+followed, being the result, mainly, of the determination of Mme. de
+Chevreuse to avenge herself upon Conde for having consented to the
+breaking of the marriage contracts.
+
+Mme. de Longueville did all in her power to continue the conflict that
+Conde had undertaken, but, exhausted by continual excitement and ill
+success, she was compelled to retire. After this, her life, spent in
+Normandy, at the Carmelites' convent and at Port Royal, became a long
+penance, which increased in austerity until she died in 1679. Thus,
+her career was at first one of unblemished brilliancy, then a period
+of elegant and intellectual debauch, and finally one of expiation.
+
+"Her politics," says Sainte-Beuve, "considered in the _ensemble_, are
+nothing more than a desire to please, to shine--a capricious love. Her
+character lacked consistency and self-will, her mind was keen, ready,
+subtle, ingenious, but not reasonable."
+
+In her convent life, her crowning virtue was humility. Her enemies did
+not cease to attack her, but she received all their affronts with
+the noblest resignation. The following testimonies are taken from a
+Jansenist manuscript of 1685:
+
+"She never said anything to her own advantage. She made use of as
+many occasions as she could find for humiliating herself without any
+affectation. What she said, she said so well that it could not be
+better said. She listened much, never interrupted, and never showed
+any eagerness to speak. She spoke sensibly, modestly, charitably, and
+without passion. To court her was to speak with equity and without
+passion of everyone and to esteem the good in all. Her whole exterior,
+her voice, her face, her gestures, were a perfect music; and her mind
+and body served her so well in expressing what she wished to make
+heard, that she appeared the most perfect actress in the world."
+
+Her love for La Rochefoucauld was the secret of her failure in life.
+When she experienced the disappointments of her married life and
+discovered that her dream of being loved by her husband could not be
+realized, she looked to other sources for diversion. She was not an
+intriguing woman like Mme. de Chevreuse, but one of ambitions which
+were incited by her love for and interest in the objects of her
+affection. Although she carried on flirtations with Coligny and the
+Duke of Nemours, she really loved no one but La Rochefoucauld, to
+whom she sacrificed her reputation and tranquillity, her duties and
+interests. For him she took up the cause of the Fronde; for him she
+was a mere slave, her entire existence being given up to his love, his
+whims, his service; when he failed her, she was lost, exhausted, and
+retired to a convent at the age of thirty-five and in the full bloom
+of her beauty. Her professed lover simply used her as a means to an
+end, seeking only his own interests in the Fronde, while she sought
+his; and this is the explanation of her seeming inconsistency of
+conduct. In her religious life she was happy and contented; surrounded
+by her friends, she lived peacefully for over twenty years.
+
+Thus, Marie de' Medici, a foreigner, Mme. de Chevreuse, and Mme. de
+Longueville represent the political women of the first half of the
+seventeenth century; Anne of Austria, who was of foreign extraction,
+was a mere tool in the hands of Mazarin, and exerted little influence
+in general.
+
+One of the principal differences between the conspicuous political
+women of the sixteenth and those of the seventeenth centuries lies in
+the possession by the latter of less personal force than that wielded
+by the former, who allowed nothing to thwart their plans. The women
+of both periods were beautiful, but those of the earlier one were of a
+magnetic and sensual type, "inspiring insensate passions and exciting
+a feverish unrest," thus ruling man through his lower instincts. The
+lack of refinement, sympathy, and charity reflected in their actions
+is in glaring contrast to the dignity, repose, reserve, and womanly
+modesty and grace displayed by their less masterful successors of the
+seventeenth century.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+Woman in Society and Literature
+
+
+At the beginning of the seventeenth century, after the death of Henry
+IV., there were three classes in France,--the nobility, clergy, and
+third estate,--each with a distinct field of action: the nobility
+dominated customs, morality, and the government; the clergy supervised
+instruction and education; the third estate furnished the funds, that
+is, its work made possible the operations of the other classes.
+
+At court, various dialects and diverse pronunciations were in use by
+the representatives of the different provinces; the written language,
+though understood generally, was not used. Warriors were largely
+in evidence among the members of the nobility and court; entirely
+indifferent to decency of expression, purity of morals, and refinement
+of manners, and even boasting of their scorn of all restrictions,
+they took their boisterous rudeness into the drawing room where their
+influence was unlimited. The king, being of the same class, knew no
+better, or, if he did, had not the moral courage to compel a change;
+thus, the institution of a reformatory movement fell to the lot of
+woman.
+
+Then, however, woman was but little better than man; to gain his
+esteem, she would first have to make radical changes in her own
+behavior and become self-respecting. The customs of the time placed
+many disadvantages in the way of her social and moral reform. As
+a rule, the young girl was confined to a convent until she reached
+marriageable age; when that came and with it an undesired husband, she
+was ready for almost any prank that would relieve the monotony of her
+uncongenial marital relations. The convents themselves were so corrupt
+or so easily corruptible, that, very frequently, young girls did not
+leave them with unstained purity. To certain of these institutions,
+women and men of standing often bought the privilege of access at any
+time, to drink, dine, sleep, or attend sacred exercises with other
+persons; thus, libertinage was not uncommon within the walls of those
+so-called religious establishments.
+
+Mme. de Rambouillet felt most keenly the degradation of woman and
+resolved to act against it by combating everything that could offend
+taste or delicacy. As in the beginning of every great age, all things
+tended to greatness. A period of discipline and cooerdination set
+in, and elegance, grace, and refinement became the most pronounced
+characteristics of the time; rough, crude, robust, vigorous, and
+energetic characteristics, combined with coarseness and brutality,
+were eliminated during the seventeenth century. The women who caused
+this general purification of morals and language were given the name
+of _precieuses_ and the movement that of _preciosite_.
+
+The extent to which the _precieuses_ went in inventing locutions by
+which they were to be recognized as elegant, is generally exaggerated;
+Livet says that out of six hundred women hardly thirty could be
+accused of such fatuity. The wiser and more conservative women
+did adopt a large number of expressions which were necessary for
+refinement of language and these classicisms were exaggerated by some
+of the provincial classes who received their expressions from books
+and the theatre; such authors as Corneille, etc., were studied and
+their poetic licenses introduced into spoken language. These follies,
+pictured by Moliere, naturally afforded much amusement in cultured
+circles where every event of the day was discussed, from the vital
+affairs of the government to the aesthetic interests of art and
+literature.
+
+The tremendous vogue of the seventeenth century salons or drawing
+rooms naturally gave a stimulus to literature; but, as they were so
+numerous and as each one claimed its large coterie of literary men,
+they proved to be disastrous to some while helpful to others. Two
+distinct classes of writers arose: the one, serious, elevated,
+thoughtful, classical, and independent of the salon, is well
+represented by Moliere, Pascal, Boileau; the other, light, affected,
+gallant, superficial, was composed of the innumerable unimportant
+writers of the day.
+
+The salon movement must not be confounded with two other social
+movements or forces--those of court and society; while at the former
+all was formality, the latter was still gross and brutish. The Marquis
+de Caze, at a supper seized a leg of mutton and struck his neighbor
+in the face with it, sprinkling her with gravy, whereupon she laughed
+heartily; the Count of Bregis, slapped by the lady with whom he was
+dancing, tore off her headdress before the whole company; Louis XIII.,
+noticing in the crowd admitted to see him dine a lady dressed too
+_decollete_, filled his mouth with wine and squirted the liquid into
+the bosom of the unfortunate girl; the Prince of Conde, indulging in
+customary brutishness, ate dung and had the ladies follow his example;
+these are fair illustrations of social _elegances_.
+
+As will be seen, nothing of this nature occurred in the salon of Mme.
+de Rambouillet, whose object was to charm her leisure hours, distract
+and amuse the husband whom she adored, and be agreeable to her
+friends. Her amusements were most original--concerts, mythological
+representations, suppers, fireworks, comedies, readings, always
+something new, often in the form of a surprise or a joke. Of the
+latter, the best known is the one played on the Count of Guise whose
+fondness for mushrooms had become proverbial; on one occasion when he
+had consumed an immense number of them at table, his valet, who had
+been bribed, took in all his doublets; on trying to put them on again,
+he found them too narrow by fully four inches. "What in the world is
+the matter--am I all swollen--could it be due to having eaten too many
+mushrooms?" "That is quite possible," said Chaudebonne; "yesterday you
+ate enough of them to split." All the accomplices joined in ridiculing
+him, and he began to squirm and show a somewhat livid color. Mass was
+rung, and he was compelled to attend in his chamber robe. Laughing, he
+said: "That would be a fine end--to die at the age of twenty-one from
+having eaten too many mushrooms." In the meantime, Chaudebonne advised
+the use of an antidote which he wrote and handed to the count, who
+read: "Take a good pair of scissors and cut your doublet." Only then
+did the victim comprehend the joke.
+
+One day, Voiture, having met a bear trainer, took him with his animals
+to the room of the Marquise de Rambouillet; she, turning at the noise,
+saw four large paws resting upon her screen. She readily forgave the
+author of the surprise. Du Bled relates many more of these innocent
+jokes.
+
+Among the congenial people of the salons, the relations were always of
+the most cordial, friendly, free, and intimate nature; they were like
+the members of a large family. By them, love was not considered a
+weakness but a mark of the elevation of the soul, and every man had
+to be sensitive to beauty. When the Duchesse d'Aiguillon presented
+to society her nephew, who later became the Duke of Richelieu, she
+advised and encouraged him to complete his education and make of
+himself an _honnete homme_ by association with the elder Mlle. du
+Vigean and other women; the object of this procedure was to polish his
+manners, elevate his instincts, and develop ease in deportment toward
+the ladies. There was no hint of the vulgar or licentious pleasures
+which became the characteristics of love in the eighteenth century.
+
+The woman who inaugurated the movement toward purity of morals,
+decency of language, polish of manners, and courtesy to woman, was
+Mme. de Rambouillet. Catherine de Vivonne, Marquise de Rambouillet,
+whose mother was a great Roman lady and whose father had been
+ambassador to Rome, inherited that pride of race and independence of
+spirit for which she was so well known. In 1600, she was married, at
+the age of twelve, to the Marquis de Rambouillet who was her senior by
+eleven years, but who treated her with deference and respect rare at
+that time. Husband and wife were perfectly congenial, and their happy
+and peaceful life was a great contrast to that led by the majority of
+the married couples of the day. Absolutely irreproachable in conduct,
+she set a worthy example for all women who knew her.
+
+Her high ideals, independence of character, family duties, and the
+general debauchery, which was incompatible with her rigid chastity and
+"precocious wisdom," caused her to withdraw from the court in 1608;
+two years later, she decided to open her salon to such aristocratic
+and cultured persons as appreciated womanly grace, wit, and taste. Her
+familiarity with Italian and Spanish history and art placed her at
+the head of intellectual as well as moral movements. She surrounded
+herself with the distinguished men and women of the day, and her
+salon, which in every detail was decorated and arranged for pleasure,
+immediately became, through the exquisite charm with which she
+presided, the one goal of the cultured; her blue room was the
+sanctuary of polite society and she was its high priestess.
+
+The highest ambition of the _habitue_ of the salon was to sing, dance,
+and converse artistically and with refinement. A reaction against the
+general social state immediately set in, even the brusque warriors
+acquiring a refinement of speech and manners; and as conversation
+developed and became a power, the great lords began to respect men
+of letters and to cultivate their society. Anyone who possessed good
+manners, vivacity, and wit was admitted to the salon, where a new and
+more elevating sociability was the aspiration.
+
+Mme. de Rambouillet was very particular in the choice of friends, and
+they were always sincere and devoted, knowing her to be undesirous of
+political favors and incapable of stooping to intrigue. Even Richelieu
+could not, as compensation to him for a favor to her husband, induce
+her to act as spy on some of the frequenters of her salon.
+
+While not a woman of remarkable beauty, she was the personification
+of reason and virtue; her unassuming frankness, exquisite tact, and
+exceptional reserve discouraged all advances on the part of those
+gallants who frequented every mansion and were always prepared to lay
+siege to the heart of any fair woman. Her wide culture, versatility,
+modesty, goodness, fidelity, and disinterestedness caused her to be
+universally sought. Mlle. de Scudery, in her novel _Cyrus_, leaves a
+fine portrait of her:
+
+"The spirit and soul of this marvellous person surpass by far her
+beauty: the first has no limits in its extent and the other has no
+equal in its generosity, goodness, justice, and purity. The intellect
+of Cleomire (Mme. de Rambouillet) is not like that of those whose
+minds have no brilliancy except that which nature has given them, for
+she has cultivated it carefully, and I think I can say that there are
+no _belles connaissances_ that she has not acquired. She knows various
+languages, and is ignorant of hardly anything that is worth knowing;
+but she knows it all without making a display of knowing it; and one
+would say, in hearing her talk, 'she is so modest that she speaks
+admirably of things, through simple common sense only'; on the
+contrary, she is versed in all things; the most advanced sciences
+are not beyond her, and she is perfectly acquainted with the most
+difficult arts. Never has any person possessed such a delicate
+knowledge as hers of fine works of prose and poetry; she judges them,
+however, with wonderful moderation, never abandoning _la bienseance_
+(the seemliness) of her sex, though she is far above it. In the whole
+court, there is not a person with any spirit and virtue that does not
+go to her house. Nothing is considered beautiful if it does not
+have her approval; no stranger ever comes who does not desire to see
+Cleomire and do her homage, and there are no excellent artisans who
+do not wish to have the glory of her approbation of their works. All
+people who write in Phenicie have sung her praises; and she possesses
+the esteem of everyone to such a marvellous degree that there is no
+one who has ever seen her who has not said thousands of favorable
+things about her--who has not been charmed likewise by her beauty,
+_esprit_, sweetness, and generosity."
+
+Mlle. de Scudery describes the salon of Mme. de Rambouillet in the
+following:
+
+"Cleomire (Mme. de Rambouillet) had built, according to her own
+design, a place which is one of the finest in the world; she has found
+the art of constructing a palace of vast extent in a situation
+of mediocre grandeur. Order, harmony, and elegance are in all the
+apartments, and in the furniture also; everything is magnificent,
+even unique; the lamps are different from those of other palaces, her
+cabinets are full of objects which show the judgment of her who chose
+them. In her palace, the air is always scented; many baskets full of
+magnificent flowers make a continual spring in her room, and the place
+which she frequents ordinarily is so agreeable and so imaginative as
+to make one feel as if she were in some enchanted place."
+
+The very names of the frequenters of the salon of Mme. de Rambouillet
+testify to the prominence of her position in the world of culture:
+Mlle. de Scudery, Mlle. du Vigean; Mmes. de Longueville, de la Vergne,
+de La Fayette, de Sable, de Hautefort, de Sevigne, de la Suze, Marie
+de Gonzague, Duchesse d'Aiguillon, Mmes. des Houlieres, Cornuel,
+Aubry, and their respective husbands; the great literary men: Rotrou,
+Scarron, Saint-Evremond, Malherbe, Racan, Chapelain, Voiture, Conrart,
+Benserade, Pellisson, Segrais, Vaugelas, Menage, Tallemant des Reaux,
+Balzac, Mairet, Corneille, Bossuet, etc. In the entire period of the
+French salon, no other such brilliant gathering of men and women of
+social standing, princely blood, genuine intelligence, and literary
+ability ever assembled from motives other than those of politics
+or intrigue; here was a gathering purely social and for purposes of
+mutual refinement. The nobility went through a process of polishing,
+and the men of letters sharpened their intelligence and modified their
+manners and customs.
+
+Julie, Duchess of Montausier, and Angelique, daughters of Mme. de
+Rambouillet, were popular, but the former lost much of her charm after
+she sacrificed her independence of thought and action by becoming
+governess of the children of the queen. Julie was the centre of
+attraction for all perfumed rhymesters, all sighers in prose and
+verse, who thronged about her. The stern and unbending Duke of
+Montausier was so under her influence that in 1641 he arranged and
+laid before her shrine the famous _guirlande_ which was illustrated by
+Robert and to which nineteen authors contributed. After her marriage
+to the duke, the Hotel de Rambouillet may be said to have ceased to
+exist, as madame, who was seventy years of age, had for a number
+of years kept herself in the background, and Julie had become the
+acknowledged leader.
+
+With the outbreak of the Fronde, friends were separated by their
+individual interests and the reunions at the salon were interrupted
+from about 1650 to 1652. After the death of her husband, Mme. de
+Rambouillet retired, to reside with her daughter, Mme. de Montausier;
+after that, she seldom appeared in public. She hardly lived to see the
+spirit of the salon changed to the real _preciosite_--the direction
+and aim she gave to it being gradually abandoned.
+
+In her salon, for nearly fifty years, no pedantry, no loose manners,
+no questionable characters, no social or political intrigues, no
+discourtesies of any kind, were recorded; hers was a reign of dignity
+and grace, of purity of language, manners, and morals. She died in
+1665, at the advanced age of seventy-seven, esteemed and mourned by
+the entire social and intellectual world of France. Her influence
+was incalculable; it was the first time in the history of France
+that refined taste, intellectuality, and virtue had won importance,
+influence, and power.
+
+It must be remembered that in the first period of the salon there were
+no blue-stockings, no pedants: these were later developments. It was,
+primarily, a gathering which found pleasure in parties, excursions,
+concerts, balls, fireworks, dramatic performances, living tableaux;
+the last form of amusement very strongly influenced the development
+of the art, for in the galleries there appeared a surprisingly large
+number of portraits of the women of the day in character--sometimes as
+a nymph, sometimes as a goddess.
+
+The salon, in its first phase, showed and developed tolerance in
+religion as well as in art and literature. It also encouraged progress
+and displayed acute discrimination, keeping pace with the time in all
+that was new and meritorious. It developed individual liberty, public
+interest, criticism, good taste, and the elegant, clear, and precise
+conversational language in which France has excelled up to the present
+day.
+
+When about to build the Hotel Pisani, Mme. de Rambouillet, having
+no love for architects, planned its construction without their
+assistance. She revolutionized the architecture of the time by
+introducing large and high doors and windows and putting the stairway
+to one side in order to secure a large suite of rooms. She was also
+the first to decorate a room in other colors than red or tan. The
+construction of her hotel completely changed domestic architecture;
+and it may be noted that when the Luxembourg was to be built,
+the designers were instructed to examine, for ideas, the Hotel de
+Rambouillet.
+
+Legouve gives as the object and mission of Mme. de Rambouillet:
+"to combat the sensualism of Rabelais, Villon, and Marot, to reform
+society through love by reforming love through chastity; to place
+women at the head of civilization, by beginning a crusade against vice
+in the disguise of sentiment. The word 'fame' must, in the seventeenth
+century, apply to both man and woman, meaning honor for the one and
+purity for the other. Her ideal falls with the accession of Louis
+XIV.; the dazzling luxury of royalty hardly conceals, under its
+exterior elegance, the profound and deep-seated grossness of
+Versailles and Marly."
+
+To Mme. de Rambouillet, then, belongs the distinction of having
+been the first to bring together men of letters and great lords on
+a footing of social equality and for mutual benefit. Her salon
+and friends continued in the seventeenth century what Marguerite
+d'Angouleme had begun in the first part of the sixteenth--an
+intellectual, social, and moral reform.
+
+Many salons which were all more or less patterned after that of
+Rambouillet sprang into existence. Among these the Academy of the
+Vicomtesse d'Auchy, with Malherbe as president and tyrant, was of
+little influence as far as women were concerned. The members were all
+of second-rate importance, and Malherbe tolerated only the discussion
+of his verses, while Mme. d'Auchy was better known for her splendid
+neck than for any intellectuality. Every salon had a master of
+ceremonies, who performed the rite of presentation; these men were
+frequently abbes, and some of them, such as Du Buisson and Testu,
+became famous.
+
+Among the most noted of these salons was that of the celebrated
+beauty, Ninon de Lenclos, she who called the _precieuses_ the
+"Jansenists of love," an expression which became very popular. Her
+salon was situated on the Rue des Tournelles. Ninon de Lenclos was a
+woman of the most brilliant mind and exquisite taste, and it was at
+her hotel that Moliere first read his _Tartuffe_ before Conde, La
+Fontaine, Boileau, Lulli, Racine, and Chapelle, and it was there that
+he received the principal ideas for his drama.
+
+Ninon became famous for making staunch friends of her former lovers,
+in which connection some interesting tales are told. She was the
+mother of two children; upon the arrival of the first, a heated
+discussion arose between Count d'Estrees and Abbe d'Effiat, both
+claiming the honor of paternity. When the mother was consulted, she
+made no attempt to conceal her amusement; finally, the rivals threw
+dice for "father or not father."
+
+The other child, whose father was the Marquis de Gersay, was the
+victim of an unnatural passion for his mother with whom, when a young
+man, he fell desperately in love, being ignorant of their relation.
+While pleading his cause, he learned from her lips the secret, and, in
+despair, blew out his brains, a tragedy which apparently had no effect
+upon the mother. At one time, at the request of the clergy Ninon was
+sent, for impiety, to the convent of the Benedictines at Lagny.
+
+Among her friends she counted the greatest men and women of the day
+and her salon was the foyer of _savoir-vivre_, of letters and art. At
+the age of sixty she met the Great Conde, who dismounted to greet
+her, something that he very seldom did, as he was not in the habit
+of paying compliments to women. The saying: _Elle eut l'estime de
+Lenclos_ [she had the esteem of Lenclos] became a popular manner of
+expressing the fact that a certain woman was especially esteemed. Even
+to the last (she died at the age of eighty-five), Ninon preserved
+her grace, beauty, and intelligence. Colombey calls her _La mere
+spirituelle de Voltaire_ [the spiritual mother of Voltaire].
+
+The generality of women had their lovers; even the famous Mlle. de
+Scudery, in spite of her homeliness--she was a dark, large-boned,
+and lean sort of old maid--had admirers galore; among the latter
+was Pellisson who was said to be so ugly "that he really abused the
+privilege--which man enjoys--of being homely."
+
+The hotel of the famous poet Scarron--Hotel de
+l'Impecuniosite--received almost all the frequenters of Ninon's salon.
+At the former place there were no restrictions as to the manner of
+enjoyment; after elevating and edifying conversation at the salon
+of Ninon, the members would repair to that of Scarron for a feast of
+_broutilles rabelaisiennes_ [Rabelaisian tidbits].
+
+The salon of Mme. de Montbazon had its frequenters who, however, were
+attracted mainly by her beauty; she was, to use the words of one of
+her friends, "One of those beauties that delight the eye and provoke
+a vigorous appetite." Her salon was one of suitors rather than of
+intellectuality or harmless sociability.
+
+The most famous of the men's salons was the Temple, constructed in
+1667 by Jacques de Souvre and conducted from 1681 to 1720 by Phillipe
+de Vendome and his intendant, Abbe de Chaulieu. These reunions,
+especially under the latter, were veritable midnight _convivia_; he
+himself boasted of never having gone to bed one night in thirty years
+without having been carried there dead drunk, a custom to which he
+remained "faithful unto death." His boon companion was La Duchesse
+de Bouillon. Most of his frequenters were jolly good persons, utterly
+destitute of the sense of sufficiency in matters of carousing; the
+better people declined his invitations.
+
+After that of Mme. de Rambouillet, there were, in the seventeenth
+century, but two great salons that exerted a lasting influence and
+that were not saturated with the decadent _preciosite_. Of these
+the salon of Mlle. de Scudery has been called the salon of the
+_bourgeoisie_, because the majority of its frequenters belonged to the
+third estate, which was rapidly acquiring power and influence.
+
+Mlle. de Scudery, who was born in 1608 and lived through the whole
+century, saw society develop, and therefore knew it better than did
+any of her contemporaries. Having lost her parents early in life, her
+uncle reared her and she received advantages such as fell to the lot
+of few women of her condition; she was given an excellent education in
+literature, art, and the languages.
+
+Until the marriage of her brother, she was his constant and devoted
+companion, exiling herself to Marseilles when he was appointed
+governor of Notre Dame de La Garde, and returning to Paris with him
+in 1647. She first collaborated with him in a literary production of
+about eighty volumes. In their works, the brother furnished the rough
+draft, the dramatic episodes, adventures, and the Romanesque part,
+while she added the literary finish through charming character
+sketches, conversation, sentimental analyses, and letters. With a
+strong inclination toward society, and constantly fulfilling its
+obligations, she would from day to day write up her conversations of
+the evening before.
+
+An interesting anecdote is told in connection with the travels and
+cooeperation of Mlle. de Scudery and her brother; once, on the way to
+Paris, while stopping over night at Lyons, they were discussing the
+fate of one of their heroes, one proposing death and the other rescue,
+one poison and the other a more cruel death; a gentleman from Auvergne
+happened to overhear them and immediately notified the people of the
+inn, thinking it was a question of assassinating the king; the brother
+and sister were thrown into prison and only with great difficulty
+were they able to explain matters the next morning. From this incident
+Scribe drew the material for his drama, _L'Auberge ou les Brigands
+sans le Savoir_.
+
+At the Hotel de Rambouillet where Mlle. de Scudery was received early,
+she won everyone by her modesty, simplicity, _esprit_, and lovable
+disposition, and, in spite of her homeliness and poor figure, she
+attracted many platonic lovers. She was one of the few brilliant
+and famous women of the seventeenth century whose popularity was due
+solely to admirable qualities of mind and soul. With her, friendship
+became a cult, and it was in time of trouble that her friends received
+the strongest proof of her affection. She preferred to incur disgrace
+and the disfavor of Mazarin rather than forsake Conde and Madame de
+Longueville; to them she dedicated the ten volumes, successively,
+of her novel, _Cyrus_; the last volume was published after Mme. de
+Longueville's retirement and partial disgrace.
+
+After the brilliant society of the Hotel de Rambouillet had been
+broken up by the marriage of Julie and the operations of the Fronde,
+and after her brother's marriage in 1654, Mlle. de Scudery became
+independent and established the custom of receiving her friends on
+Saturday; these receptions became famous under the name of _Samedi_,
+and besides the regular rather bourgeois gathering, the most brilliant
+talent and highest nobility flocked to them, regardless of rank or
+station, wealth or influence. Pellisson, the great master, the prince,
+the Apollo of her Saturdays, was a man of wonderfully inventive
+genius, and possessed in a higher degree than any of his
+contemporaries the art of inventing surprises for the society that
+lived on novelty. When, on account of his devotion to Fouquet, he
+was imprisoned in the Bastille, Mlle. de Scudery managed to persuade
+Colbert to brighten his confinement by permitting him to see friends
+and relatives. Part of every day she spent in his prison, conversing
+and reading; and this is but one instance of her fidelity and
+friendship.
+
+Mlle. de Scudery, considering all men as aspirants for authority
+who, when husbands, degenerate into tyrants, preferred to retain
+her independence. Her ideas on love were very peculiar and were
+innovations at the time: she wished to be loved, but her love must be
+friendship--a pure, platonic love, in which her lover must be her all,
+her confidant, the participator in her sorrows and her conversation;
+and his happiness must be in her alone; he must, without feeling
+passion, love her for herself, and she must have the same feeling
+toward him. These sentiments are expressed in her novels, from which
+the following extracts are taken:
+
+"When friendship becomes love in the heart of a lover or when this
+love is mingled with friendship without destroying it, there is
+nothing so sweet as this kind of love; for as violent as it is, it is
+always held somewhat more in check than is ordinary love; it is more
+durable, more tender, more respectful, and even more ardent, although
+it is not subject to so many tumultuous caprices as is that love which
+arises without friendship. It can be said that love and friendship
+flow together like two streams, the more celebrated of which obscures
+the name of the other." ... "They agreed on even the conditions of
+their love; for Phaon solemnly promised Sapho (Mlle. de Scudery)--who
+desired it thus--not to ask of her anything more than the possession
+of her heart, and she, also, promised him to receive only him in hers.
+They told each other all their thoughts, they understood them even
+without confessing them. Peace, however, was not so completely
+established that their affection could not become languishing or cool;
+for, although they loved each other as much as one can love, they at
+times complained of not being loved enough, and they had sufficient
+little difficulties to always leave something new to wish for; but
+they never had any troubles that were serious enough to essentially
+disturb their repose."
+
+Mlle. de Scudery was mistress of the art of conversation, speaking
+without affectation and equally well on all affairs, serious, light,
+or gallant; she objected, however, to being called a _savante_, and
+she was far from resembling the false _precieuses_ to whom she was
+likened by her enemies. The occupations of her salon were somewhat
+different from those of the salon of Mme. de Rambouillet. M. du Bled
+describes them as follows:
+
+"What they did in the salon of Mlle. de Scudery you can guess readily:
+they amused themselves as at Mme. de Rambouillet's, they joked quite
+cheerfully, smiled and laughed, wrote farces in prose and
+poetry. There were readings, _loteries d'esprit_, sonnet-enigmas,
+_bouts-rimes_ (rhymes given to be formed into verse), _vers-echos_,
+fine literary joustings, discussions between the casuists. This salon
+had its talkers and speakers, those who tyrannized over the audience
+and those who charmed it, those who shot off fireworks and those who
+prepared them, those who had made a symphony of conversation and those
+who made of it a monologue and had no flashes of silence. They did not
+follow fashion there--they rather made it; in art and literature as
+in toilets, smallness follows the fashion, pretension exaggerates it,
+taste makes a compact with it."
+
+A specimen of the _enigme-sonnets_ may be of interest, to show in what
+intellectual playfulness and trivialities these wits indulged:
+
+  "Souvent, quoique leger, je lasse qui me porte.
+  Un mot de ma facon vaut un ample discours.
+  J'ai sous Louis le Grand commence d'avoir cours,
+  Mince, long, plat, etroit, d'une etoffe peu forte.
+
+  "Les doigts les moins savants me taillent de la sorte;
+  Sous mille noms divers je parais tous les jours;
+  Aux valets etourdis je suis d'un grand secours.
+  Le Louvre ne voit point ma figure a sa porte.
+
+  "Une grossiere main vient la plupart du temps
+  Me prendre de la main des plus honnetes gens.
+  Civil, officieux, je suis ne pour la ville.
+
+  "Dans le plus rude hiver j'ai le dos toujours nu:
+  Et, quoique fort commode, a peine m'a-t-on vu,
+  Qu'ausitot neglige, je deviens inutile."
+
+[Often, although light, I weary the person who carries me. A word in
+my manner is worth a whole discourse. I began under Louis the Great to
+be in vogue,--slight, long, flat, narrow, of a very slight material.
+
+The most unskilled fingers cut me in their way; under a thousand
+different forms I appear every day; I am a great aid to the astonished
+valets. The Louvre does not see my face at its door.
+
+A coarse hand most of the time receives me from the hand of the nicest
+people. Civil, officious, I am born for the city.
+
+In the coldest weather, my back is always bare; and, although quite
+convenient, scarcely have they seen me, when I am neglected and
+useless.--Visiting card.]
+
+A more interesting one and one that caused no little amusement is the
+following:
+
+  "Je suis niais et fin, honnete et malhonnete,
+  Moins sincere a la cour qu'en un simple taudis.
+  Je fais d'un air plaisant trembler les plus hardis,
+  Le fort me laisse aller, le sage m'arrete.
+
+  "A personne sans moi l'on ne fait jamais fete:
+  J'embellis quelquefois, quelquefois, j'enlaidis.
+  Je dedaigne tantot, tantot j'applaudis;
+  Pour m'avoir en partage, il faut n'etre pas bete.
+
+  "Plus mon trone est petit, plus il a de beaute.
+  Je l'agrandis pourtant d'un et d'autre cote,
+  Faisant voir bien souvent des defauts dont on jase.
+
+  "Je quitte mon eclat quand je suis sans temoins,
+  Et je me puis vanter enfin d'etre la chose
+  Qui contente le plus et qui coute le moins."
+
+[I am both stupid and bright, honest and dishonest; less sincere at
+court than in a simple hovel; with a pleasant air, I make the boldest
+tremble, the strong let me pass, the wise stop me.
+
+There is no joy to anyone without me; I embellish at times, at times I
+distort; I disdain and I applaud; to share me, one must not be stupid.
+
+The smaller my throne, the greater my beauty; I enlarge it, however,
+on both sides, often showing defects which are made sport of.
+
+I leave my brilliancy when I am without witness, and I can boast
+of being the thing which contents the most and costs the least.--A
+smile.]
+
+Critics often reproach Mlle. de Scudery for having portrayed
+herself--as Sapho--in a flattering light in her novel _Cyrus_; but it
+must be remembered that at that time this was a common custom, women
+of the highest quality indulging in such pastimes, there even being a
+prominent salon where verbal portraiture was the sole occupation. No
+one has written more or better on the condition of woman, for she,
+above all, had the experience upon which to base her writings. The
+idea of woman's education and aim, which was generally entertained by
+the intelligent and modest women of the seventeenth century, is well
+expressed by Mlle. de Scudery in the following:
+
+"The difficulty of knowing something with seemliness does not come to
+a woman so much from what she knows as from what others do not know;
+and it is, without doubt, singularity that makes it difficult to be as
+others are not, without being exposed to blame. Seriously, is not the
+ordinary idea of the education of women a peculiar one? They are not
+to be coquettes nor gallants, and yet they are carefully taught all
+that is peculiar to gallantry without being permitted to know anything
+that can strengthen their virtue or occupy their minds. Don't imagine,
+however, that I do not wish woman to be elegant, to dance or to sing;
+but I should like to see as much care devoted to her mind as to her
+body, and between being ignorant and _savante_ I should like to see
+a road taken which would prevent annoyance from an impertinent
+sufficiency or from a tiresome stupidity. I should like very much to
+be able to say of anyone of my sex that she knows a hundred things of
+which she does not boast, that she has a well-balanced mind, that she
+speaks well, writes correctly, and knows the world; but I do not wish
+it to be said of her that she is a _femme savante_. The best women of
+the world when they are together in a large number rarely say anything
+that is worth anything and are more ennuye than if they were alone; on
+the contrary, there is something that I cannot express, which makes it
+possible for men to enliven and divert a company of ladies more than
+the most amiable woman on earth could do."
+
+Mlle. de Scudery considered marriage a long slavery and preferred
+virtuous celibacy enlivened by platonic gallantry. When youth and
+adorers had passed away, she found consolation in interchanges of
+wit, congenial conversation, and the cultivation of the mind by study.
+Making of love a doctrine, a manual of morals or _savoir-vivre_, has
+had a refining effect upon civilization; but the process has rendered
+the emotion itself too subtle, select, narrow, enervating, and
+exhausting; it has resulted in the production of splendid books
+with heroes and heroines of the higher type, and has purified the
+atmosphere of social life; this phase of its influence, however,
+is felt by only a set of the elite, and its adherents are scattered
+through every age and every country. Mlle. de Scudery was a perfect
+representative of that type, but healthy and normal rather than
+morbidly aesthetic.
+
+An opposition party soon arose, formed by those, especially, who
+entertained different ideas of the sphere and duties of woman. Just
+as the type of the salon of Mme. de Rambouillet degenerated among the
+aristocracy into those of the Hotel de Conde, Mme. de Sable, and Mlle.
+de Luxembourg, so the type of the salon of Mlle. de Scudery gave rise
+to a number of literary salons among the _bourgeoisie_. The aim of
+the latter institutions was to imitate her example in endeavoring to
+spread the taste for courtesy, elegant manners and the higher forms
+of learning; all these aspirations, however, drifted into mere
+affectation, while the requisites of welcome at the original salon
+were simplicity, freedom from affectation, delicacy, amiability, and
+dignity.
+
+As a writer, Mlle. de Scudery occupies no mean position in the history
+of French literature of the seventeenth century. Her descriptions
+and anecdotes possess a wonderful charm and display unusual power of
+analysis; in them, Victor Cousin recognizes a truly virile spirit. In
+the history of the French novel, she forms a transition period, her
+productions having both a psychological interest and a historical
+value of a very high degree. Through her finesse and marvellous
+feminine penetration, her truthful, delicate and fine portraitures,
+which were widely imitated later, she has exerted an extensive
+influence.
+
+With Mlle. de Scudery "we have substance, real character painting,
+true psychological penetration, and realism in observation," while
+previously the novel, under such men as Gomberville and La Calprenede,
+was imaginative and full of fancy. Her talent, then, in that field,
+lay in the analysis and development of sentiments, in delineation of
+character, in the creation and reproduction of refined and ingenious
+conversations, and in her reflections on subjects pertaining to
+morality and literature--in all of which she displayed justness and
+entire liberty and independence of thought. Her poetry, delicate
+compliment or innocent gallantries, was a mere bagatelle of the salon.
+
+Charming as well as accomplished, Mlle. de Scudery was as intelligent,
+witty, and intellectual a woman as could be found in the seventeenth
+century; and in the history of that period she retains an undisputed
+position as one of its great leaders of thought and progress. Her
+salon, inasmuch as the salon of Mme. de Lambert was not opened until
+1710, and therefore the discussion of it belongs properly to the
+beginning of the eighteenth century, really closes the literary
+progress of the seventeenth century.
+
+The influence of the seventeenth century salon was of a threefold
+nature--literary, moral, and social. According to the salon
+conception, artistic, literary, or musical pleasure being derived
+from form and mode of expression, it possessed a special and unique
+interest in proportion to the efforts made and the difficulties
+surmounted in attaining that form and expression: thus, woman
+introduced a new standard of excellence.
+
+_Preciosite_ treated language not as a work of art, but as a medium
+for the display of individual linguistic dexterity; giving no thing
+its proper name, it delighted in paraphrase, allusion, word play,
+unexpected comparisons and abundance of metaphors, and revelled in
+the elusive, delicate, subtle, and complex. Hence conversation turned
+constantly to love and gallantry; thus woman developed to a wonderful
+degree, unattainable to but few, the art of conversation, politeness
+and courtesy of manners, and social relations, at the same time
+purifying language and enriching it.
+
+French women of the seventeenth century are condemned for having
+treated serious things too lightly; and it is said that "in confining
+the French mind to the observation of society and its attractions, she
+has restricted and retarded a more realistic and larger activity."
+In answer to this it may be asserted that the French mind was not
+prepared for a broader field until it had passed through the process
+of expurgating, refining, drilling, and disciplining. If _preciosite_
+influenced politics, it was by developing diplomacy, for, from
+the time that this spirit began to spread, French diplomacy became
+world-renowned.
+
+The social influence of the movement may be better appreciated
+by considering the condition of woman in earlier periods. Having
+practically no position except that of housewife or mother, she was
+merely a source of pleasure for man, for whom she had little or no
+respect. The _precieuses_, on the contrary, exacted respect, honor,
+and a place beside man, as rights that belonged to them.
+
+As the outcome of their desire to think, feel, and act with greater
+delicacy, women introduced propriety in expression, finesse in
+analysis, keenness of _esprit_, psychological subtleness: qualities
+that surely tended to higher standards of morality, purer social
+relations, finer and more subtle diplomacy, more elegance and
+precision in literature. Therefore, _preciosite_ in France had a
+wholesome influence, which was possible because woman had won for
+herself her rightful position, and her aspirations were toward social
+and moral elevation.
+
+In general, the women of France have always been conscious of their
+duty, their importance, and their limitations, appreciating their
+power and cultivating the characteristics that attract man and retain
+his respect and attention: sociability, morality, _esprit_, artistic
+appreciation, sensitiveness, tact. These qualities became manifest to
+a remarkable degree in French women of the seventeenth century, and
+created in every writer, great or unimportant, the desire to win their
+favor. Thus, Corneille strove to write dramas with which he might
+establish the reign of decency on a stage the liberties of which
+had previously made the theatre inaccessible to woman; hence, his
+characters of humanity (Cid) and politeness (Menteur).
+
+The purpose of the French Academy itself was not different from that
+of the _precieuses_. Richelieu, realizing that every great talent
+accepted the discipline of these women, sought to use this power for
+his own ends by interesting the world of letters in the accomplishment
+of his plans for a general political unity. Thus, when the first
+period of _preciosite_ had reached its highest point and was beginning
+to decline, and other smaller and envious social groups were forming
+about Paris and causing a conflict of ideas, Richelieu conceived
+the scheme of joining all in a union, with strong ideals and with a
+language as dignified as the Latin and the Greek. The result was the
+formation of the French Academy. From this time begins the decline
+of the authority of woman; for while she still exerted a powerful
+influence, it was no longer absolute. After the decline of the Hotel
+de Rambouillet, feminine influence became more general, expending
+itself in petty rivalries, gossip, intrigues, and partaking of the
+nature of that court life which was filled by the young king with
+parties, feasts, collations, walks, carousals, boating, concerts,
+ballets, and masquerades--a mode of living that gave rise to a new
+standard of politeness, which was freer and looser than that of
+_preciosite_.
+
+As the power of the young king became stronger, his favor became
+the goal of all men of letters. Although woman still to some extent
+controlled the destinies of those who were struggling for recognition
+and reputation, her influence was of a secondary nature, that of the
+king being supreme. Woman seemed to be overcoming the influence of
+woman--Mme. de Montespan replaced Mlle. de La Valliere, and she was in
+turn replaced by Mme. de Maintenon.
+
+The degeneration of the king was accompanied by that of literature,
+society, and morals. The characteristic inclination of the day was
+eagerly to seek and grasp that which was new, and the noble, forceful,
+and dignified style of language of the previous period was replaced
+by one of much lighter description; many female writers directed their
+efforts entirely toward amusing, pleasing, and gaining applause.
+
+In the beginning of the eighteenth century, with Mme. de Lambert as
+its leader, there was a renascence of the _preciosite_ of the Hotel
+de Rambouillet, women protesting against the prevalent grossness
+and indecency of manners. The salon of Mme. de Lambert was the great
+antechamber to the Academy, election to which was generally gained
+through her. A new aristocracy was forming, a new society arose;
+from about 1720 to 1750, libertinism and atheism, licentiousness and
+intrigue, crept into the salons.
+
+The new aristocracy was of doubtful and impure source, cynical in
+manner, unbridled in habits, over-fastidious in taste, and politically
+powerful. In this society woman began to be felt as a political force.
+M. Brunetiere said: "Mme. de Lambert made Academicians; the Marquise
+de Prie made a queen of France; Mme. de Tencin made cardinals and
+ambassadors." Montesquieu wrote: "There is not a person who has any
+employment at the court in Paris or in the provinces, who has not
+the influence (and sometimes the injustices which she can cause) of
+a woman through whom all favors pass;" and M. Brunetiere added: "This
+woman is not his wife." The popular spirit in literature was one of
+subtleness, irony, superficial observations on manners and customs.
+From the beginning of the eighteenth century up to the eve of
+the Revolution, woman's influence continued to increase, but that
+influence was mainly in the direction of politics. Thus, in every
+period in French history, a group of women effectively moulds French
+thought and language, and directs intellectual activity in general.
+
+After the death of Louis XIV., society passed under the rule of the
+regent, the Duke of Orleans--the personification of gallantry and
+affability, of depravity which was a mania, and of licentiousness
+which was a disease. From this atmosphere the salon of Mme. de Lambert
+became a refuge to those who still cherished the ideals of the good
+old times of Mme. de Rambouillet; it was distinguished by its
+refined sentiment and polished manners, which were like those of the
+seventeenth century at its best.
+
+Mme. de Lambert believed that the demands of the time were just the
+opposite of those of the seventeenth century: "What a multitude of
+tastes nowadays--the table, play, theatre! When money and luxury are
+supreme, true honor loses its power. Persons seek only those houses
+where shameful luxury reigns." In her own salon, none might enter who
+were not of the small number of the elect.
+
+Very little is known of the life of Mme. de Lambert. She was born in
+1647, and, in spite of the unfavorable surroundings of her youth and
+of a dissolute, extravagant, and unrefined mother, the observance of
+decorum and honor became the actuating principle of her life. Until
+her marriage (in 1666) to Henri de Lambert, Marquis de Bris en
+Auxerrois, she was in the midst of the grossest licentiousness and
+freedom of manners; when married, she entered a family the very
+opposite of her own.
+
+She was a woman who believed in the power of ambitious energy. To her
+son she once said: "Nothing is less becoming to a young man than a
+certain modesty that makes him believe that he is not capable of great
+things. This modesty is a languor of the soul, which prevents it from
+soaring and rapidly carrying itself to glory."
+
+At first she lived in the Hotel de Lambert (in the Ile Saint-Louis),
+renowned for its splendidly sculptured decorations, painted ceilings,
+panels, and staircases. Her famous Salon des Muses and Cabinet
+d'Amours were filled with the finest works of art and the most
+exquisite paintings. There the elite of all classes were entertained
+until the death of her husband (1686), when the hotel was closed; it
+was not reopened until 1710.
+
+Though left with immense wealth, her affairs were in a very
+complicated state. While actively employed in untangling her
+difficulties, she at the same time superintended the education of her
+son and daughter. After long and trying lawsuits, she managed to put
+her fortune in order and established herself at Paris, where the Duc
+de Nevers ceded to her, for life, a large portion of the magnificently
+furnished Palais Mazarin, now the National Library. On the completion
+of her work in remodelling this palace and furnishing it with the most
+costly and beautiful panel paintings by Watteau and other artists, she
+inaugurated her Tuesday and Wednesday dinner parties.
+
+One remarkable characteristic of her company was the age of her
+intimate associates--the Marquis de Saint-Aulaire, Fontenelle, Mme.
+Dacier, and her husband, Louis de Sacy, all of whom, as well as Mme.
+de Lambert herself, had passed threescore and more; but they still
+kept alive the cherished memories of the brilliant society of their
+youth. Mme. de Lambert did not personally know Mme. de Rambouillet,
+but she visited the latter's daughter, Julie d'Angennes, from whom
+she learned the customs and etiquette in vogue at the Hotel de
+Rambouillet.
+
+The Wednesday dinners of Mme. de Lambert were to her intimate friends,
+while every Tuesday afternoon she received a general circle which
+indulged in general conversation and read and discussed books which
+were about to be published; gambling, which seemed to be the principal
+means of entertaining in those days, had no place there. Fontenelle
+says: "It was, with very few exceptions, the only house which had been
+preserved from the epidemic of gambling--the only house where persons
+congregated simply for the sake of talking sensibly and with _esprit_.
+Those who had their reasons for considering it bad taste that
+conversation was still carried on in any place, cast mean reflections,
+whenever they could, against the house of Mme. de Lambert." In the
+evening, she received only a few select friends with whom she talked
+seriously. Her salon soon became the envy of those who were not
+admitted (and they were numerous), and was the object of many
+calumnies and attacks.
+
+During this time she found leisure to write two treatises of practical
+morality, _Avis d'une mere a son fils_, and _Avis d'une mere a sa
+fille_, which appeared without her permission. The manuscripts, lent
+to friends, fell into the hands of a publisher; and although the
+authoress endeavored to prevent the distribution of the works by
+buying up the entire editions, they were published outside of France.
+The two works written to her children form an important contribution
+to the educational literature of the time; in them the religion of the
+eighteenth century is first defined.
+
+"Above all these duties--civil and human (says the mother to her
+son)--is the duty you owe to the Supreme Being. Religion is a commerce
+established between God and man through the grace of God to man and
+through the duty of man to God. Elevated souls have for their God
+sentiments and a cult apart, which do not resemble at all those of the
+people; everything issues from the heart and goes to God."
+
+In these works, she attacked also the fad of free-thinking in vogue
+among the young men of the time. She was one of the few women of that
+age who could not separate themselves from reason and thought, even in
+religion; the latter was a matter for the reason and the intellect to
+decide, and was thus an elevated product of the mind rather than an
+instinct coming from the heart, or a positive revelation as it was in
+the seventeenth century. In this view, Madame de Lambert indicated the
+beginning of the later eighteenth-century spirit.
+
+Mme. de Lambert taught her children to be satisfied with nothing
+but the highest attainable object. She advised her son to choose his
+friends from among men above him, in order to accustom himself to
+respectful and polite demeanor; "with his equals he might cultivate
+negligence and his mind might become dull." She desired her children
+to think differently from the people--"Those who think lowly and
+commonly, and the court is filled with such." To their servants they
+were to be good and kind, for humanity and Christianity make
+all equal. She was the first to use those words, "humanity" and
+"equality," which later became the bywords of everyone, and the first
+to teach that conscience is the best guide. "Conscience is defined as
+that interior sentiment of a delicate honor which assures you that you
+have nothing with which to reproach yourself."
+
+Possibly the most important and lasting effect of Mme. de Lambert's
+influence resulted from the expression of her ideas on the education
+of young women who "are destined to please, and are given lessons
+only in methods of delighting and pleasing." She was convinced that in
+order to resist temptation and be normal, women must be educated, must
+learn to think. Her counsels to her daughter are remarkable for an
+unusual insight into the temperament of her sex and for an extreme
+fear that makes her call to her aid all precautions and resources. She
+thus advises her daughter:
+
+"Try to find resources within yourself--this is a revenue of certain
+pleasures. Do not believe that your only virtue is modesty; there are
+many women who know no other virtue, and who imagine that it relieves
+them of all duties toward society; they believe they are right in
+lacking all others and think themselves privileged to be proud and
+slanderous with impunity. You must have a gentle modesty; a good
+woman may have the advantages of a man's friendship without abandoning
+honesty and faithfulness to her duties. Nothing is so difficult as to
+please without the use of what seems like coquettishness. It is more
+often by their defects than by their good qualities that women please
+men; men seek to profit by the weaknesses of good and kind women,
+for whose virtues they care nothing, and they prefer to be amused by
+persons not very estimable than to be forced merely to admire virtuous
+persons."
+
+This is a most faithful description of the society of her time, and
+it was because her treatises struck home that they were severely
+criticised; but, nothing daunted, she carried out her plans in her own
+way, resorting neither to intrigue nor artifice. Many of her sayings
+became household maxims, such as--"It is not always faults that undo
+us; it is the manner of conducting ourselves after having committed
+them."
+
+Her reflections on women might be called the great plea, at the end
+of the seventeenth century, for woman's right to use her reason. After
+the severe and cruel satire of Moliere, attacking women for their
+innocent amusements, they gave themselves up entirely to pleasure.
+"Mme. de Lambert now wrote to avenge her sex and demand for it the
+honest and strong use of the mind; and this was done in the midst of
+the wild orgies of the Regency."
+
+Mme. de Lambert was not a rare beauty, but she possessed recompensing
+charms. M. Colombey asserts that she became convinced of two things,
+about which she became highly enthusiastic: first, that woman was more
+reasonable than man; secondly, that M. Fontenelle, who presided over
+or filled the functions of president of her salon, was always in the
+right. He was indeed in harmony with the tone of the salon, being
+considered the most polished, brilliant, and distinguished member of
+the intellectual society of Paris, as well as one of the most talented
+drawing room philosophers. He made the salon of Mme. de Lambert the
+most sought for and celebrated, the most intellectual and moral of the
+period.
+
+Mme. de Lambert has, possibly, exercised more influence upon men--and
+especially upon the Forty Immortals of her time--than did any woman
+before or after her. The Marquis d'Argenson states that "a person was
+seldom received at the Academy unless first presented at her salon. It
+is certain that she made at least half of our actual Academicians."
+
+Her salon was called a _bureau d'esprit_, which was due to the fact
+that it was about the only social gathering point where culture and
+morality were the primary requisites. As she advanced in years, she
+became even more influential. After her death in 1733, her salon
+ceased to exist, but others, patterned after hers, soon sprang up; to
+those, her friends attached themselves--Fontenelle frequented several,
+Henault became the leader of that of Mme. du Deffand.
+
+The finest resume that can be given of Mme. de Lambert, is found in
+the letters of the Marquis d'Argenson: "Her works contain a complete
+course in the most perfect morals for the use of the world and the
+present time. Some affectation of the _preciosite_ is found; but, what
+beautiful thoughts, what delicate sentiments! How well she speaks
+of the duties of women, of friendship, of old age, of the difference
+between actual character and reputation!"
+
+The salon of Mme. de Lambert forms a period of transition from the
+seventeenth century type in which elegance, politeness, courtesy, and
+morality were the first requisites, to the eighteenth century salon in
+which _esprit_ and wit were the essentials demanded. It retained the
+dignity, discipline, refinement, and sentiments of morality of
+the Hotel de Rambouillet; it showed, also, the first signs of
+pure intellectuality. The salons to follow, will exhibit decidedly
+different characteristics.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+Mistresses and Wives of Louis XIV
+
+
+The story of the wives and mistresses of Louis XIV., embraces that
+which is most dramatic morally (or immorally dramatic) in the history
+of French women. The record of the eighteenth century heroines is
+essentially a tragic one, while that of those of the previous century
+is essentially dramatic in its sadness, remorse, and repentance.
+
+The mistress, as a rule, was unhappy; there were few months during the
+period of her glory, in which she was entirely free from anxiety or in
+which her conscience was at rest. Mme. de Montespan "was for so many
+years the sick nurse of a soul worn out with pride, passion, and
+glory." Mme. de Maintenon wrote to one of her friends: "Why cannot
+I give you my experience? Why cannot I make you comprehend the ennui
+which devours the great, and the troubles that fill their days? Do you
+not see that I am dying of sadness, in a fortune the vastness of which
+could not be easily imagined? I have been young and pretty; I have
+enjoyed pleasures; I have spent years in intellectual intercourse;
+I have attained favor; and I protest to you, my dear child, that
+all such conditions leave a frightful void." She said, also, to her
+brother, Count d'Aubigne: "I can hold out no longer; I would like
+to be dead." It was she too, who, after her successes, made
+her confession thus: "One atones heavily for the pleasures and
+intoxications of youth. I find, in looking back at my life, that since
+the age of twenty-two--which was the beginning of my fortune--I
+have not had a moment free from sufferings which have constantly
+increased."
+
+M. Saint-Amand gives a description of the women of Louis XV. which
+well applies to those of his predecessor: "These pretended mistresses,
+who, in reality, are only slaves, seem to present themselves,
+one after the other, like humble penitents who come to make their
+apologies to history, and, like the primitive Christians, to reveal
+publicly the miseries, vexations, and remorses of their souls. They
+tell us to what their doleful successes amounted: even while their
+triumphal chariot made its way through a crowd of flatterers, their
+consciences hissed cruel accusations into their ears; like actresses
+before a whimsical and variable public, they were always afraid that
+the applause might change into an uproar, and it was with terror
+underlying their apparent coolness that they continued to play their
+sorry part.... If among these mistresses of the king there were a
+single one who had enjoyed her shameful triumphs in peace, who had
+called herself happy in the midst of her dearly bought luxury and
+splendor, one might have concluded that, from a merely human point of
+view, it is possible to find happiness in vice. But, no--there is not
+even one!" Massillon, the great preacher of truth and morality,
+said: "The worm of conscience is not dead; it is only benumbed. The
+alienated reason presently returns, bringing with it bitter troubles,
+gloomy thoughts, and cruel anxieties"--a true picture of every
+mistress.
+
+The remarkable power and influence of these women, the love and
+adoration accorded them, ceased with their death; the memory of them
+did not survive overnight. When, during a terrible storm, the remains
+of the glorious Mme. de Pompadour were being taken to Paris, the king,
+seeing the funeral cortege from his window, remarked: "The Marquise
+will not have fine weather for her journey."
+
+Each one of these powerful mistresses represents a complete epoch of
+society, morals, and customs. Mme. de Montespan--that woman whose
+very look meant fortune or disfavor--with all her wit and wealth, her
+magnificence and pomp and superb beauty--she, in all her splendor, is
+a type of the triumphant France, haughty, dictatorial, scornful
+and proud, licentious and decayed at the core. Voluptuousness and
+haughtiness were replaced by religiosity and repentance in Mme. de
+Maintenon, with her temperate character, consistency, and propriety.
+
+The Regency was a period of scandal and wantonness, personified in the
+Duchess of Berry. The licentious and extravagant, yet brilliant and
+exquisite, frivolous but charming, intriguing and diplomatic, was
+represented by the talented and politically influential Mme. de
+Pompadour. Complete degeneracy, vice with all manner of disguise
+thrown off, adultery of the lowest order, were personified in the
+common Mme. du Barry, who might be classed with Louise of Savoy of
+the sixteenth century, while Mme. de Pompadour might be compared with
+Diana of Poitiers.
+
+In this period the queens of France were of little importance, being
+too timid and modest to assert their rights--a disposition which was
+due sometimes to their restricted youth, spent in Catholic countries,
+sometimes to a naturally unassuming and sensitive nature. To this rule
+Maria Theresa, the wife of Louis XIV., was no exception. She inherited
+her sweetness of disposition and her Christian character from her
+mother, Isabella of France, the daughter of Henry IV. and Marie de'
+Medici. She was pure and candid; a type of irreproachable piety and
+goodness, of conjugal tenderness and maternal love; and recompensed
+outraged morality for all the false pride, selfish ambition,
+depravity, and scandals of court. She is conspicuous as a model wife,
+one that loved her husband, her family, and her children.
+
+Around Maria Theresa may be grouped the noble and virtuous women of
+the court of Louis XIV., for she was to that age what Claude of France
+was under Francis I., Elizabeth of Austria under Charles V., Louise de
+Vaudemont under Henry III. However, in extolling these women, it
+must be remembered that they had not, as queens, the opportunity to
+participate in debauchery, licentiousness, and intrigue, as had the
+mistresses of their husbands; they had no power, were not consulted on
+state or social affairs, and had granted to them only those favors to
+the conferring of which the mistresses did not object.
+
+Maria Theresa was a perfect example of the self-sacrificing mother and
+devoted wife. Her feelings toward the king are best expressed by the
+Princesse Palatine: "She had such an affection for the king that she
+tried to read in his eyes whatever would give him pleasure; providing
+he looked kindly at her, she was happy all day." Mme. de Caylus
+wrote: "That poor princess had such a dread of the king and such great
+natural timidity that she dared neither to speak to him nor to run the
+risk of a tete-a-tete with him. One day, I heard Mme. de Maintenon say
+that the king having sent for the queen, the latter requested her to
+go with her so that she might not appear alone in his presence: but
+that she (Mme. de Maintenon) conducted her only to the door of the
+room and there took the liberty of pushing her so as to make her
+enter, and that she observed such a great trembling in her whole
+person that her very hands shook with fright."
+
+From about 1680, especially after the death of Mlle. de Fontanges, his
+last mistress, Louis XIV. began to look with disfavor upon the women
+of doubtful morality and to advance those who were noted for their
+conjugal fidelity. He became more attentive to the queen--a change of
+attitude which was due partly to the influence of Mme. de Maintenon
+and partly to the fact that he was satiated with the excesses of his
+debauches, by which his physical system had been almost wrecked. He
+would not have dared to legitimatize his bastard children, had he not
+been so thoroughly idolized by his greatest heroes and most powerful
+ministers. As an illustration, it may be remarked that the Great Conde
+proposed the marriage of his son to the king's daughter by Mlle. de La
+Valliere.
+
+The queen became so religious that she derived more enjoyment from
+praying at the convents or visiting hospitals than from remaining
+at her magnificent apartments. She waited upon the sick with her own
+hands and carried food to them; she never meddled in political affairs
+or took much interest in social functions.
+
+Timidity, an instinctive shrinking from the slanders, calumnies,
+and intrigues of the court, appeared to be the most pronounced
+characteristic of queens who seemed to believe themselves too inferior
+to their husbands to dare to offer any political counsel. While none
+of them were superior intellectually, they possessed dignity, good
+sense, and tact, "a reverential feeling for the sanctity of religion
+and the majesty of the throne," an admirable resignation, a painful
+docility and submission--qualities which might have been turned to
+the advantage of their owners and the state, had the former been more
+self-assertive.
+
+The infidelities of their husbands caused the queen-consorts constant
+torture; they were forced to behold the kings' favorites becoming part
+of their own households and were compelled to endure the presence,
+as ladies in waiting, of those who, as their rivals, caused them to
+suffer all possible torments of jealousy and outraged conjugal love.
+
+First among the mistresses of Louis XIV. was Mlle. de La Valliere,
+whom Sainte-Beuve mentions as the personification of the ideal of
+a lover, combining disinterestedness, fidelity, unique and delicate
+tenderness with a touching and sincere kindness. When, at the age of
+seventeen, she was presented at court, the king immediately selected
+her as one of his victims. Her beauty was so striking, of such an
+exquisitely tender type, that no woman actually rivalled her as
+queen of beauty. Distinguished by blond hair, dark blue eyes, a most
+sympathetic voice, and a complexion of rare whiteness mingled
+with red, she was guileless, animated, gentle, modest, graceful,
+unaffected, and ingenuous; although slightly lame, she was, by
+everyone, considered charming.
+
+Mlle. de La Valliere was the mother of several children of whom Louis
+XIV. was the father. On realizing that she had rivals in the favor
+of the sovereign, she fled several times from the Tuileries to the
+convent; on her second return, the king, about to go to battle,
+recognized his daughter by her, whom he made a duchess. Remorse
+overcame the mistress so deeply that she, for the third and final
+time, left court. Especially on the rise to power of Mme. de Montespan
+was she painfully humiliated, suffering the most intense pangs of
+conscience. The evening before her final departure to the convent, she
+dined with Mme. de Montespan, to drink "the cup to the dregs and
+to enjoy the rejection of the world even to the last remains of its
+bitterness."
+
+Guizot describes this period most vividly: "When Mme. de Montespan
+began to supplant her in the king's favor, the grief of Mlle. de La
+Valliere was so great that she thought she would die of it. Then she
+turned to God, penitent and in despair; twice she sought refuge in
+a convent at Chaillot. On leaving, she sent word to the king: 'After
+having lost the honor of your good graces I would have left the court
+sooner, if I could have prevailed upon myself never to see you again;
+but that weakness was so strong in me that hardly now am I capable
+of sacrificing it to God. After having given you all my youth, the
+remainder of my life is not too much for the care of my salvation.'"
+The king still clung to her. "He sent M. Colbert to beg her earnestly
+to come to Versailles that he might speak with her. M. Colbert
+escorted her thither and the king conversed for an hour with her and
+wept bitterly. Mme. de Montespan was there to meet her, with open arms
+and tears in her eyes." "It is all incomprehensible," adds Mme. de
+Sevigne; "some say that she will remain at Versailles and at court,
+others that she will return to Chaillot; we shall see."
+
+Mlle. de La Valliere remained three years at court, "half penitent,"
+she said, humbly, detained by the king's express wish, in consequence
+of the tempers and jealousies of Mme. de Montespan who felt herself
+judged and condemned by her rival's repentance. Attempts were made to
+turn Mlle. de La Valliere from her inclination for the Carmelites':
+"Madame," said Mme. Scarron to her, one day, "here are you one
+blaze of gold; have you really considered that, before long, at the
+Carmelites' you will have to wear serge?" She, however, was not to
+be dissuaded from her determination and was already practising, in
+secret, the austerities of the convent. "God has laid in this heart
+the foundation of great things," said Bossuet, who supported her in
+her conflict; "the world puts great hindrances in her way, and God
+great mercies; I have hopes that God will prevail; the uprightness of
+her heart will carry everything before it."
+
+"When I am in trouble at the Carmelites'," said Mlle. de La Valliere,
+as for the last time she quitted the court, "I shall think of what
+those people have made me suffer." "The world itself makes us sick of
+the world," said Bossuet in the sermon which he preached on the day
+she took the veil; "its attractions have enough of illusion, its
+favors enough of inconstancy, its rebuffs enough of bitterness.
+There is enough of bitterness, enough of injustice and perfidy in the
+dealings of men, enough of inconsistency and capriciousness in their
+intractable and contradictory humors--there is enough of it all, to
+disgust us."
+
+When, in 1675, she took the final vows, she cut off her beautiful hair
+and devoted herself to the church and to charity, receiving the veil
+from the queen, whose forgiveness she sought before entering the
+convent. The king showed himself to be such a jealous lover, that when
+Mlle. de La Valliere entirely abandoned him for God, he forgot her
+absolutely, never going to the convent to see her.
+
+She was by far the most interesting and pathetic of the three
+mistresses of Louis XIV.; her heart was superior to that of either
+of her successors, though her mind was inferior; she belonged to a
+different atmosphere--such kindness, charity, penitence, resignation,
+and absolute abandonment to God were rare among the conspicuous French
+women. Sainte-Beuve says: "She loved for love, without haughtiness,
+coquetry, arrogance, ambitious designs, self-interest, or vanity; she
+suffered and sacrificed everything, humiliated herself to expiate her
+wrong-doing, and finally surrendered herself to God, seeking in prayer
+the treasures of energy and tenderness; through her heart, her mental
+powers attained their complete development."
+
+The fate of Mlle. de La Valliere was the same as that of nearly all
+royal mistresses; abandoned and absolutely forgotten by her lover, she
+sought refuge and consolation in religion and God's mercy. "She
+was dead to me the day she entered the Carmelites'," said the king,
+thirty-five years later, when the modest and fervent nun at last
+expired, in 1710, without having ever relaxed the severities of her
+penance.
+
+Of an entirely different type from Mlle. de La Valliere was that
+haughtiest and most supercilious of all French mistresses, Mme. de
+Montespan. The picture drawn by M. Saint-Amand does her full justice:
+"A haughty and opulent beauty, a forest of hair, flashing blue eyes, a
+complexion of splendid carnation and dazzling whiteness, one of those
+alluring and radiant countenances which shed brightness around them
+wherever they appear, an incisive, caustic wit, an unquenchable thirst
+for riches and pleasure, luxury and power, the manners of a goddess
+audaciously usurping the place of Juno on Olympus, passion without
+love, pride without true dignity, splendor without harmony--that was
+Mme. de Montespan." And these qualities were the secret of her success
+as well as of her fall.
+
+From this description it can easily be divined of what nature was her
+influence and how she gained and held her power over the king. She
+won Louis XIV. entirely by her sensual charms, provoked him by her
+imperious exactions, her ungovernable fits of temper, and her daring
+sarcasm; always extravagant and unreasonable, she talked constantly of
+balls and fetes, the glories of court and its scandals. Most exacting,
+yet never satisfied, she had no regard for the interests or honor of
+the weak king, to whose lower nature only she appealed.
+
+Mme. de Montespan was of noble birth, being the youngest daughter of
+Rochechouart, first Duke of Mortemart. She was born in 1641, at the
+grand old chateau of Tonnay-Charente, and was educated at the convent
+of Sainte-Marie. Brought up religiously, she at first evinced a much
+greater tendency toward religion than toward worldly ambition and
+vanity. Mme. de Caylus, in her _Souvenirs_, wrote that "far from being
+born depraved, the future favorite had a nature inherently disinclined
+to gallantry and tending to virtue. She was flattered at being
+mistress, not solely for her own pleasure, but on account of the
+passion of the king; she believed that she could always make him
+desire what she had resolved never to grant him. She was in despair at
+her first pregnancy, consoled herself for the second one, and in all
+the others carried impudence as far as it could go."
+
+She was known first as Mlle. Tonnay-Charente, and was maid of honor
+to the Duchess of Orleans. When, at the age of twenty-two, she married
+the Marquis de Montespan and became lady in waiting to the queen, her
+beauty, wit, and brilliant conversational powers at once made her the
+centre of attraction; for several years, however, the king scarcely
+noticed her. Upon secretly becoming his mistress in 1668 and openly
+being declared as such two years later, her husband attempted to
+interfere, and was unceremoniously banished to his estates; in 1676 he
+was legally separated from her. She persuaded the king to legitimatize
+their children, who were confided to Mme. Scarron,--afterward Mme. de
+Maintenon,--who later influenced the king to abandon his mistress.
+
+Mme. de Montespan's power, lasting fourteen years, was almost
+unlimited, and was the epoch of courtiers intoxicated with passion
+and consumed by vice, infatuated with the king and his mistress,
+whose title as _maitresse-en-titre_ was considered an official one,
+conferring the same privileges and demanding the same ceremonies and
+etiquette as did a high court position. The only opposition incurred
+was from the clergy, who eventually, by uniting their forces with
+the influence of Mme. de Maintenon, brought about the disgrace of the
+mistress.
+
+When, in 1675, she desired to perform her Easter duties publicly at
+Versailles, the priest refused to grant absolution until she should
+discontinue her wanton, adulterous life. She appealed to the king, and
+he referred the decision of the matter to Bossuet, who decided that
+it was an imperative duty to deny absolution to public sinners of
+notorious lives who refused to abandon them. This was immediately
+before her legal separation from her husband.
+
+Influenced by the preaching of men like Bourdaloue and Bossuet,
+the king resolved to abandon his powerful mistress; in 1686 she was
+finally separated from Louis XIV., but did not leave Versailles until
+1691, when, becoming reconciled to her fate, she decided to retire
+to a convent. Bossuet became her spiritual adviser, and described her
+habits in the following letter to the king:
+
+"I find Mme. de Montespan sufficiently tranquil. She occupies herself
+greatly in good works. I see her much affected by the verities I
+propose to her, which are the same I uttered to your majesty. To
+her--as to you--I have offered the words by which God commands us
+to yield our whole hearts to him; they have caused her to shed many
+tears. May God establish these verities in the depths of the hearts of
+both of you, in order that so many tears, so much suffering, so many
+efforts as you have made to subdue yourselves, may not be in vain."
+
+The king did not wholly abandon his mistress; from a material point of
+view, she was more powerful than ever, for Louis XIV. gave orders
+to his minister, Colbert, to do for Mme. de Montespan whatever she
+wished, and her wishes caused a heavy drain upon the treasury. The
+king continued to pay court to other favorites, such as the Princesse
+de Soubese and Mlle. de Fontanges; the latter was his third mistress,
+but her career was of short duration, as one of the last acts of Mme.
+de Montespan was, it is said, the poisoning of Mlle. de Fontanges;
+this, however, is not generally accepted as true, although the
+Princesse Palatine wrote the following which throws suspicion upon
+the former favorite: "Mme. de Montespan was a fiend incarnate, but the
+Fontanges was good and simple. The latter is dead--because, they say,
+the former put poison in her milk. I do not know whether or not this
+is true, but what I do know well is that two of the Fontanges's
+people died, saying publicly that they had been poisoned." With the
+increasing influence of Mme. de Maintenon, the king completely forgot
+his former mistress.
+
+Mme. de Montespan was possibly the most arrogant and despotic of all
+French mistresses and she was, also, the most humiliated. She had
+inspired no confidence, friendship, love, or respect in Louis XIV.,
+who eventually looked with shame and remorse upon his relations with
+her. It took her sixteen years to overcome her terrible passion and to
+give up the court forever. Not until 1691 did she become reconciled
+to departure from Versailles; thenceforth, penitence conquered immoral
+desires. M. Saint-Amand says she not only "arrived at remorse, but
+at macerations, fasts, and haircloths. She limited herself to the
+coarsest underlinen and wore a belt and garters studded with iron
+points. She came at last to give all she had to the poor;" she also
+founded a hospital in which she nursed the sick.
+
+While at the convent, she tried, in vain, to effect a reconciliation
+with her husband; not until every avenue to a social life was cut
+off from her, did she entirely surrender herself to charity and the
+service of God. In her latest years, she was so tormented by the
+horrors of death that she employed several women whose only occupation
+was to watch with her at night. She died in 1707, forgotten by the
+king and all her former associates; Louis XIV. formally prohibited
+her children, the Duke of Maine, the Comte de Toulouse, the Comte
+de Vexin, and Mlles. de Nantes, de Blois, and de Tours, from wearing
+mourning for her.
+
+A striking contrast to Mme. de Montespan in character, disposition,
+morality, and birth was Mme. de Maintenon, one of the greatest and
+most important women in French history. What is known of her is so
+enveloped in calumny and falsehood and made so uncertain by dispute,
+that to disentangle the actual facts is almost an impossibility,
+despite the glowing tribute paid to her in the immense work published
+recently by the Comte d'Haussonville and M. Gabriel Hanotaux.
+
+It would seem that the more the history of Mme. de Maintenon is
+studied, the more one is led away from a first impression--which
+usually proves to be an erroneous one. Thus, M. Lavallee, in his
+first work, _Histoire des Francais_, wrote that she "was of the most
+complete aridity of heart, narrow in the scope of her affections, and
+meanly intriguing. She suggested fatal enterprises and inappropriate
+appointments; she forced mediocre and servile persons upon the king;
+she had, in fine, the major share in the errors and disasters of the
+reign of Louis XIV." A few years later he wrote, in his _Histoire de
+la maison royale de Saint-Cyr_: "Mme. de Maintenon gave Louis XIV.
+none but salutary and disinterested counsels which were useful to
+the state and instrumental in making less heavy the burdens of the
+people."
+
+Opinion in general, especially French opinion, has been very bitter
+toward her. History has even reproached her with having been a
+usurper, a tyrant, and a selfish master. The great preacher, Fenelon,
+wrote to her:
+
+"They say you take too little part in affairs. Your mind is more
+capable than you think. You are, perhaps, a little too distrustful
+of yourself, or, rather, you are too much afraid to enter into
+discussions contrary to the inclination you have for a tranquil and
+meditative life."
+
+Is this picture, left by Emile Chasles and accepted by M. Saint-Amand,
+truthful? "This intelligent woman, far from being too much heeded,
+was not enough so. There was in her a veritable love for the public
+welfare, a true sorrow in the midst of our misfortunes. To-day, it is
+necessary to retrench much from the grandeur of her worldly power and
+add a great deal to that of her soul." M. Saint-Amand believes her
+sincere when she wrote to Mme. des Ursins:
+
+"In whatever way matters turn, I conjure you, madame, to regard me
+as a person incapable of directing affairs, who heard them talked too
+late to be skilful in them, and who hates them more than she ignores
+them.... My interference in them is not desired and I do not desire
+to interfere. They are not concealed from me, but I know nothing
+consecutively and am often badly informed."
+
+The opinions of her contemporaries are not always flattering, but
+such are possibly due to envy and jealousy or to some purely personal
+prejudice. Thus, when the Duchess of Orleans, the Princesse
+Palatine, calls her "that nasty old thing, that wicked devil, that
+shrivelled-up, filthy old Maintenon, that concubine of the king," and
+casts upon her other gross aspersions that are unfit to be repeated,
+one must remember that the calumniator was a German, the daughter of
+the Elector Palatine Charles-Louis, a woman honest in her morals, but
+shameless in her speech, who loved the beauties of nature more than
+those of the palaces; more shocked at hypocrites than at religion or
+irreligion, she took Mme. de Maintenon to be a type of the impostors
+whom she detested. It was her son who became regent, and it was her
+son who married one of the illegitimate daughters of Louis XIV.--an
+alliance of which his mother had a horror.
+
+The memoirs of Saint-Simon are interesting, but the odious picture
+he has drawn of Mme. de Maintenon is hardly in accord with later
+appreciations. M. Saint-Amand sums up the two classes of critics thus:
+
+"The revolutionary school which likes to drag the memory of the great
+king through the mire, naturally detests the eminent woman who was
+that king's companion, his friend and consoler. Writers of this
+school would like to make of her a type not only odious and fatal, but
+ungraceful and unsympathetic, without radiance, charm or any sort of
+fascination. She is too frequently called to mind under the aspect
+of a worn old woman, stiff and severe, with tearless eyes and a
+face without a smile. We forget that in her youth she was one of
+the prettiest women of her time, that her beauty was wonderfully
+preserved, and that in her old age she retained that superiority of
+style and language, that distinction of manner and exquisite tact,
+that gentle firmness of character, that charm and elevation of mind,
+which, at every period of her life, gained her so much praise and so
+many friends."
+
+Mme. de Maintenon was born in prison. Her maiden name was Francoise
+d'Aubigne. She was the granddaughter of Agrippa d'Aubigne, the
+historian. Her father had planned to settle in the Carolinas, and
+his correspondence with the English government, to that effect,
+was treated as treason; he was thrown into prison, where his wife
+voluntarily shared his fate and where the future Mme. de Maintenon
+was born. After the death of her father, she was confided to her aunt,
+Mme. de Villette, a Calvinist, who trained her in the principles of
+Protestantism. Because of the refusal of her daughter to attend mass,
+her mother put her in charge of the Countess of Neuillant who, with
+great difficulty, converted Francoise back to Catholicism.
+
+At the home of the Countess of Neuillant, she often met Scarron, the
+comic poet--a paralytic and cripple--who offered her money with which
+to pay for admission to a convent, a proposition which she refused;
+subsequently, however, the countess sent her to the Ursulines to be
+educated. When, after two years, she lost her mother and was thus left
+without home, fortune, or future prospects, she consented, at the age
+of seventeen, to marry the poet. Thus, born in a prison, without even
+a dowry, harshly reared by a mother who was under few obligations
+to life, more harshly treated in the convent, introduced as a poor
+relation into the society of her aunt and to the friends of her
+godmother, the Countess of Neuillant, she early learned to distrust
+life and suspect man, and to restrain her ambitions.
+
+Exceedingly beautiful, graceful, and witty, she soon won her way to
+the brilliant and fashionable society of the crippled wit, buffoon,
+and poet, who was coarse, profane, ungodly, and physically an
+unsightly wreck. In this society, which the burlesque poet amused by
+his inexhaustible wit and fancy, and his frank, Gallic gayety, she
+showed an infinite amount of tact and soon made his salon the most
+prominent social centre of Paris. There, Scarron, never tolerated a
+stupid person, no matter of what blood or rank.
+
+When asked what settlement he proposed to make upon his wife, he
+replied: "Immortality." At another time, he remarked: "I shall not
+make her commit any follies, but I shall teach her a great many." On
+his deathbed he said: "My only regret is that I cannot leave anything
+to my wife with whom I have every imaginable reason to be content." In
+this free-and-easy salon, a young noble said, soon after the marriage
+of Scarron: "If it were a question of taking liberties with the queen
+or Mme. Scarron, I would not deliberate; I would sooner take them with
+the queen."
+
+The reputation made by the young Mme. Scarron gained her many
+influential friends, especially among court people. At the death of
+her husband, in 1660, to avoid trouble with his family, she renounced
+the marriage dowry of twenty-four thousand livres. Her friends
+procured her a pension of two thousand livres from the queen. Thus
+freed from care, she lived according to her inclination, which tended
+toward pleasing and doing good; taking good cheer and her services
+voluntarily and unaffectedly to all families, she gradually made
+herself a necessity among them--thus she laid the foundation of her
+future greatness. She was received by the best families, grew in favor
+everywhere, and even won over all her enemies. Modest, complaisant,
+promptly and readily rendering a favor, prudent, practical and
+virtuous, her one desire was to make friends, not so much for the
+purpose of using them, but because she realized that a person in
+humble circumstances cannot have too many friends.
+
+Her portrait as a widow is admirably drawn by M. Saint-Amand: "Mme.
+Scarron seeks esteem, not love. To please while remaining virtuous,
+to endure, if need be, privations and even poverty, but to win
+the reputation of a strong character, to deserve the sympathy and
+approbation of honest persons--such is the direction of all her
+efforts. Well dressed, though very simply; discreet and modest,
+intelligent and _distingue_, with that patrician elegance which luxury
+cannot create, but which is inborn and comes by nature only; pious,
+with a sincere and gentle piety; less occupied with herself than with
+others; talking well and--what is much rarer--knowing how to listen;
+taking an interest in the joys and sorrows of her friends, and skilful
+in amusing and consoling them--she is justly regarded as one of the
+most amiable as well as one of the superior women in Paris. Economical
+and simple in her tastes, she makes her accounts balance perfectly,
+thanks to an annual pension of two thousand livres granted her by
+Queen Anne of Austria."
+
+When Mme. Scarron was about to leave Paris because of lack of funds
+and the loss of her pension, after the death of Queen Anne, her friend
+Mme. de Montespan, the king's mistress, interfered in her behalf and
+had the pension renewed, thus inadvertently paving the way for her
+own downfall. Three years later Mme. Scarron was established in an
+isolated house near Paris, where she received the natural children
+of Louis XIV. and Mme. de Montespan, as they arrived, in quick
+succession, in 1669, 1670, 1672, 1673, and 1674. There, acting as
+governess, she hid them from the world. This is the only blemish upon
+the fair record of her life. It is maintained by her detractors that
+a virtuous woman would not have undertaken the education of the
+doubly adulterous children of Louis XIV. (thus, in a way, encouraging
+adultery), and that she would have given up her charge upon the first
+proposals of love.
+
+However deep this stain may be considered, one must remember that
+the standard of honor at the court of Louis XIV. did not encourage
+delicacy in matters of love, and Mme. Scarron knew only the standard
+of society; her morality was no more extraordinary than was her
+intelligence, and it was to her credit that she preserved intact
+her honor and her virtue. At first the king looked with much
+dissatisfaction upon her appointment, not admiring the extreme gravity
+and reserve of the young widow; however, the unusual order of her
+talents and wisdom soon attracted his attention, and her entrance at
+court was speedily followed by quarrels between the mistress and Louis
+XIV. In 1674 the king, wishing to acknowledge his recognition of
+her merits, purchased the estate of Maintenon for her and made her
+Marquise de Maintenon.
+
+Her primary object became the gaining of the favor of Mme. de
+Montespan; for this purpose she taught herself humility, while
+toward the king she directed the forces of her dignity, reserve, and
+intellectual attainments. Being the very opposite of the mistress who
+won and retained him by sensuous charms (in which the king was fast
+losing pleasure and satisfaction), she soon effected a change
+by entertaining her master with the solid attainments of her
+mind--religion, art, literature.
+
+Mme. de Maintenon was always amiable and sympathetic, kind and
+thoughtful, never irritating, crossing, or censuring the king;
+wonderfully judicious, modest, self-possessed, and calm, she was
+irreproachable in conduct and morals, tolerating no improper advances.
+Although the characteristics and general deportment of Mme. de
+Montespan were entirely different from those of Mme. de Maintenon, the
+latter entertained true friendship for her benefactress, displaying
+astonishing tact, shrewdness, and self-control.
+
+If Mme. de Maintenon were not, at first, loved by the king, it was
+because she appeared to him too ideal, sublime, spirituelle, too
+severely sensible. Then came the turning point; at forty years of age
+she was "a beautiful and stately woman with brilliant dark eyes, clear
+complexion, beautiful white teeth, and graceful manners;" sedate,
+self-possessed, and astonished at nothing, she had learned the art of
+waiting, and studied the king--showing him those qualities he desired
+to see.
+
+Her aim became to take the king from his mistress and lead him back
+to the queen. After gaining his confidence by her sincerity and
+trustworthiness, and making herself indispensable to him, she
+succeeded in bringing about the desired separation, through the medium
+of the dauphiness, whom she won over to her cause. Thus, without
+perfidy, hypocrisy, intrigue, or manoeuvring, by simply being herself,
+she replaced the haughty and beautiful Mme. de Montespan.
+
+When, after the queen's death, and after having lived about the king
+for fifteen years, "she had succeeded in making the devotee take
+precedence of the lover, when piety had overcome passion, when
+religion had effected its change, then Louis the Great offered his
+hand in marriage to her who had only veneration, gratitude, and
+devotion for him, but no passion or love." Reasons of state demanded
+the secrecy of the marriage; for had he raised her to the throne,
+political complications would have arisen and disturbed his subsequent
+career; Mme. de Maintenon fully appreciated the intricacies of the
+situation, and was therefore content to remain what she was.
+
+She came to the king when he was beginning to feel the effects of his
+former mode of life; he needed fidelity and friendship, and he saw
+these in her. His feelings for her are well described in the following
+extract by M. Saint-Amand:
+
+"To sum up: the king's sentiment for her was of the most complex
+nature. There was in it a mingling of religion and of physical love, a
+calculation of reason and an impulse of the heart, an aspiration after
+the mild joys of family life and a romantic inclination--a sort of
+compact between French good sense, subjugated by the wit, tact, and
+wisdom of an eminent woman, and Spanish imagination allured by the
+fancy of having extricated this elect woman from poverty in order to
+make her almost a queen. Finally, it must be noted that Louis XIV.,
+always religiously inclined, was convinced that Mme. de Maintenon
+had been sent to him by Heaven for his salvation, and that the pious
+counsels of this saintly woman, who knew how to render devotion so
+agreeable and attractive, seemed to him to be so many inspirations
+from on High."
+
+It must not be inferred, however, that the feeling for Mme. de
+Maintenon was purely ideal. "He was unwilling to remarry," says
+the Abbe de Choisy, "because of tenderness for his people. He had,
+already, three grandsons, and wisely judged that the princes of a
+second marriage might, in course of time, cause civil wars. On the
+other hand, he could not dispense with a wife and Mme. de Maintenon
+pleased him greatly. Her gentle and scintillating wit promised him
+an agreeable intercourse which would refresh him after the cares of
+royalty. Her person was still engaging and her age prevented her from
+having children."
+
+As his wife, Mme. de Maintenon took more interest in the king and his
+family than she did in the affairs of the kingdom. To be the wife of
+the hearth and home, to educate the princes, to rear the young Duchess
+of Bourgogne, granddaughter of Louis XIV., to calm and ease the old
+age of the king and to distract and amuse him, became her sole objects
+in life. Her power, thus directed, became almost unbounded; she was
+the dispenser of favors and the real ruler, sitting in the cabinet
+of the king; and her counsels were so wise that they soon became
+invaluable.
+
+At court, she opposed all foolish extravagance, such as the endless
+fetes and amusements of all kinds which had become so popular
+under Mme. de Montespan--a procedure which caused her the greatest
+difficulties and provoked revolts and quarrels in the royal family. By
+her prudence, tact, wisdom, and the loyalty of her friendship, she won
+and retained the respect and favor--if not the love--of everyone. Her
+reputation was never tarnished by scandal. "When one reflects that
+Louis XIV. was only forty-seven years old and in the prime of life
+and Mme. de Montespan in the full blaze of her marvellous beauty,
+that this woman of humble birth, in her youth a Protestant, poor, a
+governess, the widow of a low, comic poet, should win so proud a man
+as Louis XIV., seems incredible."
+
+When one considers that throughout life her one aspiration was
+an irreproachable conduct, that her manner of action was always
+defensive, never offensive, that her chief aim was to restore the king
+to the queen (who died in her arms) and not to replace his mistress,
+one cannot withhold admiration and esteem from this truly great woman
+who accomplished all those honorable designs.
+
+The obstacles to be conquered before reaching her goal were indeed
+numerous, but she managed them all. There were so many persons hostile
+to her,--mistresses and intriguers, bishops and priests, courtesans
+and valets, princes and members of the royal family,--to overcome whom
+she had to be on her guard, make use of every opportunity, show a
+rare knowledge of society and court, a profound skill and address,
+resolution and will; and she was equal to all occasions.
+
+Her greatest defect was the narrowness of her religious views.
+Entirely in the hands of her spiritual advisers, obeying them
+faithfully and blindly, she was not inclined to theological
+investigation, but was sincerely devout. More interested in the
+various persons than in doctrines, she showed a passion for making
+bishops, abbots, and priests, as well as for negotiating compromises,
+reconciling _amours propres_ and doing away with all religious hatred.
+Lacking, above all else, clearness of conception, promptness and
+firmness of decision, she was finally persuaded to encourage the
+bigotry of Louis XIV. and his intolerance toward those who differed
+from him. Hence, in 1685, she permitted that fearfully destructive
+persecution of the Protestants, which caused over three hundred
+thousand of France's most solid people to leave the country; and by
+her fanaticism and false zeal, she caused the king to be a party to
+that awful catastrophe.
+
+"This one act of hers counterbalances nearly all her virtues, and we
+remember her more as the murderess of thousands of innocents than as
+the calm and virtuous governess. But we must remember the nature of
+her advisers and the eternal policy of the Catholic Church, which
+are ever identical with absolutism. To uphold the institutions and
+opinions already established, was the one sentiment of the age;
+innovation, progress, were destructive--Mme. de Maintenon became the
+watchful guardian of royalty and the Church." Such is the verdict of
+English opinion. M. Saint-Amand judges the affair differently:
+
+"A woman as pious and reasonable as she was, animated always by the
+noblest intentions, loving her country and always showing sympathy for
+the poor people--not merely in words but in deeds as well--detesting
+war and loving justice and peace, always moderate and irreproachable
+in her conduct--such a woman cannot be the mischievous, crafty,
+malicious, and vindictive bigot imagined by many writers; she did not
+encourage such an act, nor would her nature permit to do so.... The
+prayer she uttered every morning, best portrays the woman and her
+role: 'Lord, grant me to gladden the king, to console him, to sadden
+him when it must be for Thy glory. Cause me to hide from him nothing
+which he ought to know through me, and which no one else would have
+courage to tell him.' ... To Madame de Glapion she said: 'I would like
+to die before the king; I would go to God; I would cast myself at the
+foot of His throne; I would offer Him the desires of a soul that
+He would have purified; I would pray Him to grant the king greater
+enlightenment, more love for his people, more knowledge of the state
+of the provinces, more aversion for the perfidy of the countries, more
+horror of the ways in which his authority is abused: and God would
+hear my prayers.'"
+
+This pious woman was weary of life before her marriage, and but
+changed the nature of her misery upon reaching the highest goal open
+to a woman. Marly, Versailles, Fontainebleau were only different names
+for the same servitude. When she had attained her desire, she thought
+her repose assured; instead, her ennui, her disgust of life and
+the world, only increased; realizing this, she began to direct her
+thoughts entirely toward God and her aspirations toward things not
+of this earth--hence the almost complete absence of her influence in
+politics.
+
+She was never happy, and that her life was a disappointment to her may
+be gathered from the following words from her pen: "Flee from men as
+from your mortal enemies; never be alone with them. Take no pleasure
+in hearing that you are pretty, amiable, that you have a fine voice.
+The world is a malicious deceiver which never means what it says; and
+the majority of men who say such things to young girls, do it hoping
+to find some means of ruining them."
+
+Her most intense desire seemed to be to please, and be esteemed--to
+receive the _honneur du monde_, which appeared to be her sole motive
+for living. When in power, she did not use her influence as the
+intriguing women of the epoch would have done, because she did
+not possess their qualities--taste, breadth of vision, and selfish
+ambitions. Her objects in life were the reform of a wicked court,
+the extirpation of heresy, the elevation of men of genius, and the
+improvement of the society and religion of France. After the death of
+the king (in 1715), she retired to Saint-Cyr, and spent the remainder
+of her life in acts of charity and devotional exercises.
+
+After the king's death she dismissed all her servants and disposed of
+her carriages as well, "unable to reconcile herself to feeding horses
+while so many young girls were in need," as she said. For almost four
+years she peacefully and happily lived in a very modest apartment. She
+seldom went out and then only to the village to visit the sick and the
+poor. On June 10, 1717, when she was eighty-one years old, Peter the
+Great went to Saint-Cyr for the purpose of seeing and talking to
+the greatest woman of France. He found her confined to her bed; the
+chamber being but dimly lighted, he thrust aside the curtain in order
+to examine the features of the woman who had ruled the destinies of
+France for so many years. The Czar talked to her for some time, and
+when he asked Madame de Maintenon from what she was suffering, she
+replied: "From great old age." She died on August 15, 1719, and was
+buried in the choir of the church of Saint-Cyr, where a modest slab of
+marble indicated the spot where her body reposed until, in 1794, when
+the church was being transformed into hospital wards, "the workmen
+opened the vault, and took out the body and dragged it into the court
+with dreadful yells and threw it, stripped and mutilated, into a hole
+in the cemetery."
+
+The greatest work of Mme. de Maintenon was the founding of the
+Seminary of Saint-Cyr, which the king granted to her about the time
+of their marriage and of his illness; it was probably intended as the
+penance of a sick man who wished to make reparation for the wrongs
+inflicted upon some of the young girls of the nobility, and as a
+wedding gift to Mme. de Maintenon. There, aided by nuns, she cared
+for and educated two hundred and fifty pupils, dowerless daughters of
+impoverished nobles. It was "the veritable offspring of her who was
+never a daughter, a wife, nor a mother." There she was happy and
+content; there she recalled her own youth when she was poor and
+forsaken; there she found respite from the turmoils and agitations of
+Versailles; there she was supreme; there she governed absolutely and
+was truly loved.
+
+For thirty years she was queen at Saint-Cyr, visiting it every other
+day and teaching the young girls for whom it was a protection against
+the world. Since childhood, she had been so accustomed to serve
+herself, to wait upon others and to care for the smallest details of
+the management of the household, that she introduced this spirit into
+society and at Saint-Cyr, where she managed every detail, from the
+linen to the provisions; this showed a reasonable and well-balanced
+mind, but not any high order of intelligence.
+
+Of the young girls in her charge, she desired to make model women,
+characterized by simplicity and piety; they were to be free from
+morbid curiosity of mind, were to practise absolute self-denial and
+to devote their lives to a practical labor. Her advice was: "Be
+reasonable or you will be unhappy; if you are haughty, you will be
+reminded of your misery, but if you are humble, people will recall
+your birth.... Commence by making yourself loved, without which you
+will never succeed. Is it not true that, had you not loved me or had
+you had an aversion for me, you would not have accepted, with such
+good grace, the counsels that I have given you? This is absolutely
+certain--the most beautiful things when taught by persons who
+displease us, do not impress but rather harden us."
+
+A counsel that strikes home forcibly to-day, one which strongly
+attacks the modern fad of neglecting home for church, is expressed
+well in one of her letters: "Your piety will not be right if, when
+married, you abandon your husband, your children and your servants, to
+go to the churches at times when you are not obliged to go there. When
+a young girl says that a woman would do better properly to raise
+her children and instruct her servants, than to spend her morning in
+church, one can accommodate one's self to such religion, which she
+will cause to be loved and respected."
+
+At the hour of leisure, she gave the girls those familiar talks which
+were anticipated by them with so much pleasure, and extracts from
+which are still cherished by the young women of France. She believed
+that the aim of instruction for young girls should be to educate them
+to be Christian women with well-balanced and logical minds. With her
+varied experience of the ups and downs of life, she gradually came to
+the conclusion that, after all, there is nothing in the world so good
+as sound common sense, but one that is not enamored of itself, which
+obeys established laws and knows its own limits. Her sex is intended
+to obey, thus her reason was a Christian reason.
+
+"You can be truly reasonable only in proportion as you are subservient
+to God.... Never tell children fantastic stories, nor permit them to
+believe them; give them things for what they are worth. Never tell
+them stories of which, when they grow to independent reasoning, you
+must disillusion them. You must talk to a girl of seven as seriously
+and with as much reason as to a young lady of twenty. You must take
+part in the pleasures of children, but never accommodate them with a
+childish language or with foolish or puerile ways. You can never be
+too reasonable or too sane. Religion, reason, and truth are always
+good."
+
+To appreciate the importance of Mme. de Maintenon's position and the
+revolutionary effect which her attitude produced upon the customs of
+the time, one must remember with what she had to contend. Hers was a
+period of passion and adventure--a period which was followed by sorrow
+and disaster. The novels of Mlle. de Scudery, which were at the
+height of their popularity, had over-refined the sentiments; the
+_chevaleresque_ heroes and picturesque heroines turned the heads
+of young girls, who dreamed of an ideal and perfect love; their one
+longing was for the romantic--for the enchantments and delights
+of life. In this stilted and amorous atmosphere, Mme. de Maintenon
+preserved her poise and fought vigorously against the fads of the day.
+The young girls under her care were taught to love just as they were
+taught to do other things--with reason. Also, she guarded against the
+weaknesses of nature and the flesh. "Than Mme. de Maintenon, no one
+ever better knew the evils of the world without having fallen prey to
+them," says Sainte-Beuve; "and no one ever satisfied and disgusted the
+world more, while charming it at the same time."
+
+Mme. de Maintenon's ideal methods of education were not immediately
+effective; there were many periods of hardship, apprehension, and
+doubt. Thus, when Racine's _Esther_ (written at the request of Mme. de
+Maintenon, to be presented by the pupils at Saint-Cyr) was performed,
+there sprang up a taste for poetry, writing, and literature of all
+kinds. The acting turned the girls' thoughts into other channels and
+threatened to counteract the teachings of simplicity and reason; no
+one ever showed more genuine good sense, wholesomeness of mind, and
+breadth of view, than were displayed by Mme. de Maintenon in dealing
+with these disheartening drawbacks.
+
+In endeavoring to impress upon those young minds the correct use of
+language and the proper style of writing, she wrote for them models
+of letters which showed simplicity, precision, truth, facility, and
+wonderful clearness; and these were imitated by them in their replies
+to her.
+
+She wished, above all, to make them realize that her experience
+with that social and court life, for which they longed, was one of
+disappointment: that was a world apart, in which amusing and being
+amused was the one occupation. She had passed wearily through that
+period of life, and sought repose, truth, tranquillity, and religious
+resignation; to make those young spirits feel the fallacy of such
+a mode of existence was her earnest desire, and her efforts in that
+direction were characterized by a zeal, energy, and persistence
+which were productive of wonderful results. That was one phase of her
+greatness and influence.
+
+But Mme. de Maintenon was somewhat too severe, too narrow, too
+strict,--one might say, too ascetic,--in her teaching. There was
+too little of that which, in this world, cheers, invigorates, and
+enlivens. Her instruction was all reason, without relieving features;
+it lacked what Sainte-Beuve calls the _don des larmes_ (gift of
+tears). Hers was a noble, just, courageous, and delicate judgment; but
+it was without the softening qualities of the truly feminine, which
+calls for tears and affection, tenderness and sympathy.
+
+She remains in educational affairs the greatest woman of the
+seventeenth century, if not of all her countrywomen. M. Faguet says:
+"This widow of Scarron, who was nearly Queen of France, was born
+minister of public instruction." She powerfully upheld the cause of
+morality, was a liberal patroness of education and learning, and all
+aspiring geniuses were encouraged and financially aided by her. It was
+she who impressed upon Louis XIV. the truth of the existence of a God
+to whom he was accountable for his acts--a teaching which contributed
+no little to the general purification of morals at court.
+
+The writings of Mme. de Maintenon occupy a very high place in the
+history of French literature; in fact, her letters have often been
+compared with those of Mme. de Sevigne, although, unlike the latter,
+she never wrote merely to please, but to instruct, to convert, and to
+console. In her works there was no pretension to literary style; they
+were sermons on morals, characterized by discretion and simplicity,
+dignity and persuasiveness, seriousness and earnestness; Napoleon
+placed her letters above those of Mme. de Sevigne. M. Saint-Amand
+says of her writings: "More reflection than vivacity, more wisdom
+than passion, more gravity than charm, more authority than grace,
+more solidity than brilliancy--such are the characteristics of a
+correspondence which might justify the expression, the style is the
+woman."
+
+He gives, also, the following discriminating comparison between the
+two writers: "Enjoyment, Gallic animation, good-tempered gayety,
+fall to the lot of Mme. de Sevigne; what marks Mme. de Maintenon is
+experience, reason, profundity. The one laughs from ear to ear--the
+other barely smiles. The one has pleasant illusions about everything,
+admiration which borders on _naivete_, ecstasies when in the presence
+of the royal sun: the other never permits herself to be fascinated by
+either the king or the court, by men, women, or things. She has seen
+human grandeur too close at hand not to understand its nothingness,
+and her conclusions bear the imprint of a profound sadness. At times
+Mme. de Sevigne, also, has attacks of melancholy, but the cloud
+passes quickly and she is again in the sunshine. Gayety--frank,
+communicative, radiant gayety--is the basis of the character of this
+woman who is more witty, seductive, and amusing than is any other.
+Mme. de Sevigne shines by imagination--Mme. de Maintenon by judgment.
+The one permits herself to be dazzled, intoxicated--the other always
+preserves her indifference. The one exaggerates the splendors of
+the court--the other sees them as they are. The one is more of a
+woman--the other more of a saint."
+
+Mme. de Maintenon may be called "a woman of fate," She was never
+daughter, mother, or wife; as a child, she was not loved by her
+mother, and her father was worthless; married to two men, both aged
+beyond their years, she was, indeed, but an instrument of fate.
+Truthful, candid, and discreet she was entirely free from all morbid
+tendencies, and was modest and chaste from inclination as well as
+from principle. Though outwardly cold, proud, and reserved, yet in
+her deportment toward those who were fortunate enough to possess
+her esteem, she was kind--even loving. While not intelligent to a
+remarkable degree, she was prudent, circumspect, and shrewd, never
+losing her self-control. When once interested, and convinced as to the
+proper course, she displayed marvellous strength of will, sagacity,
+and personal force. Beautiful and witty, she easily adapted herself
+to any position in which she might be placed; though intolerant and
+narrow in her religious views, she was otherwise gentle, charitable,
+and unselfish. Therefore, it is evident that she possessed, to a
+greater degree than did any other woman of her time, unusual as
+well as desirable qualities--qualities that made her powerful and
+incomparable.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+Mme. de Sevigne, Mme. de La Fayette, Mme. Dacier, Mme. de Caylus
+
+
+The seventeenth century was, in French history, the greatest century
+from the standpoint of literary perfection, the sixteenth century the
+richest in naissant ideas, and the eighteenth the greatest in the way
+of developing and formulating those ideas; and each century produced
+great women who were in perfect harmony with and expressed the ideals
+of each period of civilization.
+
+It is not within the limits of reason to expect women to rival, in
+literature, the great writers such as Corneille, Racine, Moliere,
+Bossuet, La Fontaine, Descartes, Pascal--most of whom were but little
+influenced by femininity; there were those, however, among the sex,
+who were conspicuous for elevation of thought, dignity in manner and
+bearing, and brilliancy in conversation--attributes which they have
+left to posterity in numberless exquisite and charming letters, in
+interesting and invaluable memoirs, or in consummate psychological and
+social portraitures incorporated into the form of novels. Among female
+writers of letters, Mme. de Sevigne wears the laurel wreath; Mme. de
+La Fayette, with Mlle. de Scudery, is the representative of the novel;
+Mme. Dacier was the great advocate of the more liberal education
+of women; and the _Souvenirs_ of Mme. de Caylus made that authoress
+immortal.
+
+The association of La Rochefoucauld, the Cardinal de Retz, the
+Chevalier de Mere, Mme. de La Fayette, and Mme. de Sevigne, was
+responsible for almost everything elevating and of interest produced
+in the seventeenth century. Of that highly intellectual circle,
+Mme. de Sevigne was the leading spirit by force of her extraordinary
+faculty for making friends, her wonderful talent as a writer, her
+originality and her charming disposition. She gave the tone to
+letters; M. Faguet says that her epistles were all masterpieces of
+amiable badinage, lively narration, maternal passion, true eloquence.
+More than that, they are important sources of historical knowledge,
+inasmuch as they contain much information concerning the politics of
+the day, and furnish an excellent guide to the etiquette, fashions,
+tastes, and literature of the writer's period.
+
+Mme. de Sevigne was the most important figure of the time, being to
+that third prodigiously intellectual epoch of France what Marguerite
+de Navarre was to the sixteenth century, and the Hotel de Rambouillet
+to the beginning of the seventeenth century. She represented the
+style, _esprit_, elegance, and _gout_ of this greatest of French
+cultural periods. Her life may be considered as having had two
+distinct phases--one connected with an unhappy marriage and the other
+the period of a restless widowhood.
+
+Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marchioness of Sevigne, was born at Paris,
+in 1626; at the age of eighteen months she lost her father; at seven
+years of age, her mother; at eight, her grandmother; at ten, her
+grandfather on her mother's side; she was thus left with her paternal
+grandmother, Mme. de Chantal, who had her carefully educated under
+the best masters, such as Menage and Chapelain (court favorites), from
+whom she early imbibed a genuine taste for solid reading; from these
+instructors she learned Spanish, Italian, and Latin.
+
+In 1644, she was married to the Marquis Henri de Sevigne, who was
+killed six years later in a duel, but who had, in the meantime,
+succeeded in making a considerable gap in her immense fortune,
+in spite of the precautions of her uncle, the Abbe of Coulanges.
+Henceforward, her interests in life were centred in the education of
+her two children; to them she wrote letters which have brought her
+name down to posterity as, possibly, the greatest epistolary writer
+that the history of literature has ever recorded.
+
+Mme. de Sevigne was but nineteen years old when, after the marriage of
+Julie d'Angennes, the frequenters of the Hotel de Rambouillet began
+to disperse, and she was in much demand by the successors of Mme. de
+Rambouillet. While the women of the reign of Louis XIII.--Mmes.
+de Hautefort, de Sable, de Longueville, de Chevreuse, etc.--were
+exceedingly talented talkers, they were poor writers: but in Mme.
+de Sevigne, Mme. de La Fayette, and Mlle. de Scudery both arts were
+developed to the highest degree.
+
+Mme. de Sevigne was on the best terms with every great writer of
+her time--Pascal, Racine, La Fontaine, Bossuet, Bourdaloue, La
+Rochefoucauld. She was a woman of such broad affections that numerous
+friends and admirers were a necessary part of her existence. Of all
+the eminent women of the seventeenth century, she had the greatest
+number of lovers--suitors who frequently became her tormentors.
+Menage, her teacher, who threatened to leave her never to see her
+again, was brought back to her by kind words, such as: "Farewell,
+friend--of all my friends the best." The Abbe Marigny, that "delicate
+epicurean, that improviser of fine triolets, ballads, vaudevilles,
+that enemy of all sadness and sticklers for morality," charmed her, at
+times, with sentimental ballads, such as the following:
+
+  "Si l'amour est un doux servage,
+  Si l'on ne peut trop estimer
+  Les plaisirs ou l'amour engage,
+  Qu'on est sot de ne pas aimer!
+
+  "Mais si l'on se sent enflammer
+  D'un feu dont l'ardeur est extreme,
+  Et qu'on n'ose pas l'exprimer,
+  Qu'on est sot alors que l'on aime!
+
+  "Si dans la fleur de son bel age,
+  Une qui pourrait tout charmer,
+  Vous donne son coeur en partage,
+  Qu'on est sot de ne point aimer!
+
+  "Mais s'il faut toujours s'alarmer,
+  Craindre, rougir, devenir bleme,
+  Aussitot qu'on s'entend nommer,
+  Qu'on est sot alors que l'on aime!
+
+  "Pour complaire au plus beau visage
+  Qu'amour puisse jamais former,
+  S'il ne faut rien qu'un doux langage,
+  Qu'on est sot de ne pas aimer!
+
+  "Mais quand on se voit consumer.
+  Si la belle est toujours de meme,
+  Sans que rien la puisse animer,
+  Qu'on est sot alors que l'on aime!
+
+"L'ENVOI.
+
+  "En amour si rien n'est amer,
+  Qu'on est sot de ne pas aimer!
+  Si tout l'est au degre supreme,
+  Qu'on est sot alors que l'on aime!
+
+  [If love is a sweet bondage,
+  If we cannot esteem too much
+  The pleasures in which love engages,
+  How foolish one is not to love!
+
+  But if we feel ourselves inflamed
+  With a passion whose ardor is extreme,
+  And which we dare not express,
+  How foolish we are, then, to love!
+
+  If in the flower of her youth
+  There is one who could charm all.
+  And offers you her heart to share,
+  How very foolish not to love!
+
+  But if we must always be full of alarm--
+  Fear, blush and become pallid,
+  As soon as our name is spoken,
+  How foolish to love!
+
+  If to please the most beautiful countenance
+  That love can ever form,
+  Only a mellow language is necessary,
+  How foolish not to love!
+
+  But if we see ourselves wasting away,
+  If the belle is always the same
+  And cannot be animated,
+  How very foolish to love!
+
+ENVOY.
+
+  If in love, nothing is bitter,
+  How dreadfully foolish not to love!
+  If everything is so to the highest degree,
+  How awfully foolish to love!]
+
+Treville went so far as to say that the figure of Mme. de Sevigne was
+beautiful enough to set the world afire. M. du Bled divides her lovers
+into three classes: the first was composed of her literary friends;
+the second, of those enamored, impassioned suitors, loving her from
+good motives or from the opposite, who strove to compensate her for
+the unfaithfulness of her husband while alive and for the ennui of her
+widowhood; the third class was composed of her Parisian friends, of
+whom she had hosts, court habitues who were leaders of society.
+
+Representatives of the second class were the Prince de Conti, the
+great Turenne, various counts and marquises, and Bussy-Rabutin, who
+was a type of the sensual lover and the more dangerous on account of
+the privileges he enjoyed because of his close relationship to Mme. de
+Sevigne. His portrait of her is interesting: "I must tell you, madame,
+that I do not think there is a person in the world so generally
+esteemed as you are. You are the delight of humankind; antiquity
+would have erected altars to you, and you would certainly have been a
+goddess of something. In our century, when we are not so lavish with
+incense, and especially for living merit, we are contented to say that
+there is not a woman of your age more virtuous and more amiable than
+are you. I know princes of the blood, foreign princes, great lords
+with princely manners, great captains, gentlemen, ministers of state,
+who would be off and away for you, if you would permit them. Can you
+ask any more?"
+
+Such eulogies came not only from men like the perfidious and cruel
+cousin, but from her friends everywhere. The finest of these is
+the one by her friend Mme. de La Fayette, contained in one of the
+epistolary portraits so much in vogue at that time, and which were
+turned out, _par excellence_, in the salon of Mlle. de Luxembourg:
+"Know, madame,--if by chance you do not already know it,--that your
+mind adorns and embellishes your person so well that there is not
+another one on earth so charming as you when you are animated in a
+conversation in which all constraint is banished. Your soul is great,
+noble, ready to dispense with treasures, and incapable of lowering
+itself to the care of amassing them. You are sensible to glory and
+ambition, and to pleasures you are less so; yet you appear to be born
+for the latter, and they made for you; your person augments pleasures,
+and pleasures increase your beauty when they surround you. Joy is the
+veritable state of your soul, and chagrin is more unlike to you than
+to anyone. You are the most civil and obliging person that ever lived,
+and by a free and calm air--which is in all your actions--the simplest
+compliments of seemliness appear, in your mouth, as protestations of
+friendship."
+
+The originality which gained Mme. de Sevigne so many friends lay
+principally in her force, wealth of resource, intensity, sincerity,
+and frankness. M. Scherer said she possessed "surprises for us,
+infinite energy, inexhaustible variety--everything that eternally
+revives interest."
+
+The interest of the modern world in this remarkable woman is centred
+mainly in her letters. Guizot says: "Mme. de Sevigne is a friend whom
+we read over and over again, whose emotions we share, to whom we go
+for an hour's distraction and delightful chat; we have no desire to
+chat with Mme. de Grignan (her daughter)--we gladly leave her to her
+mother's exclusive affection, feeling infinitely obliged to her for
+having existed, inasmuch as her mother wrote letters to her. Mme.
+de Sevigne's letters to her daughter are superior to all her other
+epistles, charming as they all are; when she writes to M. Pomponne, to
+M. de Coulanges, to M. de Bussy, the style is less familiar, the heart
+less open, the soul less stirred; she writes to her daughter as she
+would speak to her--it is not a letter, it is an animated and charming
+conversation, touching upon everything, embellishing everything with
+an inimitable grace."
+
+She had married her daughter to the Comte de Grignan, a man of
+forty, twice married, and with children, homely, but wealthy and
+aristocratic; writing to her cousin, Bussy-Rabutin, concerning this
+marriage, she said: "All these women (the count's former wives) died
+expressly to make room for your cousin." By marrying her daughter
+to such a man she encouraged all the questionable proprieties of the
+time. Mme. de Sevigne's affection for that daughter amounted almost
+to idolatry; it was to her that most of the mother's letters were
+written, telling her of her health, what was being done at Vichy, and
+about her business and for that child the authoress gave up her life
+at Paris in order to economize and thereby to help Mme. de Grignan in
+her extravagance, her son-in-law being an expert in spending money.
+
+The intensity of her nature is well reflected in her letter upon the
+separation from her daughter: "In vain I seek my darling daughter; I
+can no longer find her, and every step she takes removes her farther
+from me. I went to St. Mary's, still weeping and dying of grief; it
+seemed as if my heart and my soul were being wrenched from me and, in
+truth, what a cruel separation! I asked leave to be alone; I was taken
+into Mme. du Housset's room, and they made me up a fire. Agnes sat
+looking at me, without speaking--that was our bargain. I stayed there
+till five o'clock, without ceasing to sob; all my thoughts were mortal
+wounds to me. I wrote to M. de Grignan (you can imagine in what key).
+Then I went to Mme. de La Fayette's, and she redoubled my griefs by
+the interest she took in them; she was alone, ill, and distressed at
+the death of one of the nuns; she was just as I should have desired,
+I returned hither at eight; but oh, when I came in! can you conceive
+what I felt as I mounted these stairs? That room into which I always
+used to go, alas! I found the doors of it open, but I saw everything
+upturned, disarranged, and your little daughter, who reminded me of
+mine.... The wakenings of the night were dreadful. I think of you
+continuously--it is what devotees call habitual thought, such as one
+should have of God, if one did one's duty. Nothing gives me diversion;
+I see that carriage which is forever going on and will never come
+near me. I am forever on the highways; it seems as if I were sometimes
+afraid that the carriage will upset with me; the rains there for the
+last three days, drove me to despair. The Rhone causes me strange
+alarm. I have a map before my eyes--I know all the places where you
+sleep. This evening you are at Nevers; on Sunday you will be at
+Lyons where you will receive this letter. I have received only two of
+yours--perhaps the third will come; that is the only comfort I desire;
+as for others, I seek none."
+
+The letters of Mme. de Sevigne contain a great number of sayings
+applicable to habits and conduct, and these have had their part
+in shaping the customs and in depicting the time. To be modest and
+moderate, friendly, and conciliatory, to be content with one's lot and
+to bow to circumstances, to be sincere, to cultivate good sense and
+good grace--these counsels have been and still are, according to
+French opinion, the basis of French character: and Mme. de Sevigne's
+own popularity and success attest their wisdom.
+
+She had not the gift of seeing things vividly and reproducing them in
+living form; her talent was a rarer one--it induced the reader to form
+a mental picture of the scene described, so vivid as to be under the
+illusion of being present in reality; and this is done with so much
+grace, charm, happy ease and naturalness, that to read her letters
+means to love the writer. What mother or friend would not fall a
+willing victim to the charm of a woman who could write the following
+letter?
+
+"You ask me, my dear child, whether I continue to be really fond of
+life; I confess to you that I find poignant sorrows in it, but I am
+even more disgusted with death; I feel so wretched at having to end
+all thereby, that, if I could turn back again, I would ask for nothing
+better, I find myself under an obligation which perplexes me; I
+embark upon life without my consent, and so must I go out of it; that
+overwhelms me. And how shall I go? Which way? By what door? When will
+it be? In what condition? Shall I suffer a thousand, thousand pains
+which will make me die desperate? Shall I have brain fever? Shall I
+die of an accident? How shall I be with God? What shall I have to show
+Him? Shall fear, shall necessity bring me back to Him? Shall I have
+sentiment except that of dread? What can I hope? Am I worthy of
+heaven? Am I worthy of hell? Nothing is such madness as to leave one's
+salvation in uncertainty, but nothing is so natural. The stupid life I
+lead is the easiest thing in the world to understand; I bury myself
+in these thoughts and I find death so terrible that I hate life more
+because it leads me thereto, than because of the thorns with which
+it is planted. You will say that I want to live forever, then; not at
+all; but, if my opinion had been asked, I would have preferred to die
+in my nurse's arms; that would have removed me from the vexations of
+spirit and would have given me heaven full surely and easily."
+
+Mme. de Sevigne never bored her readers with her own reflections. She
+differed from her contemporaries, who seemed to be dead to nature's
+beauty, in her striking descriptions of nature. A close observer, she
+knew how to describe a landscape; animating and enlivening it, and
+making it talk, she inspired the reader with love of it.
+
+"I am going to be alone and I am very glad. Provided they do not take
+away from me the charming country, the shore of the Allier, the woods,
+streams, and meadows, the sheep and goats, the peasant girls who dance
+the _bourree_ in the fields, I consent to say adieu; the country alone
+will cure me.... I have come here to end the beautiful days and to say
+adieu to the foliage--it is still on the trees, it has only changed
+color; instead of being green, it is golden, and of so many golden
+tints that it makes a brocade of rich and magnificent gold, which we
+are likely to find more beautiful than the green, if only it were not
+for the changing part."
+
+If the style of her letters did not make her the greatest prose writer
+of her time, it certainly entitled her to rank as one of the most
+original. The prose of the seventeenth century lacked "easy suppleness
+in lively movement, and imagination in the expression"--two qualities
+which Mme. de Sevigne possessed in a high degree. The slow and grave
+development, the just and harmonious equilibrium, the amplitude, are
+in her supplanted by a quick, alert, and free _saillie_; the detail
+and marvellous exactness are enriched by color, abundance of imagery,
+and metaphors. M. Faguet says she is to prose what La Fontaine is to
+poetry.
+
+The literary style of Mme. de Sevigne is not learned, studied, nor
+labored. In an epoch in which the language was already formed, she did
+what Montaigne did a century before, when, we may almost assert, he
+had to create the French language. Her most striking expressions are
+her own--newly coined, not taken from the vocabulary in usage. Her
+style cannot be duplicated, and for this reason she has few imitators.
+Her letters show that they were improvised--her pen doing, alone, the
+work over which she seemed to have no control when communicating with
+her daughter; to the latter she said: "I write prose with a facility
+that will kill you."
+
+Mme. de Sevigne was possibly not a beautiful woman, but she was a
+charming one; broad in the scope of her affections, she found the
+making of friends no difficult task. M. Vallery-Radot leaves the
+following picture of her: "A blonde, with exuberant health, a
+transparent complexion, blue eyes, so frank, so limpid, a nose
+somewhat square, a mouth ready to smile, shoulders that seem to lend
+splendor to her pearl necklace. Her gayety and goodness are so in
+evidence that there is about her a kind of atmosphere of good humor."
+
+M. du Bled most admirably sums up her character and writings in the
+following: "She is the person who most resembles her writings--that
+is, those that are found; for alas! many (the most confidential, the
+most interesting, I think) are lost forever: in them she is reflected
+as she reflects French society in them. Endowed--morally and
+physically--with a robust health, she is expansive, loyal, confiding,
+impressionable, loving gayety in full abundance as much as she does
+the smile of the refined, as eager for the prattle of the court as
+for solid reading, smitten with nobiliary pride, a captive of the
+prejudices, superstitions and tastes of her caste (or of even her
+coterie), with her pen hardly tender for her neighbor--her daughter
+and intimates excepted. A manager and a woman of imagination, a
+Frondist at the bottom of her soul, and somewhat of a Jansenist--not
+enough, however, not to cry out that Louis XIV. will obscure the glory
+of his predecessors because he had just danced with her--faithful to
+her friends (Retz, Fouquet, Pomponne) in disgrace and detesting their
+persecutors, seeking the favor of court for her children. In the
+salons, she is celebrated for her _esprit_--and this at an age when
+one seldom thinks about reputation, when one is like the princess who
+replied to a question on the state of her soul, 'At twenty one has
+no soul;' and she possesses the qualities that are so essential to
+style--natural _eclat_, originality of expression, grace, color,
+amplitude without pomposity and abundance without prolixity; moreover,
+she invents nothing, but, knowing how to observe and to express in
+perfection everything she had seen and felt, she is a witness and
+painter of her century: also, she loves nature--a sentiment very rare
+in the seventeenth century."
+
+Mme. de Sevigne was endowed with the best qualities of the French
+race--good will and friendliness, which influence one to judge others
+favorably and to desire their esteem; of a very impressionable nature,
+she was gifted with a natural eloquence which enabled her to express
+her various emotions in a light or gay vein which often bordered on
+irony. Affectionate and appreciative and tender and kind to everyone
+in general, toward those whom she loved she was generous to a fault
+and unswerving in her fidelity.
+
+Her last years were spent in the midst of her family. She died in
+1696, of small-pox, thanking God that she was the first to go, after
+having trembled for the life of her daughter, whom she had nursed back
+to health after a long and dangerous illness. Her son-in-law, M. de
+Grignan, wrote to her uncle, M. de Coulanges:
+
+"What calls far more for our admiration than for our regret, is the
+spectacle of a brave woman facing death--of which she had no doubt
+from the first days of her illness--with astounding firmness and
+submission. This person, so tender and so weak towards all whom she
+loved, showed nothing but courage and piety when she believed that her
+hour had come; and, impressed by the use she managed to make of that
+good store in the last moments of her life, we could not but remark
+of what utility and of what importance it is to have the mind stocked
+with the good matter and holy reading for which Mme. de Sevigne had a
+liking--not to say a wonderful hunger."
+
+In order to give an idea of the place that Mme. de Sevigne holds in
+the opinion of the average Frenchman, we quote the final words of M.
+Vallery-Radot:
+
+"To take a place among the greatest writers, without ever having
+written a book or even having thought of writing one--this is what
+seems impossible, and yet this is what happened to Mme. de Sevigne.
+Her contemporaries knew her as a woman distinguished for her _esprit_,
+frank, playful and sprightly humor, irreproachable conduct, loyalty to
+her friends, and as an idolizer of her daughter; no one suspected that
+she would partake of the glory of our classical authors--and she, less
+than any one. She had immortalized herself, without wishing or knowing
+it, by an intimate correspondence which is, to-day, universally
+regarded as one of the most precious treasures and one of the most
+original monuments to French literature. To deceive the _ennui_ of
+absence, she wrote to her daughter all that she had in her heart and
+that came to her mind--what she did, wished to do, saw and learned,
+news of court, city, Brittany, army, everything--sadly or gayly,
+according to the subject, always with the most keen, ardent, delicate,
+and touching sentiments of tenderness and sympathy. She amuses,
+instructs, interests, moves to tears or laughter. All that passes
+within or before her, passes within and before us. If she depicts
+an object, we see it; if she relates an event, we are present at its
+occurrence; if she makes a character talk, we hear his words, see his
+gestures, and distinguish his accent. All is true, real, living: this
+is more than talent--it is enchantment. Generations pass away in turn;
+a single one, or, rather, a group escapes the general oblivion--the
+group of friends of Mme. de Sevigne."
+
+A woman with characteristics the very opposite of those of Mme.
+de Sevigne, but who in some respects resembled her, was Mme. de La
+Fayette. Of her life, very little is to be said, except in regard to
+her lasting friendship and attachment for La Rochefoucauld. She
+was born in 1634, and, with Mme. de Sevigne, was probably the best
+educated among the great women of the seventeenth century. She was
+faithful to her husband, the Count of La Fayette, who, in 1665, took
+her to Paris, where she formed her lifelong attachment for the great
+La Rochefoucauld, and where she won immediate recognition for her
+exquisite politeness and as a woman with a large fund of common sense.
+
+After her marriage, she seemed to have but one interest--La
+Rochefoucauld, just as that of Mme. de Maintenon was Louis XIV. and
+that of Mme. de Sevigne--her daughter. These three prominent
+women illustrate remarkably well that predominant trait of French
+women--faithfulness to a chosen cause; each one of the three
+was vitally concerned in an enduring, a legitimate, and sincere
+attachment, which state of affairs gives a certain distinction to the
+society of the time of Louis XIV.
+
+Mme. de La Fayette, like Mme. de Sevigne, possessed an exceptional
+talent for making and retaining friends. She kept aloof from
+intrigues, in fact, knew nothing about them, and consequently never
+schemed to use her favor at court for purposes of self-interest. Two
+qualities belonged to her more than to any of her contemporaries--an
+instinct which was superior to her reason, and a love of truth in all
+things.
+
+Compared with those of Mme. de Rambouillet, it is said that her
+attainments were of a more solid nature; and while Mlle. de Scudery
+had greater brilliancy, Mme. de La Fayette had better judgment.
+These qualities combined with an exquisite delicacy, fine sentiment,
+calmness, and depth of reason, the very basis of her nature, are
+reflected in her works. Sainte-Beuve says that "her reason and
+experience cool her passion and temper the ideal with the results of
+observation." She was one of the very few women playing any role
+in French history who were endowed with all things necessary to
+happiness--fortune, reputation, talent, intimate and ideal
+friendship. Extremely sensitive to surroundings, she readily received
+impressions--a gift which was the source of a somewhat doubtful
+happiness.
+
+In her later days, notwithstanding terrible suffering, she became more
+devout and exhibited an admirable resignation. A letter to Menage will
+show the mental and physical state reached by her in her last days:
+"Although you forbid me to write to you, I wish, nevertheless, to tell
+you how truly affected I am by your friendship. I appreciate it as
+much as when I used to see it; it is dear to me for its own worth, it
+is dear to me because it is at present the only one I have. Time and
+old age have taken all my friends away from me.... I must tell you the
+state I am in. I am, first of all, a mortal divinity, and to an excess
+inconceivable; I have obstructions in my entrails--sad, inexpressible
+feelings; I have no spirit, no force--I cannot read or apply myself.
+The slightest things affect me--a fly appears an elephant to me; that
+is my ordinary state.... I cannot believe that I can live long in this
+condition, and my life is too disagreeable to permit me to fear the
+end. I surrender myself to the will of God; He is the All-Powerful,
+and, from all sides, we must go to Him at last. They assure me that
+you are thinking seriously of your salvation, and I am very happy over
+it."
+
+There probably never existed a more ideal friendship between two
+French women, one more lasting, sincere, perfect in every way, than
+that of Mme. de Sevigne and Mme. de La Fayette. The major part of
+the information we possess regarding events in the life of Mme. de La
+Fayette is obtained from their letters. Said Mme. de Sevigne: "Never
+did we have the smallest cloud upon our friendship. Long habit had not
+made her merit stale to me--the flavor of it was always fresh and new.
+I paid her many attentions, from the mere promptings of my affection,
+not because of the propriety by which, in friendships, we are bound. I
+was assured, too, that I was her dearest consolation--which, for forty
+years past, had been the case."
+
+Shortly before her death, she wrote to Mme. de Sevigne: "Here is what
+I have done since I wrote you last. I have had two attacks of fever;
+for six months I had not been purged; I am purged once, I am purged
+twice; the day after the second time, I sit down at the table; oh,
+dear! I feel a pain in my heart--I do not want any soup. Have a little
+meat, then? No, I do not wish any. Well, you will have some fruit? I
+think I will. Very well, then, have some. I don't know--I think I
+will have some by and by. Let me have some soup and some chicken
+this evening.... Here is the evening, and there are the soup and the
+chicken; I don't desire them. I am nauseated, I will go to bed--I
+prefer sleeping to eating. I go to bed, I turn round, I turn back,
+I have no pain, but I have no sleep either. I call--I take a book--I
+close it. Day comes--I get up--I go to the window. It strikes four,
+five, six--I go to bed again, I doze until seven, I get up at eight,
+I sit down to table at twelve--to no purpose, as yesterday.... I lay
+myself down in my bed, in the evening, to no purpose, as the night
+before. Are you ill? Nay, I am in this state for three days and three
+nights. At present, I am getting some sleep again, but I still eat
+mechanically, horsewise--rubbing my mouth with vinegar. Otherwise, I
+am very well, and I haven't so much as a pain in my head."
+
+Her depressing melancholy kept her indoors a great deal; in fact,
+after 1683, after the death of the queen, who was one of her best
+friends, she was seldom seen at court. Mme. de Sevigne gives good
+reason for this in her letter:
+
+"She had a mortal melancholy. Again, what absurdity! is she not the
+most fortunate woman in the world? That is what people said; it needed
+that she should die to prove that she had good reason for not going
+out and for being melancholy. Her reins and her heart were all
+gone--was not that enough to cause those fits of despondency of which
+she complained? And so, during her life she showed reason, and after
+death she showed reason, and never was she without that divine reason
+which was her principal gift."
+
+Her liaison with La Rochefoucauld is the one delicate and tender point
+in her life, a relation that afforded her much happiness and finally
+completed the ruin of her health. M. d'Haussonville said: "It is true
+that he took possession of her soul and intellect, little by little,
+so that the two beings, in the eyes of their contemporaries, were
+but one; for after his death (1680) she lived but an incomplete and
+mutilated existence."
+
+Some critics have ventured to pronounce this liaison one of material
+love solely, others are convinced of its morality and pure friendship.
+In favor of the latter view, M. d'Haussonville suggests the fact
+that Mme. de La Fayette was over thirty years of age when she became
+interested in La Rochefoucauld, and that at that age women rarely ally
+themselves with men from emotions of physical love merely. At that age
+it is reason that mutually attracts two beings; and this feeling was
+probably the predominant one in that case, because her entire career
+was one of the most extreme reserve, conservatism, good sense, and
+propriety. However, other proofs are brought forward to show that
+there was between the two a sort of moral marriage, so many examples
+of which are found in the seventeenth century between people
+of prominence, both of whom happened to have unhappy conjugal
+experiences.
+
+French society, one must remember, was different from any in the
+world; it seems to have been a large family gathering, the members of
+which were as intimate, took as much interest in each other's affairs,
+showed as much sympathy for one another and participated in each
+other's sorrows and pleasures, as though they were children of the
+same parents.
+
+In his early days, La Rochefoucauld found it convenient, for selfish
+purposes, to simulate an ardent passion for Mme. de Longueville,
+of which mention has been made in the chapter relating to Mme. de
+Longueville. In his later period, he had settled down to a normal
+mode of life and sought the friendship of a more reasonable and less
+passionate woman. He himself said:
+
+"When women have well-informed minds, I like their conversation better
+than that of men; you find, with them, a certain gentleness which is
+not met with among us; and it seems to me, besides, that they express
+themselves with greater clearness and that they give a more pleasant
+turn to the things they say."
+
+Mme. de La Fayette exercised a great influence upon La
+Rochefoucauld--an influence that was wholesome in every way. It was
+through her influential friends at court that he was helped into
+possession of his property, and it was she who maintained it for him.
+As to his literary work (his _Maxims_), her influence over him was
+supposed to have somewhat modified his ideas on women and to have
+softened his tone in general. She wrote: "He gave me wit, but I
+reformed his heart." M. d'Haussonville has proved, without doubt, that
+her restraint modified many of his maxims that were tinged with
+the spirit of the commonplace and trivial. While Mme. de
+Sable--essentially a moralist and a deeply religious woman--was more
+of a companion to him, and though his maxims were, for the greater
+part, composed in her salon, Mme. de La Fayette, by her tenderness and
+judgment, tempered the tone of them before they reached the public.
+
+Mme. de La Fayette will always be known, however, as the great
+novelist of the seventeenth century. Two novels, two stories, two
+historical works, and her memoirs, make up her literary budget. M.
+d'Haussonville claims that her memoirs of the court of France are not
+reliable, because she was so often absent from court; also, in
+them she shows a tendency to avenge herself, in a way, upon Mme. de
+Maintenon, whose friend she was until the trouble between this lady
+and Mme. de Montespan occurred. The latter was the intimate friend
+of Mme. de La Fayette. As for her literary work proper, her desire to
+write was possibly encouraged, if not created, by her indulgence in
+the general fad of writing portraitures, in which she was especially
+successful in portraying Mme. de Sevigne. Her literary effort was,
+besides, a revolt of her own taste and sense against the pompous
+and inflated language of the novels of the day and against the great
+length of the development of the events and adventures in them. Thus,
+Mme. de La Fayette inaugurated a new style of novel; to show her
+influence, it will be well to consider the state of the Romanesque
+novel at the period of her writing.
+
+In the beginning of the century, D'Urfe's novels were in vogue; these
+works were characterized by interminable developments, relieved by an
+infinite number of historical episodes. All characters, shepherds
+as well as noblemen, expressed the same sentiments and in the same
+language. There was no pretension to truth in the portraying of
+manners and customs.--A reaction was natural and took the form of
+either a kind of parody or gross realism. These novels, of which
+_Francion_ and _Berger Extravagant_ were the best known, depicted
+shepherds of the Merovingian times, heroes of Persia and Rome, or
+procurers, scamps, and scoundrels; but no descriptions of the manners
+of decent people (_honnetes gens_) were to be found.
+
+The novels of Mlle. de Scudery, while interesting as portraitures, are
+not thoroughly reliable in their representation of the sentiments
+and environment of the times; on the other hand, those of Mme. de La
+Fayette are impersonal--no one of the characters is recognizable; yet
+their atmosphere is that of the court of Louis XIV., and the language,
+never so correct as to be unnatural, is that used at the time. Her
+novels reflect perfectly the society of the court and the manner of
+life there. "Thus," says M. d'Haussonville, "she was the first to
+produce a novel of observation and sentiment, the first to paint
+elegant manners as they really were."
+
+Her first production was _La Princesse de Montpensier_ (1662); in
+1670, appeared _Zayde_, it was ostensibly the work of Segrais, her
+teacher and a writer much in vogue at the time; in 1678, _La Princesse
+de Cleves_, her masterpiece, stirred up one of the first real quarrels
+of literary criticism. For a long time after the appearance of that
+book, society was divided into two classes--the pros and the cons. It
+was the most popular work of the period.
+
+M. d'Haussonville says it is the first French novel which is an
+illustration of woman's ability to analyze the most subtile of human
+emotions. Mme. de La Fayette was, also, the first to elevate, in
+literature, the character of the husband who, until then, was a
+nonentity or a booby; she makes of him a hero--sympathetic, noble, and
+dignified.
+
+In no fictitious tale before hers was love depicted with such rare
+delicacy and pathos. In her novel, _La Princesse de Cleves_, "a novel
+of a married woman, we feel the woman who has loved and who knows what
+she is saying, for she, also, has struggled and suffered." The writer
+confesses her weakness and leaves us witness of her virtue. All
+the soul struggles and interior combats represented in her work the
+authoress herself has experienced. As an example of this we cite the
+description of the sentiments of Mme. de Cleves when she realizes that
+her feeling toward one of the members of the court may develop into an
+emotion unworthy of her as a wife. She falls upon her knees and says:
+
+"I am here to make to you a confession such as has never been made
+to man; but the innocence of my conduct and my intentions give me
+the necessary courage. It is true that I have reasons for desiring to
+withdraw from court, and that I wish to avoid the perils which persons
+of my age experience. I have never shown a sign of weakness, and I
+would not fear of ever showing any, if you permitted me to withdraw
+from court, or if I still had, in my efforts to do right, the support
+of Mme. de Chartres. However dangerous may be the action I take, I
+take it with pleasure, that I may be worthy of your actions, I ask a
+thousand pardons; if I have sentiments displeasing to you, I shall
+at least never displease you by my actions. Remember, to do what I am
+doing, one must have for a husband more friendship and esteem than was
+ever before had. Have pity on me and lead me away---and love me still,
+if you can."
+
+_La Princesse de Cleves_ is a novel of human virtue purely, and
+teaches that true virtue can find its reward in itself and in the
+austere enjoyment of duty accomplished. "It is a work that will
+endure, and be a comfort as well as a guide to those who aspire to a
+high morality which necessitates a difficult sacrifice."
+
+M. d'Haussonville regards the novels of Mmes. de Charriere, de Souza,
+de Duras, de Boigne, as mere imitations or as having been inspired by
+that masterpiece of Mme. de La Fayette. He says: "In fact, novels in
+general, that depict the struggle between passion and duty, with the
+victory on the side of virtue, emanate more or less from it."
+
+Taine wrote: "She described the events in the careers of society
+women, introducing no special terms of language into her descriptions.
+She painted for the sake of painting and did not think of attempting
+to surpass her predecessors. She reflects a society whose scrupulous
+care was to avoid even the slightest appearance of anything that might
+displease or shock. She shows the exquisite tact of a woman--and a
+woman of high rank."
+
+Mme. de La Fayette is one of the very rare French writers that have
+succeeded in analyzing love, passion, and moral duty, without becoming
+monotonous, vulgar, brutal, or excessively realistic. Her creations
+contain the most minute analyses of heart and soul emotions, but these
+never become purely physiologic and nauseating, as in most novels.
+This achievement on her part has been too little imitated, but it,
+alone, will preserve the name of Mme. de La Fayette.
+
+Mme. de Motteville is deserving of mention among the important
+literary women of the seventeenth century. She is regarded as one
+of the best women writers in French literature, and her memoirs are
+considered authority on the history of the Fronde and of Anne of
+Austria. The poetry of Mme. des Houlieres was for a long time much
+in vogue; to-day, however, it is not read. The memoirs of Mlle. de
+Montpensier are more occupied with herself than with events of the
+time or the numerous princes who tarried about her as longing lovers.
+Guizot says: "She was so impassioned and haughty, with her head
+so full of her own greatness, that she did not marry in her youth,
+thinking no one worthy of her except the king and the emperor, and
+they had no fancy for her." The following portrait of her was sketched
+by herself:
+
+"I am tall, neither fat nor thin, of a very fine and easy figure.
+I have a good mien, arms and hands not beautiful, but a beautiful
+skin--and throat, too. I have a straight leg and a well-shaped foot;
+my hair is light and of a beautiful auburn; my face is long, its
+contour is handsome, nose large and aquiline; mouth neither large
+nor small, but chiselled and with a very pleasing expression; lips
+vermilion, not fine, but not frightful, either; my eyes are blue,
+neither large nor small, but sparkling, soft, and proud like my mien.
+I talk a great deal, without saying silly things or using bad words. I
+am a very vicious enemy, being very choleric and passionate, and that,
+added to my birth, may well make my enemies tremble; but I have, also,
+a noble and kindly soul. I am incapable of any base and black deed;
+and so I am more disposed to mercy than to justice. I am melancholic,
+and fond of reading good and solid books; trifles bore me--except
+verses, and them I like, of whatever sort they may be; and undoubtedly
+I am as good a judge of such things as if I were a scholar."
+
+Possibly the greatest female scholar that France ever produced was
+Mme. Dacier, a truly learned woman and one of whom French women are
+proud; during her last years she enjoyed the reputation of being one
+of the foremost scholars of all Europe. It was Mme. de Lambert who
+wrote of her:
+
+"I esteem Mme. Dacier infinitely. Our sex owes her much; she has
+protested against the common error which condemns us to ignorance.
+Men, as much from disdain as from a fancied superiority, have denied
+us all learning; Mme. Dacier is an example proving that we are capable
+of learning. She has associated erudition and good manners; for, at
+present, modesty has been displaced; shame is no longer for vices,
+and women blush over their learning only. She has freed the mind,
+held captive under this prejudice, and she alone supports us in our
+rights."
+
+Tanneguy-Lefevre, the father of Mme. Dacier, was a savant and a type
+of the scholars of the sixteenth century. He brought up his sons to be
+like him--instructing them in Greek, Latin, and antiquities. The young
+daughter, present at all the lessons given to her brothers, acquired,
+unaided, a solid education; her father, amazed at her marvellous
+faculty for comprehending and remembering, soon devoted most of his
+energy to her. He was, at that time, professor at the College of
+Saumur; and he was conspicuous not only for the liberty he exhibited
+in his pedagogical duties, but for his general catholicity.
+
+After the death of her father, the young daughter went to Paris where
+her family friends, Chapelain and Huet, encouraged her in her studies,
+the latter, who was assistant preceptor to the dauphin, even going so
+far as to request her to assist him in preparing the Greek text for
+the use of the dauphin. She soon eclipsed all scholars of the time by
+her illuminating studies of Greek authors and of the quality of
+the new editions which she prepared of their works, but she was
+continually pestered on account of her erudition and her religion, the
+Protestant faith, to which she clung while realizing that it had been
+the cause of the failure of her father's advancement.
+
+From that time appeared her famous series of translations of Terence
+and Plautus, which were the delight of the women of the period and
+which gave her the reputation of being the most intellectual woman of
+the seventeenth century. In 1635, when nearly thirty years of age, she
+married M. Dacier, the favorite pupil of her father, librarian to
+the king and translator of Plutarch--a man of no means, but one who
+thoroughly appreciated the worth of Mlle. Lefevre. This union was
+spoken of by her contemporaries as "the marriage of Greek and Latin."
+
+Two years after their marriage, after long and serious deliberation,
+both abjured Protestantism, adopted the Catholic religion, and
+succeeded in converting the whole town of Castres--an act which
+gained them royal favor, and Louis XIV. granted them a pension of
+two thousand livres. Sainte-Beuve states that their conversion was
+perfectly sincere and conscientious. In all their subsequent works
+were seen traces of Mme. Dacier's powerful intellect, which was much
+superior to that of her husband. Boileau said: "In their production of
+_esprit_, it is Mme. Dacier who is the father."
+
+Besides her translations of the plays of Plautus, all of Terence, the
+_Clouds_ and _Plutus_ of Aristophanes, she published her translation
+of the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ (1711-1716), which gave her a prominent
+place in the history of French literature, especially as it appeared
+at the time of the "quarrels of the ancients and moderns," which
+concerned the comparative merits of ancient and modern literature.
+
+Mme. Dacier thoroughly appreciated the grandeur of Homer and knew the
+almost insurmountable difficulties of a translation; therefore,
+when in 1714 the _Iliad_ appeared in verse (in twelve songs by La
+Motte-Houdart), preceded by a discourse on Homer, in which the author
+announced that his aim was to purify and embellish Homer by ridding
+him "of his barbarian crudeness, his uncivil familiarities, and his
+great length," the ire of Mme. Dacier was aroused, and in defence of
+her god she wrote her famous _Des Causes de la Corruption du Gout_
+(Causes of the Corruption of Taste), a long defence of Homer, to which
+La Motte replied in his _Reflexions de la Critique_ This rekindled the
+whole controversy, and sides were immediately formed.
+
+Mme. Dacier was not politic; although she sustained her ideas well
+and displayed much erudition and depth of reason, she is said to have
+injured her cause by the violence of her polemic. Her immoderate tone
+and bitter assaults upon the elegant and discerning favorite only
+detracted from his opponent's favor and grace. Voltaire said: "You
+could say that the work of M. de La Motte was that of a woman of
+_esprit_, while that of Mme. Dacier was of a _homme savant_. He
+translated the _Iliad_ very poorly, but attacked very well." Mme.
+Dacier's translation remained a standard for two centuries. She and
+her adversary became reconciled at a dinner given by M. de Valincour
+for the friends of both parties; upon that festive occasion, "they
+drank to the health of Homer, and all was well."
+
+Mme. Dacier died in 1720. "She was a _savante_ only in her study or
+when with savants; otherwise, she was unaffected and agreeable
+in conversation, from the character of which one would never have
+suspected her of knowing more than the average woman." She was an
+incessant worker and had little time for social life; in the evening,
+after having worked all morning, she received visits from the literary
+men of France; and, to her credit may it be added, amid all her
+literary work, she never neglected her domestic and maternal duties.
+
+A woman of an entirely different type from that of Mme. Dacier, one
+who fitly closes the long series of great and brilliant women of the
+age of Louis XIV., who only partly resembles them and yet does not
+quite take on the faded and decadent coloring of the next age, was
+Mme. de Caylus, the niece of Mme. de Maintenon. It was she who, partly
+through compulsion, partly of her own free will, undertook the rearing
+of the young and beautiful Marthe-Marguerite de Villette. Mme. de
+Maintenon was then at the height of her power, and naturally her
+beautiful, clever, and witty niece was soon overwhelmed by proposals
+of marriage from the greatest nobles of France. To one of these, M. de
+Boufflers, Mme. de Maintenon replied: "My niece is not a sufficiently
+good match for you. However, I am not insensible to the honor you pay
+me; I shall not give her to you, but in the future I shall consider
+you my nephew."
+
+She then married the innocent young girl to the Marquis de Caylus, a
+debauched, worthless reprobate--a union whose only merit lay in the
+fact that her niece could thus remain near her at court. At the latter
+place, her beauty, gayety, and caustic wit, her adaptable and somewhat
+superficial character and her freedom of manners and speech, did
+not fail to attract many admirers. Her frankness in expressing her
+opinions was the source of her disgrace; Louis XIV. took her at her
+word when she exclaimed, in speaking of the court: "This place is so
+dull that it is like being in exile to live here," and forbade her to
+appear again in the place she found so tiresome. Those rash words
+cost her an exile of thirteen years, and only through good behavior,
+submission, and piety was she permitted to return.
+
+She appeared at a supper given by the king, and, by the brilliancy
+of her beauty and _esprit_, she attracted everyone present and soon
+regained her former favor and friends. From that time she was the
+constant companion of Mme. de Maintenon, until the king's death, when
+she returned to Paris; at that place her salon became an intellectual
+centre, and there the traditions of the seventeenth century were
+perpetuated.
+
+Sainte-Beuve said that Mme. de Caylus perfectly exemplified what
+was called urbanity--"politeness in speech and accent as well as in
+_esprit_." In her youth she was famous for her extraordinary acting in
+the performance, at Saint-Cyr, of Racine's _Esther_. Mme. de Sevigne
+wrote: "It is Mme. de Caylus who makes Esther." Her brief and witty
+_Souvenirs_ (Memoirs), showing marvellous finesse in the art of
+portraiture, made her name immortal. M. Saint-Amand describes her work
+thus:
+
+"Her friends, enchanted by her lively wit, had long entreated her
+to write--not for the public, but for them--the anecdotes which she
+related so well. Finally, she acquiesced, and committed to paper
+certain incidents, certain portraits. What a treasure are these
+_Souvenirs_--so fluently written, so unpretentious, with neither dates
+nor chronological order, but upon which, for more than a century, all
+historians have drawn! How much is contained in this little book
+which teaches more in a few lines than interminable works do in many
+volumes! How feminine it is, and how French! One readily understands
+Voltaire's liking for these charming _Souvenirs_. Who, than Mme. de
+Caylus, ever better applied the famous precept: 'Go lightly, mortals;
+don't bear too hard.'"
+
+She belonged to that class of spontaneous writers who produce artistic
+works without knowing it, just as M. Jourdain wrote prose, and who do
+not even suspect that they possess that chief attribute of literary
+style--naturalness. What pure, what ready wit! What good humor,
+what unconstraint, what delightful ease! What a series of charming
+portraits, each more lifelike, more animated, still better than all
+the others! "These little miniatures--due to the brush of a woman
+of the world--are better worth studying than is many a picture or
+fresco."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+Woman in Religion
+
+
+The entire religious agitation of the seventeenth century was due to
+women. Port-Royal was the centre from which issued all contention--the
+centre where all subjects were discussed, where the most important
+books were written or inspired, where the genius of that great century
+centred; and it was to Port-Royal that the greatest women of France
+went, either to find repose for their souls or to visit the noble
+members of their sex who had consecrated their lives to God--Mere
+Angelique, Jacqueline Pascal. Never in the history of the world had
+a religious sect or party gathered within its fold such an array of
+great minds, such a number of fearless and determined heroines and
+_esprits d'elite_. A short account of this famous convent must precede
+any story of its members.
+
+The original convent, Port-Royal des Champs, near Versailles, was
+founded as early as 1204, by Mathieu of Montmorency and his wife, for
+the Cistercian nuns who had the privileges of electing their abbess
+and of receiving into their community ladies who, tired of the social
+world, wished to retire to a religious asylum, without, however, being
+bound by any religious vows. Later on, the sisters were permitted to
+receive, also, young ladies of the nobility.
+
+These privileges were used to such advantage that the institution
+acquired great wealth; and through its boarders, some of whom belonged
+to the most important families of France, it became influential to an
+almost incalculable degree. For four centuries this convent had been
+developing liberal tendencies and gradually falling away from its
+primitive austerity, when, in 1605, Sister Angelique Arnauld became
+abbess and undertook a thorough reform. So great was her success in
+this direction that, after having effected similar changes at the
+Convent of Maubuisson and then returned to Port-Royal des Champs, the
+latter became so crowded that new and more commodious quarters had to
+be obtained.
+
+The immense and beautiful Hotel de Cluny, at Paris, was procured, and
+a portion of the community moved thither, establishing an institution
+which became the best known and most popular of those French convents
+which were patronized by women of distinction. The old abbey buildings
+near Versailles were later occupied by a community of learned and
+pious men who were, for the most part, pupils of the celebrated Abbe
+of Saint-Cyran, who, with Jansenius, was living at Paris at the time
+that Mere Angelique was perfecting her reforms; she, attracted by the
+ascetic life led by the abbe, fell under his influence, and the whole
+Arnauld family, numbering about thirty, followed her example.
+
+Soon "the nuns at Paris, with their numerous and powerful connections,
+and the recluses at Port-Royal des Champs, together with their pupils
+and the noble or wealthy families to which the latter belonged, were
+imbued with the new doctrines of which they became apostles." The
+primary aim was to live up to a common ideal of Christian perfection,
+and to react against the general corruption by establishing thoroughly
+moral schools and publishing works denouncing, in strong terms, the
+glaring errors of the time, the source of which was considered, by
+both the Abbe of Saint-Cyran and Jansenius, to lie in the Jesuit
+Colleges and their theology. Thus was evolved a system of education in
+every way antagonistic to that of the Jesuits.
+
+At this time the convent at Paris became so crowded that Mere
+Angelique withdrew to the abbey near Versailles, the occupants of
+which retired to a neighboring farm, Les Granges; there was opened
+a seminary for females, which soon attracted the daughters of the
+nobility. An astounding literary and agricultural activity resulted,
+both at the abode of the recluses and at the seminary: by the recluses
+were written the famous Greek and Latin grammars, and by the nuns, the
+famous _Memoirs of the History of Port-Royal_ and the _Image of the
+Perfect and Imperfect Sister_; a model farm was cultivated, and here
+the peasants were taught improved methods of tillage. During the
+time of the civil wars the convent became a resort where charity and
+hospitality were extended to the poor peasants.
+
+"The mode of life at Port-Royal was distinguished for austerity. The
+inmates rose at three o'clock in the morning, and, after the common
+prayer, kissed the ground as a sign of their self-humiliation before
+God. Then, kneeling, they read a chapter from the Gospels and one from
+the Epistles, concluding with another prayer. Two hours in the morning
+and a like number in the afternoon were devoted to manual labor in the
+gardens adjoining the convent; they observed, with great strictness,
+the season of Lent." Their theories and practices, and especially
+their sympathy with Jansenius, whose work _Mars Gallicus_ attacked
+the French government and people, aroused the suspicions of Richelieu.
+When in 1640 the Port-Royalists openly and enthusiastically received
+the famous work, _Augustinus_, of Jansenius, the government became the
+declared opponent of the convent. Saint-Cyran had been imprisoned
+in 1638, and not until after the death of Richelieu, in 1642, was
+he liberated. After the appearance, in 1643, of Arnauld's _De la
+Frequente Communion_, in which he attacked the Jesuits for admitting
+the people to the Lord's Supper without due preparation, two parties
+formed--the Jesuits, supported by the Sorbonne and the government, and
+the Port-Royalists, supported by Parliament and illustrious persons,
+such as Mme. de Longueville.
+
+In 1644, the nuns were dispersed by order of Louis XIV., against whose
+despotic caprices two Jansenist bishops had fought in support of the
+rights of the pope. The Paris convent remained closed until 1669, when
+it and the one at Chevreuse, near Versailles were made independent
+of each other, a proceeding which resulted in the two institutions
+becoming opponents. In 1708 the Convent of Port-Royal des Champs
+was suppressed, and, a year later, the beautiful and once prosperous
+community was destroyed, the buildings being levelled to the ground.
+In 1780 the Paris convent was abolished; five years later the
+structure was converted into a hospital, and in 1814 it became the
+lying-in asylum of _La Maternite_.
+
+In those two convents, which were practically one, was fomented and
+developed the entire religious movement of the seventeenth century,
+to which period belong the general study and development of theology,
+metaphysics, and morality. Such great, good, and brilliant women as
+the Countess of Maure, Mlle. de Vandy, Anne de Rohan, Mme. de Bregy,
+Mme. de Hautefort, Mme. de Longueville, Mme. de Sevigne, Mme. de La
+Fayette, and Mme. de Sable were inmates of Port-Royal, or its friends
+and constant visitors.
+
+Port-Royal may have been the cause of the civil war waged by the
+Frondists against the government. It did bring on the struggle between
+the Jesuits, who were all-powerful in the Church, and the Jansenists.
+The latter denied the doctrine of free will, and taught the absolutism
+of religion, the "terrible God," the powerlessness of kings and
+princes before God--a doctrine which brought down upon them the wrath
+of Louis XIV., for whom their notion of virtue was too severe, their
+use of the Gospel too excessive, and their Christianity impossible.
+
+In its purest form, Port-Royalism was a return to the sanctity of the
+primitive church--an attempt at the use, in French, of the whole body
+of Scriptures and the writings of the Church Fathers; it aimed to
+maintain a vigorous religious reaction in the shape of a reform, and
+that reform was vigorously opposed by the Catholic Church.
+
+One family that is associated with Port-Royal gave to its cause no
+less than six sisters; the latter all belonged to the Convent of
+Port-Royal and were attached to the Jansenist party; of them, the
+Archbishop of Paris said that they were "as pure as angels, but as
+proud as devils." They were related to the one great Arnauld family,
+of which Antoine and his three sons--Robert, Henri, and the younger
+Antoine, called "the great Antoine"--were illustrious champions of
+Port-Royal.
+
+Marie Jacqueline Angelique, the oldest among the three abbesses, was
+born in 1591, and, at the early age of fourteen, was made abbess
+of Port-Royal des Champs; it was she who, after having instituted
+successful reforms at Port-Royal, was sent to reform the system of
+the Abbey of Maubuisson, thus initiating the important movement which
+later involved almost all France. She became convinced that she had
+not been lawfully elected abbess and resigned, securing, however, a
+provision which made the election of abbesses a triennial event. To
+her belongs the honor of having made Port-Royal anew. She was a woman
+capable of every sacrifice,--a wonderful type in which were blended
+candor, pride, and submission,--and she exhibited indomitable strength
+of will and earnest zeal for her cause.
+
+Her sister, Agnes, but three years younger than Marie, also entered
+the convent, and, at the age of fifteen, was made mistress of the
+novices; during the absence of her sister, at Maubuisson, she was
+at the head of the convent; from that time, she governed Port-Royal
+alternately with her sister, for twenty-seven years. Her work, _The
+Secret Chapter of the Sacrament_, was suppressed at Rome, but without
+bringing formal censure upon her.
+
+The last of those great abbesses was Mere Angelique, who lived through
+the most troublous and critical times of Port-Royal (1624 to 1684). At
+the age of twenty she became a nun, having been reared in the convent
+by her aunt, Marie, who was the most perfect disciple of Saint-Cyran.
+Mere Angelique was especially conspicuous for her obstinacy, and when
+the nuns were forced to accept the formulary of Pope Alexander VI.,
+she, alone, was excepted, because of that well known characteristic.
+Upon the reopening of Port-Royal (in 1689), her powerful protectress,
+Mme. de Longueville, died and the persecutions were renewed; Mere
+Angelique endeavored to avert the storm, but all in vain; amidst her
+efforts, she collapsed. She was also a writer, her _Memoirs of
+the History of Port Royal_ being the most valuable history of that
+institution.
+
+Thus, about those three women is formed the religious movement which
+involved both the development of religious liberty, free will, and
+morality, and of the philosophical literature of the century--a
+century which boasts such writers and theologians as Nicole, Pascal,
+Racine, etc.
+
+The mission of Port-Royal seems to have been preparation of souls for
+the struggles of life, teaching how to resist oppression or to bear it
+with courage, and how, for a righteous cause, to brave everything,
+not only the persecutions of power--violence, prison, exile,--but
+the ruses of hypocrisy and the calumny of opposing opinion. The
+Port-Royalist nun combated and taught how to combat; she lacked
+humility, but possessed an abundance of courage which often bordered
+upon passion.
+
+One of the most pathetic and striking illustrations of the fervent
+devotion which was a characteristic product of Port-Royal, is supplied
+by Jacqueline Pascal, sister of the great Blaise Pascal. Young,
+_spirituelle_, very much sought after and the idol of brilliant
+companions, at the age of twenty-six she abandoned the world to devote
+herself to God. At thirty-six years of age she died of sorrow and
+remorse for having signed an equivocal formulary of Pope Alexander
+VI., "through pure deference to the authority of her superiors." The
+papal decision concerning Jansenius's book, already mentioned, was
+drawn up in a formula "turned with some skill, and in such a way
+that subscription did not bind the conscience; however, the nuns of
+Port-Royal refused to sign." Jacqueline Pascal wrote:
+
+"That which hinders us, what hinders all the ecclesiastics who
+recognize the truth from replying when the formulary is presented to
+them to subscribe is: I know the respect I owe the bishops, but my
+conscience does not permit me to subscribe that a thing is in a
+book in which I have not seen it--and after that, wait for what will
+happen. What have we to fear? Banishment and dispersion for the nuns,
+seizure of temporalities, imprisonment, and death if you will; but
+is not that our glory and should it not be our joy? Let us either
+renounce the Gospel or faithfully follow the maxims of that Gospel
+and deem ourselves happy to suffer somewhat for righteousness' sake.
+I know that it is not for daughters to defend the truth, though,
+unfortunately, one might say that since the bishops have the courage
+of daughters, the daughters must have the courage of bishops; but,
+if it is not for us to defend the truth, it is for us to die for the
+truth and to suffer everything rather than abandon it."
+
+She subscribed, "divided between her instinctive repugnance and her
+desire to show herself an humble daughter of the Catholic Church."
+She said: "It is all we can concede; for the rest, come what
+may,--poverty, dispersion, imprisonment, death,--all those seem to
+me nothing in comparison with the anguish in which I should pass the
+remainder of my life, if I had been wretch enough to make a covenant
+with death on the occasion of so excellent an opportunity for proving
+to God the sincerity of the vows of fidelity which our lips have
+pronounced." According to Mme. Perier, the health of the writer of the
+above epistle was so undermined by the shock which all that commotion
+had caused her, that she became dangerously ill, dying soon after.
+Thus was sacrificed the first victim of the formulary.
+
+Cousin says that few women of the seventeenth century were as
+brilliantly endowed as Jacqueline Pascal; possessing the finesse,
+energy, and sobriety of her brother, she was capable of the most
+serious work, and yet knew perfectly how to lead in a social circle.
+Also, she was most happily gifted with a talent for poetry, in
+relation to which her reputation was everywhere recognized; at
+the convent, she consulted her superiors as to the advisability of
+continuing her verse making; and upon being told that such occupation
+was not a means of winning the grace of Jesus Christ, she abandoned
+it.
+
+Cousin maintained that the avowed principle of the Port-Royalists was
+the withdrawal from all worldly pleasure and attachment. "'Marriage is
+a homicide; absolute renunciation is the true regime of a Christian.'
+Jacqueline Pascal is an exaggeration of Port-Royal, and Port-Royal is
+an exaggeration of the religious spirit of the seventeenth century.
+Man is too little considered; all movement of the physical world comes
+from God; all our acts and thoughts, except those of crime and error,
+come from and belong to Him. Nothing is our own; there is no free
+will; will and reason have no power. The theory of grace is the source
+of all truth, virtue, and merit--and for this doctrine Jacqueline
+Pascal gives up her life."
+
+Among the great spirits of Port-Royal, the women especially were
+strong in their convictions and high in their ideals. They naturally
+followed the ideas of man and naturally fell into religious errors;
+but their firmness, constancy, and heroism were striking indeed. Their
+aspiration was the imitation of Christ, and they approached their
+model as near as ever was done by man. In an age of courtesans, when
+convictions were subservient to the pleasure of power, they set a
+worthy example of strength of mind, firmness of will, purity, and
+womanliness. M. du Bled says:
+
+"Port-Royal was the enterprise of the middle-class aristocracy of
+France; you can see here an anticipated attempt of a sort of superior
+third estate to govern for itself in the Church and to establish a
+religion not Roman, not aristocratic and of the court, not devout
+in the manner of the simple people, but freer from vain images and
+ceremonies, and freer, also, as to the temporal in the face of worldly
+authority--a sober, austere, independent religion which would have
+truly founded a Gallican reform. The illusion was in thinking that
+they could continue to exist in Rome--that Richelieu and Louis XIV.
+would tolerate the boldness of this attempt."
+
+A celebrated woman of the seventeenth century, one who really belongs
+to the circle of Mme. de Longueville and Mme. de La Fayette, but who
+early in life, like Mme. de Longueville, devoted herself to religion
+and retired to live at Port-Royal, and is therefore more intimately
+associated with the religious movement, was Mme. de Sable, a type of
+the social-religious woman.
+
+Mme. de Sable is a heroine of Cousin, whom we closely follow in this
+account of her career. According to that writer, she is a type of the
+purely social woman, a woman who did less for herself than for others,
+in aiding whom she took delight, a woman who was the inspiration of
+many writers and many works.
+
+Mlle. de Souvre married the wealthy Marquis of Sable, of the house of
+Montmorency, of whom little is known. He soon abandoned her; and she,
+most unhappy over unworthy rivals, fell very ill, retired from society
+for a time, and then reappeared; her career as a society woman then
+began. At an early age, by force of her decided taste for the high
+form of Spanish gallantry, then so much in vogue, and her inclination
+to all things intellectual, she became one of the leaders of the
+Hotel de Rambouillet. She, Mmes. de Sevigne, de Longueville, and de La
+Fayette formed that circle of women who idealized friendship.
+
+Within a few years she lost her father, husband, two of her brothers,
+and her second son; and after putting her financial affairs into
+order, she and her friend, the Countess of Maure, took up their
+quarters at the famous Place Royale; there they decided to devote
+their lives to letters, and there assembled their friends, men and
+women, regardless of rank or party, personal merit being the only
+means of access. Mmes. de Sable and de Rambouillet were called the
+arbiters of elegance and good taste.
+
+To her friends, Mme. de Sable was always accommodating and showed no
+partiality; well informed, she was constantly approached for counsel
+and favors; discreet and trustworthy, the most important secrets were
+intrusted to her--a confidence which she never betrayed. During the
+Fronde she remained faithful to the queen and Mazarin, but did not
+become estranged from her friends, so many of whom were Frondists, and
+who chose her as their counsellor, arbitrator, and pacifier.
+
+About 1655 she began to realize her unsettled position in the world
+and to long for a place where she might, modestly and becomingly,
+spend her declining years. She was then fifty-five years of age. The
+ideas of Jansenism had so impressed the great people of the day, that
+she decided to retire to Port-Royal, to end her days with sympathizers
+of the spiritual life around her and her former friends whenever she
+desired them. There she gathered about her the most exclusive and
+aristocratic people of the day: La Rochefoucauld, the Prince and
+Princess of Conti, Conde, Monsieur,--brother of Louis XIV.,--Mme. de
+La Fayette, Mme. de Hautefort, and others.
+
+At her apartments, not only were religious and literary affairs
+discussed, but the most delicate and delicious dishes were prepared
+and elixirs and remedies for disease compounded. Famous people were
+led to seek her, through her reputation and influence, and through
+friendship, for she seldom left her house. Mme. de Sable possessed all
+the qualities that attract and hold, nothing extraordinary or rare,
+but abundant politeness and elegance.
+
+It was not long before she began to withdraw from even her friends,
+still continuing, however, her fine cuisine, the remarkable care
+of her health, and her medical experiments. Her dinners became
+celebrated, and invitations to them were much in demand; about them
+there were no signs of opulence, but her gatherings were distinguished
+for refinement and taste. Her friends were constantly asking her for
+her recipes, of the preparation of which no one but herself knew the
+secret.
+
+At the salon of Mme. de Sable originated many famous literary works,
+such as the _Conferences sur le Calvinisme_, works on Cartesian
+philosophy, the _Logique de Port-Royal_, _Questions sur l'Amour_, _Les
+Maximes_, etc. She will be remembered as the initiator of many maxims,
+in the composition of which she excelled. A number of her sayings
+concerning friendship have been preserved. Two treatises, in the
+form of maxims, on the education of children and on friendship,
+respectively, are supposed to have come from her pen; from them La
+Rochefoucauld conceived the ideas he utilized in his famous _Maxims_.
+
+La Rochefoucauld's maxims were composed according to the chance of
+conversation, which gave rise to various subjects and led to his
+serious reflection upon them. Cousin even goes so far as to say that
+the _Pensees_ of Pascal would never have been published in that
+form had not the _Maxims_ enjoyed such favor. Pascal often visited
+Port-Royal and naturally followed the general reflective tendency
+of its society. His _Discours sur les Passions de l'Amour_ possibly
+originated at the salon of Mme. de Sable, because the subject of which
+that work treated was one much discussed there. La Rochefoucauld was
+in the habit of sending his maxims to Mme. de Sable with the message:
+"As you do nothing for nothing, I ask of you a carrot soup or mutton
+stew."
+
+When La Rochefoucauld entered the society of Mme. de Sable, he had
+seen much of life, was familiar with most of the adventures and
+intrigues of the Fronde and the society of the time; he himself had
+acted his part in all, and at the age of fifty was ready to put his
+experience into a permanent form of reflection. His _Maxims_ created
+a stir, through the clearness and elegance of their character, their
+fine analyses of man as he was in the seventeenth century, and through
+their truthfulness and general applicability to men of every country.
+From all the illustrious women of the day, either he or Mme. de
+Sable received letters of criticism or suggestion--eulogies and
+condemnations of which he took notice in his next edition. This
+shows the intense interest felt in the appearance of any new literary
+production.
+
+Cousin says that the whole literature of maxims and reflections issued
+directly from the salon of a kind and good woman who had retired to a
+convent with no other desire than to live over her life, to recall
+her past and what she had seen and felt therein; and upon her society,
+that woman impressed her own tastes, elegance, and seriousness. Her
+great act of benevolence was her protection of Port-Royal. When, after
+the death in 1661 of Mother Angelique Arnauld, that institution became
+the object of persecution and its tenants were either imprisoned or
+compelled to seek refuge in the various families of Paris, Mme. de
+Sable remained faithful to its principles; she lived with her friends,
+Mme. de Longueville and Mme. de Montausier, until 1669, when, with the
+cooeperation of Mme. de Longueville, who exerted all her influence for
+Port-Royal, she finally succeeded in bringing about its reopening. At
+least, Cousin ascribes this result to Mme. de Sable, but he may have
+somewhat exaggerated her influence in this respect. From her retreat
+at Port-Royal, she kept up a constant correspondence with her friends
+all over France; she lived there until 1678, with but one intimate
+friend, Mme. de Longueville.
+
+Mme. de Sable had remarkable gifts; her mission in politics, religion,
+and literature seems to have been to excite to action, to stimulate
+and to bring out to its fullest value, the talents and genius of
+others. In her modest salon, she inspired the great and illustrious
+work which will keep her memory alive as long as the _Maxims_ and
+_Pensees_ are read. Her name will be connected with that of Mme.
+de Longueville, because of their ideal friendship, and with that of
+Port-Royal because of her ardent and self-sacrificing support of it
+in the time of its direst persecution, when any exhibition of sympathy
+was dangerous in the extreme; and finally, her name will always be
+connected with that small circle of French society of the seventeenth
+century, which was noble, moral, and elevating to an unusual degree.
+
+Somewhat later in the century a different movement was started by a
+woman, which involved many of the highest in rank at court. This took
+the form of a kind of mystical enthusiasm, running into a theory of
+pure love, and was instigated by Mme. Guyon, a widow, still young, and
+gifted with a lofty and subtile mind. After losing her husband, whom
+she had converted to her religious views, she went, in 1680, to Paris
+to educate her children. Becoming interested in religion, she went
+to Geneva, where she became very intimate with a priest who was
+her spiritual director, and whom she soon wholly subjected to her
+influence. On account of their views on sanctification, they were
+ordered to leave.
+
+After travelling over Europe for a number of years, and writing
+several works, including _Spiritual Torrents_ and _Short and Easy
+Method of Making Orison with the Heart_, the widow returned to Paris,
+with the intention of living in retirement; but so many persons of all
+ranks sought her out, that she organized, for ladies of rank, meetings
+for purposes of prayer and religious conversation. The Duchess of
+Beauvilliers, the Duchess of Bethune, the Countess of Guiche, the
+Countess of Chevreuse, and many others, with their husbands, became
+her devoted adherents.
+
+According to Mme. Guyon, prayer should lose the character of
+supplication, and become simply the silence of a soul absorbed in God.
+"Why are not simple folks so taught? Shepherds, keeping their flocks,
+would have the spirit of the old anchorites; and laborers, whilst
+driving the plow, would talk happily with God. In a little while, vice
+would be banished and the kingdom of God would be realized on earth."
+Thus, her doctrine was directly opposite to the theories of the
+Jansenists.
+
+At that time, 1687 to 1688, all religious movements, however quiet,
+were condemned at Rome; and the teachings of Mme. Guyon were found to
+differ very little from those of the Spanish priest Molinas. The first
+arrest, that of her friend Lacombe, was soon followed by that of
+Mme. Guyon herself, by royal order; she was released through the
+intercession of Mme. de Maintenon, who was fascinated by her to the
+extent of permitting her to teach her doctrines at Saint-Cyr, Upon the
+appearance of her _Method of Prayer_, an examination was instituted
+by Bossuet and Fenelon, who marked out a few passages as erroneous--a
+procedure to which she submitted. However, Bossuet himself wrote a
+treatise against her _Method of Prayer_, in which he cast reflections
+upon her character and conduct; to that work Fenelon refused to
+subscribe, which antagonistic proceeding brought on the great quarrel
+between those two absolute ecclesiasts. In fact, Fenelon became imbued
+with the doctrines of Mme. Guyon.
+
+She was imprisoned at various times; and when a letter was received
+from Lacombe, who had been imprisoned at Vincennes for a long time,
+exhorting her to repent of their criminal intimacy, Mme. Guyon's cause
+was hopeless. She was sent to the Bastille, her son was dismissed
+from the army, and many of her friends were banished. In 1702 she was
+released from prison and banished to Diziers; she passed the remainder
+of her life in complete retirement at Blois.
+
+Fenelon had written a treatise, _Maxims of the Saints_, which was
+said to favor Mme. Guyon's doctrines, and which was sent to Rome for
+examination. He defined her doctrine of divine love in the following
+maxim, which was condemned at Rome:
+
+"There is an habitual state of love of God, which is pure charity
+without any taint of the motive of self-interest. Neither fear of
+punishment nor desire of reward has, any longer, part in this love;
+God is loved, not for the merit, but for the happiness to be found in
+loving Him."
+
+Such a doctrine made repentance unnecessary, destroyed all effort to
+withstand evil, and did not acknowledge the need of a Redeemer. This
+the great Bossuet foresaw; consequently, he, as the supreme religious
+potentate of his inferior in rank, Fenelon, demanded the condemnation
+by the latter of the works of Mme. Guyon. The refusal cost Fenelon
+exile for life. To Mme. de Maintenon he wrote a letter which shows the
+sincerity of his devotion to a friend in disgrace, even though his own
+reputation was thereby endangered:
+
+"So it is to secure my own reputation that I am wanted to subscribe
+that a lady--my friend--would plainly deserve to be burned, with all
+her writings, for an execrable form of spirituality which is the only
+bond of our friendship. I tell you, madame, I would burn my friend
+with my own hands, and I would burn myself joyfully, rather than
+let the Church be imperilled; but here is a poor, captive woman,
+overwhelmed with sorrows; there is none to defend her, none to excuse
+her; all are afraid to do so. I maintain that this stroke of the pen,
+given from a cowardly policy and against my conscience, would render
+me forever infamous and unworthy of my ministry and my position."
+
+Thus, in the seventeenth century, religious agitations and religious
+reform were the work preeminently of women; but that reform and those
+agitations were productive of good results to a far greater degree
+than was any similar movement in any other century, with the possible
+exception of the nineteenth. The seventeenth century was, as mentioned
+before, a century of stability, one that toned down and crushed all
+violations and abuses of the standard established by authority. Woman,
+in her constant striving for the complete emancipation and gradual
+purification of her sex, rebelled against the power of established
+authority; she did not consciously or intentionally violate law and
+order, but in her intense desire to act for good as she saw it, and
+in her noble efforts to ameliorate all undesirable conditions, she
+created commotion and confusion. The seventeenth-century woman is
+conspicuous as a champion of religion, moral purity, and social
+reform; therefore, her influence was mainly social, religious, moral,
+and literary, while that of the woman of the sixteenth century was
+mainly political. This difference was the result of the greater
+advantages of education and training enjoyed by the females of the
+later period.
+
+In the beginning of the seventeenth century, young girls were granted
+greater privileges and received more attention from men and society
+than did their predecessors; they thus had more opportunities for
+mental development, more occasion to become aware of the temptations
+and injustices of life, without falling prey to them. Such young girls
+as Julie d'Angennes, Mlle. d'Arquenay, and Mlle. de Pisani, took
+part in the balls, fetes, garden parties, and all amusements in which
+society indulged. They met young men of their own age and became
+intimately acquainted with them, morals were purer, marriages of
+affection were much more frequent, and the state of married life was
+much more congenial, than in any other century. Young men paid
+court to the older ladies, to refine their manners and sharpen their
+intellects, but not for any immoral purpose. To a certain extent
+women were more world-wise when they reached the marriageable age, and
+inspired respect and admiration rather than passion and desire as in
+the next century.
+
+Young girls of the seventeenth century were early placed in a convent,
+and when they left it they were ready for marriage; in the meantime,
+they frequently visited home and associated with their parents and
+brothers; at the convents intellectual intercourse with people of high
+rank and men of letters was encouraged. Yet the discipline at those
+institutions was very rigid, the boarders being more carefully watched
+then than later on; two nuns always accompanied them on their walks,
+and when not busy with their studies, to prevent the mind from
+wandering, they were kept busy with their hands; "the transports of
+the soul of the young girl, as every reflection of the intelligence,
+are watched and held in check, every one of her inclinations opposed,
+all originality suppressed."
+
+At first the convents were reproached for stifling all culture and
+development and applying only correction and mortification of the
+flesh. Mme. de Maintenon opposed such a state of affairs, but her
+methods discouraged true independence. The happiness of her charges
+was her one aim, but they had no voice in the matter. When of
+marriageable age, they were given a trousseau and a husband; however,
+they were taught to be reasonable.
+
+In that century, the young girl, mixing more generally in society,
+received greater consideration--hence, she became more active and
+conspicuous. It will be seen that the role played by the eighteenth
+century woman was not so much played by the young woman as it was
+by the woman of mature years, of the mother, the counsellor--the
+indispensable element of society. There were three classes of
+women--young women, mature women who sought consideration, and old
+women who received respect and deference, and who, as arbiters of
+culture, upheld the principles already established.
+
+A young man making his debut had to find favor with one of those
+classes which decided his future reputation and the extent of his
+favor at court, and assigned him his place and grade, upon which
+depended his marriage. All education was directed to the one
+end--social success. The duty of the tutor charged with the
+instruction of a young son was to give a well-rounded, general
+education; by the mother, he was taught politeness, grace,
+amiability--a part of his training to which more importance was
+attached than to the intellectual portion. Whenever a young man was
+guilty of misconduct toward a woman, his mother was notified of
+the occurrence, on the same evening, and he promptly received his
+reprimand. This spirit naturally fostered that rare politeness,
+exquisite taste and tact in conversation, in which the eighteenth
+century excels.
+
+But where did the young girls receive the education which gave them
+such prestige--that consummate art of conversation exemplified in
+Mme. de Boufflers, Mme. de Luxembourg, Mme. de Sabran, the Duchess
+of Choiseul, the Princess of Beauvau, the Countess of Segur? The sons
+were educated in the usages of the _bonne compagnie_ by the mothers,
+but the daughters did not enjoy that attention, for, at the age of
+five or six years, they were sent to the convent; there the mother's
+influence could not have reached them, and they never left the convent
+except to marry. The middle class imitated the higher class, and
+family life became practically impossible. All men of any importance
+had a charge at court or a grade in the army, and lived away from
+their families. A large number of women were attached to the queen,
+spending the greater part of their time at Versailles; the little time
+passed at their homes was entirely occupied in preparation for the
+evening _causeries_ at the salons, in reading new books, acquiring
+information upon current events, and in superintending the making of
+the many necessary and always elaborate gowns; as M. Perey so well
+says, "as the toilettes and hairdressing took up the greater part
+of the morning, they devoted the time used by the _coiffeur_, in
+constructing complicated edifices that crushed down the heads of
+women, to the reading of new books."
+
+Nearly every large establishment kept open house, dining from twenty
+to thirty persons every day. They dined at one, separated at three,
+were at the theatre at five, and returned with as many friends as
+possible--the more, the greater the reputation for hospitality and
+popularity. Under such circumstances, the mother had no time for the
+daughters, nor were the conversations at those dinners food for
+young, innocent girls--and innocence was the first requirement of a
+marriageable young woman.
+
+The great convents were the Abbaye-aux-Bois and Penthemont, where the
+daughters of the wealthiest and highest families were educated. In
+those convents or seminaries, strange to say, the young girls were
+taught the most practical domestic duties, as well as dancing, music,
+painting, etc. Such teachers as Mole and Larrive gave instruction in
+declamation and reading, and Noverre and Dauberval in dancing; the
+teaching nuns were all from the best families. The most complete
+costumes, scenic decorations, and other equipments of a complete
+theatre were supplied, special hours being set aside for the play.
+However, much intriguing went on there, and many friendships and
+lifelong enmities were formed, which later led to serious troubles.
+
+Often, from the midst of a group of young girls of from ten to fifteen
+years of age, one would be notified of her coming marriage with a man
+she had never seen, and whom, in all probability, she could not
+love, having given her heart to another. If it turned out to be an
+uncongenial marriage, a separate life would be the result, and, while
+still absolutely ignorant of the world, those young married women
+would fall prey to the charms of young gallants or men of quality, and
+a liaison would follow.
+
+The difference between a liaison of the seventeenth century and one
+of the eighteenth led to one essential difference in the standards
+of social and moral etiquette; in the former period, a liaison meant
+nothing more censurable than an intimate friendship, a purely platonic
+love; the lover simply paid homage to the lady of his choice; it was
+an attraction of common intellectual interests and usually lasted for
+life; in the eighteenth century, a liaison was essentially immoral,
+rarely a union of interests, but rather one of passions and physical
+propensities. Such relations developed and fostered deceit, intrigues,
+infidelity, and rivalry, one woman endeavoring to allure the lover of
+another; affairs of that nature were the chief topic of conversation
+in social circles, and were soon reflected in every phase of the
+intelligent world. This will be seen in the study of the eighteenth
+century.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+Salon Leaders Mme. de Tencin, Mme. Geoffrin, Mme. du Deffand, Mlle. de
+Lespinasse, Mme. du Chatelet
+
+
+In studying the vast numbers of salons of the eighteenth century,
+three types are discernible, each of which was prominent and in full
+sway throughout the century up to the Revolution. To the first class
+belong the great literary and philosophical salons which, though not
+political in nature, finally changed politics; such were the
+circles of Mme. de Tencin, Mme. Geoffrin, Mme. du Deffand, Mlle. de
+Lespinasse, Mme. Necker, Mme. d'Epinay, Mme. de Genlis; with these
+every literary student is familiar. The second class includes the
+smaller and less important literary, philosophical, and social
+salons--those of Mme. de Marchais, Mme. de Persan, Mme. de Villars,
+Mme. de Vaines, and of D'Alembert, D'Holbach, Helvetius. The third
+class is of a social nature exclusively, good breeding and good tone
+being the essentials; its conspicuous features were the dinners
+and suppers of Suard, Saurin, the Abbes Raynal and Morellet, of the
+Palais-Royal of Mme. de Blot, of the Temple of the Prince of Conti,
+those of Mme. de Beauvau, Mme. de Gramont, M. de La Popeliniere, and
+others.
+
+The distinctions thus made will not hold throughout, but they
+facilitate the presentation of a subject that is exceedingly
+complicated. It may almost be said that each generation of the
+eighteenth century had a salon with a different physiognomy; those
+of 1710, 1730, 1760, and 1780 were all inspired by different motives,
+causes, and events, and were all led by women of different histories
+and aspirations, whose common idol was man, but whose ideas of what
+constituted a hero were as widely different as was the constitution of
+society in the respective periods. Not until the middle of the reign
+of Louis XIV. did social life become detached from Versailles, and,
+spreading out and circulating in a thousand hotels, showed itself in
+all its force, splendor, and elegance. The celebrated women of the
+regency--Mme. de Prie, Mme. de Parabere, Mme. de Sabran--had no salon,
+while those of the Marquis d'Alluys and the Hotels de Sully, de Duras,
+de Villars, and the suppers of Mme. de Chauvelin were of a distinctly
+different type from those of the earlier and the later periods.
+
+In a certain sense, the salons changed the complexion of the age. The
+eighteenth century itself was friendly and generous; it was, also,
+impatient and inexperienced, seeing things not as they were but as it
+wished them to be, compelling science and art to serve its purpose.
+It was frank, often brutally frank, a characteristic due partly to the
+conversational license of the salons. With its Fontenelle, Voltaire,
+Piron, etc., it was indeed a happy century. A _bon mot_ was the event
+of the day and travelled over all the civilized world.
+
+Feeling keenly the need of a guiding principle, the need of a more
+substantial foundation in education, the women of the century thought
+and wrote much on that subject; such was, for the most part, the work
+of the great salons, but in them the philosophical tenets of the
+age were also discussed. The spirit of criticism thus created and
+cultivated, which finally spread through all classes of society,
+gradually conquered the new power in the state--public opinion which,
+at the end of the century, ruled supreme in all its strength and
+vehemence, defying every effort of the government to stifle it. The
+highest form of agreeable and intellectual society which the world has
+ever seen attained to its most complete development in these salons.
+
+Every century has had its specialty: the twelfth had its crusades, the
+sixteenth its religious struggles, the seventeenth its grand _gout_,
+the eighteenth its conversation and love of reason, the nineteenth
+its political struggles; and each one displayed the French passion for
+_esprit_; the eighteenth, however, was, _par excellence_, the century
+of _esprit_, and it was most remarkably developed in woman.
+
+"Such astonishingly loquacious people as lived in Paris in the
+eighteenth century! ineffective, sardonic, verbose, sociable,
+intellectual, elegant, immoral--grand gentlemen and ladies, with tears
+for mimic woes and none for actual ones, praise for wit, rewards
+for cleverness, and absolute ignorance of the destinies they were
+preparing for themselves;" such is the story of women and society of
+the eighteenth century. Among these women the salon leaders will be
+found the most attractive, and the most influential in literature,
+theory of government, and social and moral development; to the
+mistresses belongs the title of "politicians."
+
+_La Menagerie de Mme. de Tencin_ was one of the earliest of the
+eighteenth-century salons, although, in the strict sense of the word,
+Mme. de Tencin's salon was of a political rather than a literary
+nature. Successively nun, mistress, mother, she was one of the
+shrewdest women of the century. Born in 1681, she early became a nun;
+but such was the character of her life at the convent that it was not
+long before she became a mother. In 1714 she abandoned her conventual
+life and went to Paris, where she rose to influence as the mistress of
+Cardinal Dubois and of the regent, the Duke of Orleans. At Paris her
+real activity began; she arrived at that gay capital with no other
+collateral than a pretty face and an extraordinary cunning, which
+soon brought her a fortune. Fertile in resources of all kinds, she
+succeeded immediately, and gained for her nephew the cardinal's hat.
+In 1717 was born to her the afterward famous d'Alembert, whom she left
+upon the steps of the church Saint-Jean-le-Rond; afterward, when he
+had become eminent and her power was waning, she unsuccessfully used
+every means at her command to gain his favor and recognition; the
+father of that child was the Chevalier Destouches.
+
+About 1726, when lovers were numerous and friends plentiful, the death
+of Lafresnaye occurred at her salon. In his testament he stated that
+his death was caused by Mme. de Tencin; however, she was too shrewd,
+cunning, and careful to be guilty of permitting any weak points to
+appear in her plots, and it was not difficult for her to clear herself
+of that charge by the verdict of the judges, who considered the
+accusation a posthumous vengeance.
+
+The great literary men whom Mme. de Tencin gathered about her,
+Fontenelle, Montesquieu, Mairan, Marivaux, Helvetius, Marmontel, were
+called her menagerie, or her _betes_. Among them, Marivaux received
+a pension of one thousand ecus from her, besides drawing at will upon
+the exchequer of an old maid by the name of Saint-Jean. Marmontel,
+desirous of writing tragedies, took lessons from the famous Mlle.
+Clairon--at his friend's expense. To give a correct idea of the
+character of woman's influence upon the literary style of that
+century, the words of Marmontel may be quoted: "He who wishes to write
+with precision, energy, and vigor, may live with man only; but he who
+in his style wishes to have subtleness, amenity, charm, flexibility,
+will do well, I think, to live with woman."
+
+Mme. de Tencin exerted an immense influence upon the men of her
+circle, especially socially; for example, she married the wealthy M.
+de La Popeliniere to Mlle. Dancourt. She was one of the few really
+consummate diplomats; later on, she became less associated with
+intrigues, and gave lessons in current diplomacy, with which she was
+perfectly familiar. Her counsel to her pupils was to gain friends
+among women rather than among men. "For," she would say, "we do
+whatever we wish with men; they are so dissipated, or so preoccupied
+with their personal interests, that to give attention to them would be
+to neglect your own interests."
+
+Every New Year's Day the _betes_ of her menagerie received two yards
+of velvet, to make knickerbockers to be worn at her receptions; this
+custom was observed up to the last year of the existence of her salon.
+Her receptions were among the first of the kind in France. Like the
+majority of salon leaders, she was an authoress of no mean ability.
+Her novels were widely read at the time--_Le Siege de Calais_ and _Les
+Malheurs de l'Amour_. Her memoirs, throwing light upon the intrigues
+and plots, social animosities, and general state of the society of the
+time, are historically valuable. She died in Paris, in 1749.
+
+Among all the great salons, that of Mme. de Tencin was the only one in
+which gambling was indulged in on a wholesale scale; fortunes changed
+hands every evening, a large part of the gains always falling to
+the lot of the hostess, as a sort of "rake off." She herself was a
+professional at the business, and by receiving private
+information from headquarters, through her famous friend Law, the
+_controleur-general_, and her lover Dubois, she was able to acquire
+an immense fortune which she distributed freely among her friends and
+favorites. Her place among the literary salon leaders depends mainly
+upon her endeavors to advance the interests of the aspiring young
+authors who were willing to place themselves under her protection.
+
+After the death of Mme. de Tencin and that of Mme. de Chatelet, who
+had received many of the celebrities of the time, there remained but
+two distinguished, purely literary and philosophical salons open in
+Paris. By right of precedence, the _betes_ should have gone over to
+the salon of Mme. du Deffand, as she had been established some years
+when Mme. Geoffrin began to receive at her residence, which gained
+its first renown through the exquisite dinners served there. But the
+_betes_ all flocked to the _salon bourgeois_, and consequently a more
+brilliant gathering never assembled in a salon; here sat, enjoying
+the liberal hospitalities, Fontenelle, Montesquieu, Mairan, Marmontel,
+Helvetius, Diderot, D'Alembert, Thomas, D'Holbach, Hume, Morellet,
+Mlle. de Lespinasse, the Marquis de Duras, Comtesses d'Egmont and de
+Brionne. Here, conversation--which, in the eighteenth century, was not
+only a discussion or a dissertation, but an art--reached its highest
+development; the members did not need to be eloquent, to expatiate
+upon some theory or science; the conversation moved about the members,
+and they had to be a part of it.
+
+Mme. Geoffrin was born in Paris in 1699, and was the daughter of M.
+Rodet, _valet de chambre_ of the dauphiness, Duchesse de Bourgogne,
+mother of Louis XV. When barely fifteen she was married to the wealthy
+M. Geoffrin, the so-called founder of the celebrated _Manufacture
+des Glaces de Gobelins_. Through his wealth and his associations with
+people of nobility who bought his ware, she was soon encouraged in
+her desire to entertain the nobility; and her _esprit_, tact,
+intelligence, and admirable taste in dress were all effective in
+bringing about the desired results.
+
+Her career was one of continual successes. When she opened her salon,
+in 1741, she instituted the custom of receiving her friends at table,
+not only men of letters, but artists, architects, builders, painters,
+sculptors, all men of genius and prominence. Monday was the day
+reserved for artists exclusively; Marmontel, who lived with Mme.
+Geoffrin for ten years "as her tenant," and the indispensable Abbe
+Morellet were the exceptions who might be present upon that day. From
+the very beginning she formed the habit of permitting conversation
+to go just so far, then cutting it off with her famous: _Voil qui est
+bien!_
+
+Her husband was the _maitre d'hotel_, of whom many interesting
+anecdotes are told; the best and one that illustrates well the
+appreciation of individuals in those days is the following, which is
+so admirably told by Lady Jackson that we quote from her: "For some
+years, there sat at the bottom of Mme. Geoffrin's dinner and supper
+table a dignified-looking, white-haired old gentleman, bland in
+manner, but very modest and retiring, speaking only when spoken to,
+but looking very happy when the guests seemed to enjoy the good cheer
+set before them. When, at last, his customary place became vacant, and
+some brilliant butterfly of madame's circle of _visiteurs flottants_,
+who, perhaps, had smiled patronizingly upon the silent old gentleman,
+becoming aware of his absence, would, perchance, carelessly inquire
+what had become of her constant dinner guest, madame would reply:
+_Mais, c'etait mon mari. Helas! il est mort, le bon homme._ [Why, that
+was my husband! alas, he is dead, poor man!] Just so little was the
+consideration shown this worthy creature in his own house! Yet it both
+pleased and amused him to sit there silently and gaze at the throng
+of rank, fashion, and learning, assembled in his wife's salon, and to
+witness her social success."
+
+After the death of Mme. Geoffrin's husband, the immense fortune passed
+under her own management, whereupon began her real career as a social
+arbitress, during which she is said to have tempered both opinions
+and characters. Thomas said of her that "she was, in morals, like that
+divinity of the ancients which maintained or reestablished limits."
+She was a great patroness of arts and her rooms were decorated with
+pictures by Vanloo, Greuze, Vernet, Robert, etc. She and her salon
+became, in time, the acknowledged judge and dictator of matters
+literary and artistic. Whenever a financier wished to purchase a
+certain work of art, it was taken to her Monday dinner, where the
+artists determined its artistic value and fixed the price. Her house
+was a real museum; there the precious Mariette collection was on
+permanent exhibition.
+
+Besides her Monday dinners to artists and her Wednesday dinners to the
+literary world, she gave private luncheons to a select few who were
+especially congenial. At those functions, such celebrities as the
+Comtesses d'Egmont and de Brionne, the Marquise de Duras, and the
+Prince de Rohan were frequent guests.
+
+Mme. Geoffrin was shrewd and tactful enough to avoid politics and not
+to permit discussions of a political nature at her salon--precautions
+which she observed to keep the government from interfering with her
+fortune and mode of living. Her salon and dinners became so famous
+that every foreigner going to Paris had the ambition to be received at
+Mme. Geoffrin's; when any aspirant was successful in this, she would
+say to her friends: _Soyons aimables_ [Let us be kind]. She spent
+freely of her immense fortune constantly seeking and aiding the poor.
+Persons who refused to accept her charity found little favor with her;
+Rousseau was one of these. It was her habit to go frequently to see
+friends, merely to ascertain their wants and to satisfy them. The Abbe
+Morellet, Thomas, D'Alembert, and Mlle. de Lespinasse (the only lady
+admitted to her Wednesdays) were given liberal pensions. Upon each
+New Year's Day, in commemoration of Mme. de Tencin, she sent each
+Wednesday guest a velvet cap. Her motto was: _Donner et pardonner_
+[Give and forgive].
+
+Stanislas, King of Poland, her _protege_, whom she had rescued from
+the debtor's prison in Paris, and to whom she had shown many favors,
+upon being elected King of Poland in 1764, said to her: _Maman, votre
+fils est roi_ [Mamma, your son is king]. Two years later, when she
+paid him a visit, the leading members of the Polish nobility met her
+on the road, and the king had a special residence prepared for her.
+As she passed through Vienna, Joseph II. received her, and the Empress
+Maria entertained her at dinner. Upon her return to Paris, after this
+triumphal tour through Europe, the members of the world of literature
+and art, and even the ministers and the nobility, flocked to see her;
+this demonstration was the more remarkable from the fact that she
+wielded no political influence, her only desire and pleasure seeming
+to lie in aiding her friends.
+
+Mme. Geoffrin was too practical and had too much good common sense to
+be vain. The majority of men were influenced by and favored her, and,
+which seemed strange, she had few enemies among her own sex. Mme.
+Necker said: "The old age of Mme. Geoffrin is like that of old trees,
+whose age we know by the space they cover and the quantity of roots
+they spread. She has seen all the illustrious men of the century; she
+has discovered, with sagacity, their peculiarities and their defects.
+She judges them by their conduct, never by their talents."
+
+In her best years, she was intimately associated with the
+Encyclopaedists, to whom she paid over one hundred thousand francs for
+the publication of their work. Of all the great women of that century,
+she was the closest friend of the philosophers and free-thinkers,
+being called _La Fontenelle des Femmes_. She was always ready with
+an answer; one day a friend pointed out to her the house of the
+farmer-general Bouvet, and asked her: "Have you ever seen anything as
+magnificent and in better taste?" She replied: "I would have nothing
+to say if Bouvet were the _frotteur_ [floor polisher] of it."
+
+Mme. Geoffrin, more than any other woman of the salons, possessed the
+three essential qualifications of a salon leader,--good sense,
+tact, and intelligence. She had also _esprit_, perfect simplicity,
+precision, and faultless taste; though a sceptic, she was a diplomat
+who perfectly understood the art of manoeuvring. In short, Mme.
+Geoffrin was an intellectual authority, a sort of minister to society,
+and her salon was the great centre and rendezvous, a veritable
+institution of the eighteenth century. This seems the more remarkable
+when we consider that she belonged to the bourgeoisie, and that
+by dint of her exquisite tact, her almost infallible judgment, her
+admirable taste in dress, and her keen intelligence, she created for
+herself a position which was the envy of all Europe. Such women are
+rare. During the last eighteen months of her life, though suffering
+from paralysis and rheumatism, which she contracted at a religious
+fete at Notre-Dame, she was unremitting in her attention to her
+friends and the poor; and up to her death, in 1777, her friends were
+faithful to her.
+
+That spirit, or malady, which penetrated and ruled almost every
+creature in the eighteenth century found its most notable victim in
+Marie de Vichy-Chamrond--Mme. du Deffand. She, so to speak, yawned
+out her life in a blase society without faith or ideal. That horrible
+affliction, with all its painful symptoms, ennui, whose origin was
+seen to lie in an excess and abuse of _esprit_ in a society that
+based all its pleasures and happiness upon the mind without any higher
+interest than the self, infected a whole century with an "irremediable
+disenchantment of others and one's self." This self-cult, or life
+in and for the mind, developed sagacity, justness of views, and an
+incomparable penetration, but it neglected all the elements necessary
+to contentment and those other pleasures, of which the first is love
+for one's fellow beings. Mme. du Deffand exemplified this stage
+of mental unbalance; and when she wrote of her former friend and
+companion: "Mlle. de Lespinasse died to-day at two o'clock; formerly,
+that would have been an event for me; to-day, it is nothing at all,"
+she gave an idea of the indifference which was characteristic of the
+society of the time--an indifference which developed into an incurable
+malady and an all-consuming egoism, stifling the heart-beat of that
+world which was weary of everything and yet was unwilling to close its
+eyes.
+
+Marie de Vichy-Chamrond was born in 1697, of a noble family. She began
+the same manner of life as that followed by most French women, being
+reared in the Convent of Madeleine de Frenel, where, when quite young,
+she evinced a strong spirit of impiety, giving expression to the most
+sceptical opinions upon religious subjects, to the great dismay of
+her superiors and parents. At the age of twenty she was married to the
+Marquis du Deffand, who had but his brevet of colonel of a regiment of
+dragoons, and whose intelligence and fortune were of a _nullite rare_.
+However, her marriage was a sort of emancipation which enabled her to
+enter society; and it is asserted that she soon became the mistress of
+Philippe of Orleans, the regent, from whom she received six thousand
+francs life income.
+
+As the result of a disagreement, she separated from her husband, and
+then began a life of pleasure among the gayest of the most fashionable
+world, where, through the power of her brilliancy, wit, charm, and
+fascinating beauty, she immediately became a leader. After passing
+through all the phases of social life and its varied experiences--from
+the society of Mme. de Prie, the type of the dissolute woman of
+the Regency, from the famous suppers of the regent, whose ingenious
+inventions of lewd and wanton pleasures made him notorious, from an
+association with the intriguing Duchesse de Maine, to all the great
+and influential social centres of Paris--in short, after pursuing
+a career of fashionable dissipation, she became reconciled to her
+husband, and lived with him in peace and happiness for a short time;
+but six months of regular life affected her behavior toward the poor
+marquis to such a degree that he thought it best to leave her. After
+that episode, she returned to her lover; and, rejected by him and her
+friends, and becoming the subject of the gossip of the entire city,
+she sought consolation from one acquaintance after another, and was
+miserable all the time.
+
+At the age of about thirty-four, Mme. du Deffand returned to a kind
+of regular life, and, in time, won a reputation for _esprit_, regained
+her honorable friends and established for herself a kind of accepted
+authority. Thus, when she opened a salon in 1742, she was able to
+attract a brilliant company, which became famous after 1749, when she
+took apartments in the Convent Saint-Joseph. Here wit and polished
+manners, taste, vivacity, and good sense were the requisites;
+literature, politics, and philosophy were not tolerated, but
+"sparkling _bons mots_, glancing epigrams, witty verses, were the
+avenues to social success."
+
+Until her dotage this woman, who, from a natural selfishness and lack
+of sympathy, was incapable of loving with the characteristic ardor
+of the women of her time, by knowing how to inspire love in others,
+controlled and held near her the famous men and women of her age.
+When she began to realize the calamity of her failing sight, which was
+probably due to her general state of restlessness and the resultant
+physical decay, she received, as companion, a relative, Mlle. de
+Lespinasse, who undertook the most difficult, disagreeable, and
+ungrateful task of waiting on the marquise. As Mme. du Deffand arose
+in time to receive at six, mademoiselle soon announced to the friends
+that she herself would be visible at an earlier hour. Thus, it
+happened that Marmontel, Turgot, Condorcet, and d'Alembert regularly
+assembled in mademoiselle's room--a proceeding which soon led to a
+rupture between the two women and a breach between Mme. du Deffand
+and d'Alembert. The marquise was therefore left alone, blind, but too
+proud to tolerate pity, yet by her conversation retaining her power
+of fascination. It was about this time that Horace Walpole became
+connected with her life. Upon the death of Mme. Geoffrin, she, hearing
+of the imposing ceremonies and funeral orations, exclaimed: _Voila
+bien du bruit pour une omelette au lard_. [A great ado about a lard
+omelet!] Her latter years were dragged out most miserably, being
+marked by a singular feverishness and unavailing efforts toward the
+acceptance of some faith. Her death, in 1780, finally brought her
+relief.
+
+The career of Mme. du Deffand actually began as early as 1730, when
+she opened her establishment on the Rue de Beaune, at the time that
+she became attached to the president Henault, who presided over her
+salon for more than thirty years. The famous salon Du Deffand at the
+Convent Saint-Joseph was not opened until 1749; there she was very
+particular as to those whom she received, and access to her salon
+was a matter of difficulty. Grimm was never received, and Diderot
+was present but once. The conversation was always intellectual, and
+whenever she tired of French vivacity, she would spend an evening with
+Mme. Necker.
+
+A letter of Walpole to Montagu leaves, on the whole, a splendid
+picture of her: "I have heard her dispute with all sorts of people,
+upon all sorts of subjects, and never knew her to be in the wrong.
+She humbles the learned, sets right their disciples, and finds
+conversation for everybody. As affectionate as Mme. de Sevigne, she
+has none of her prejudices, but a more universal taste; and with the
+most delicate frame, her spirits hurry her through a life of fatigue
+that would kill me were I to remain here."
+
+The simple furnishings of her apartments, which were very spacious
+and had been occupied by the famous Mme. de Montespan, stood out in
+striking contrast to the elegance of her visitors. Here she gathered
+about her her two lovers, _le President_ Henault and Pont de Veyle,
+besides D'Alembert, Turgot, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Necker, Walpole,
+the Abbes Barthelemy and Pernetty, the Chevalier de Lisle, de Formant,
+_le Docteur_ Gatti, Hume, Gibbon, Baron de Gleichen, and many other
+celebrities, including the Princesses de Beauvau, de Poix, de Talmont,
+the Duchesses de Choiseul, d'Aiguillon, de Gramont, the Marechale de
+Luxembourg, the Marquises de Boufflers and du Chatelet, the Comtesses
+de Rochefort, de Broglie, de Forcalquier, Mme. Necker, Lady Pembroke,
+De Lauzun, and many others, all of whom were society leaders. Whenever
+Mme. du Deffand had a special supper, it was said that Paris was at
+Mme. du Deffand's.
+
+Her salon, above all others, was the centre of cosmopolitanism,
+where all great men, foreigners and natives, found means of social
+intercourse, and where, more than in any other salon, were assembled
+the great beauties of the day, represented especially by the
+Countesses de Forcalquier and Choiseul-Beaupre, Duchesse de La
+Valliere. Gallantry and beauty were found in the Marechale de
+Luxembourg and the Comtesse de Boufflers. The philosophical movement
+of the Encyclopaedists and Economists was not encouraged at all.
+Thus, in Mme. du Deffand's salon, we find neither pure philosophy nor
+religion, nor the air of pedants and _declamateurs_; it was a royalist
+salon without illusion, hence indifferent to all questions. It
+represented the perfect type of the French model of _esprit de
+finesse_,--that is, precision,--and its leader possessed a keen
+insight into human character.
+
+This wonderful woman, who, during a period of over forty years, had
+held at her feet the elite of the French world, at the age of
+about threescore and ten, fell desperately in love with a man of
+fifty--Horace Walpole. She who had never loved with her heart, but
+only with her mind, then declared it better to be dead than not to
+love someone. Although her actions and letters were pitiful in
+the extreme, her epistles are invaluable for their incomparable
+portraitures and keen reflections upon persons and events of the time.
+She attracted Walpole by the possibilities that were opened up to
+him by her position in society, and by her brilliant conversation,
+in which she scoffed at the clergy and the philosophers, showing a
+profound insight into human nature and the society of the time as well
+as into politics. Their correspondence shows one of the most pitiful,
+pathetic, and lamentable love tales in the history of society. He
+looked upon her friendship as a most valuable acquisition by which
+he was kept in touch with all the scandals and stories of society,
+of which he was so fond, and she mistook that friendship for love.
+He felt himself flattered in being the one preferred by such a
+distinguished old lady of high society.
+
+All critics are at a loss for the explanation of such a love in a
+woman of seventy. Was it the result of the lifetime of disappointment
+of a woman who had constantly sought love but had never found it? Was
+it, thus, the hallucination of the childish old age of the woman who
+was physically consumed by incessant social functions and all-night
+reading? Mme. du Deffand sees in Walpole her ideal, and she gives
+expression to her feelings, regardless of propriety; for she is
+childish and irresponsible. To a certain extent, the same was true of
+Mme. de Stael, but she was still physically healthy and young enough
+to enjoy life and the realization of that which she had so long
+desired--an ideal affection. In the case of Mme. du Deffand, the soul
+was willing, but the body failed. Her emotion can scarcely be termed
+love, but is rather to be designated as a mental hallucination, an
+exaggerated intellectual affection bordering upon sentimentality--the
+outgrowth of that morbid imagination developed from her long suffering
+from ennui.
+
+She was a woman destined to pass by the side of happiness without ever
+reaching it. She hardly had enjoyed what may be called friendship; she
+was always either suspicious of it and of her friends' sentiments, or
+she herself broke off relations for some trivial reason. This woman,
+however, always longed to believe her friends sincere, but never
+succeeded. "Her friends either leave her, they die, or they are far
+away; or, if present, faithful and attached to her, she cannot believe
+in their affection; her cursed scepticism deceived her heart."
+
+Mme. du Deffand was one of the few women of the eighteenth century who
+saw reality and nothing but reality, and admitted what she saw; she
+was gifted with such quick penetration and such mental facility
+that she stands out prominently as one of the brightest and most
+intellectual of the spiritual women of her time. This quickness of
+perception and tendency to follow a mere impression made it difficult
+for her to examine closely, to be patient of details; too sure of
+herself, too emotional, too passionate, she displayed injustice,
+vehemence, over-enthusiasm; easily bored and disgusted, she was, at
+the same time, susceptible to infatuation. Scherer said: "She is a
+superior man in a body of a nervous and weak woman."
+
+She was a woman dominated by her reason--a characteristic which led to
+an incurable ennui, thus causing her terrible suffering, but equipping
+her with a penetration which saw through the world and knew man, whom
+she divided into three classes: _les trompeurs_, _les trompes_, _les
+trompettes_. According to her judgment, man is either fatiguing or, if
+brilliantly endowed, usually false or jealous; but she realized, also,
+her own shortcomings, the incompleteness of her faculties. "The force
+of her thought does not reach talent; her intelligence is active and
+responsive, but fails to respond. She often shows a sovereign disdain
+for herself, everybody, and everything. She arrives at a point in life
+when she no longer has passion, desire, or even curiosity; she detests
+life, and dreads death because she does not know that there is another
+world. She is not happy enough to do without those whom she scorns,
+and must therefore seek diversion in the conversation of stupid
+people, preferring anything to solitude; this refers to the time when
+her best friends are no more and when she herself is out of her former
+_milieu_); she was too old, or lived too long; she belongs to another
+age."
+
+By her friends she was called the feminine Voltaire, and the
+celebrated philosopher and she were drawn together by a very similar
+habit of mind, although, to her intimates, she scorched Voltaire; but
+in writing to him she would overwhelm him with compliments, calling
+him the only orthodox representative of good taste. In general, she
+detested philosophers, because their hearts were cold and their minds
+preoccupied with themselves.
+
+Mme. du Deffand had an inherent passion for simplicity, frankness,
+justice, and a hatred for deceit and affectation; but, strange as it
+may seem, her nature required variety in her pleasure--new people, new
+pursuits, new amusements, new agitations for her hungry mind; she was
+too critical to be contented and to put implicit trust in her friends.
+An agnostic, always endeavoring to probe into the nature of things,
+the possession of a personal, living faith was yet the strongest
+desire of her heart; all her life she longed for the peace that
+religion affords, but this was denied her, although she had the
+spiritual assistance of the most famous of the clergy, attended
+church, had her oratory, her confessor, and faithfully studied the
+Bible; all was vain--belief would not come to her. The marriage tie
+was not sacred to her, which was the case with many of the French
+women of the day, but she went further in lacking all reverence for
+religious ceremony, though she respected the beliefs of others.
+
+She was all wit and intellectuality. In order to keep her friends from
+falling under the spell of ennui, she devoted herself to the culinary
+art, and her suppers became famous for their rare dishes. "She is an
+example of the type that was predominant in the time--one that had
+lived too much and was dying from excess of knowledge and pleasure;
+but she sought that which did not exist in that age,--serenity, peace,
+faith. She was passionate, sensitive, and sympathetic, in a cold,
+heartless, and unfeeling world. She needed variety; being bored with
+society, solitude, husband, lovers, herself, nothing remained for her
+but to await deliverance by death." This came to her in 1780.
+
+In matters literary, Mme. du Deffand preserved an absolute liberty
+and independence of opinion. She refused to accept the verdicts of the
+most competent judges; with instinctive attractions and repulsions,
+she found but few writers that pleased her. Boileau, Lesage, Chamfort,
+were her favorites. She said that Buffon was of an unendurable
+monotony. "He knows well what he knows, but he is occupied with beasts
+only; one must be something of a beast one's self in order to devote
+one's self to such an occupation."
+
+As a writer, she showed remarkable good sense, admirable sincerity,
+rare judgment, justness, and precision; depth and charm were present
+in a less degree than were other desirable qualities, but she
+exhibited excellent _esprit_. She was probably the most subtile, and
+at the same time the most fastidious person of the century. The best
+portraits of her were written by her own pen; two of them we give, one
+written at the beginning of her career in 1728, the other at its end
+in 1774.
+
+"Mme. la Marquise du Deffand is an enemy of all falseness and
+affectation. Her talk and countenance are always the faithful
+interpreters of the sentiment of her soul. Her form is not fine nor
+bad. She has _esprit_, is reasonable and has a correct taste. If
+vivacity at times leads her off, truth soon brings her back. After she
+falls into an ennui which extinguishes all the light of her mind, she
+finds that state insupportable and the cause of such unhappiness, that
+she blindly embraces all that presents itself, without deliberation."
+
+(1774.) "They believe Mme. du Deffand to possess more _esprit_ than
+she really has; they praise and fear her, but she merits neither the
+one nor the other. As far as her _esprit_ is concerned, she is what
+she is; in regard to her form, to her birth and fortune--nothing
+extraordinary, nothing distinguished. Born without great talent,
+incapable of great application, she is very susceptible to ennui, and,
+not finding any resource within herself, she resorts to those that
+surround her and this search is often without success."
+
+Mme. du Deffand arouses our curiosity because she was such an
+exceptional character, led such a strange life, made and retained
+friends in ways so different from those of the noted heroines of the
+salons. In her youth, she was beautiful and fascinating, with numerous
+lovers and numberless suitors, but she grew even more famous as her
+age increased; when infirm and blind, and living in a convent, she
+ruled by virtue of her acknowledged authority and was still able
+to cope with the greatest philosophers, the chief and dean of whom,
+Voltaire, wrote the following four lines:
+
+  "Qui vous voit et qui vous entend
+  Perd bientot sa philosophie;
+  Et tout sage avec Du Deffand
+  Voudrait en fou passer sa vie."
+
+  [He who sees and hears you,
+  Soon loses his philosophy.
+  Wise he who with Du Deffand
+  Insane would pass his life.]
+
+Living long enough to witness the reigns of three kings and one
+regent, she was brilliant enough to reign over the intellectual and
+social world for over fifty years, by virtue of her intellectuality,
+keenness, and wit; yet, among all the great women of France, she is
+truly the one who deserves genuine pity and sympathy.
+
+The salon of Mlle. de Lespinasse, her rival, was of a different type,
+being exclusively intellectual, but permitting absolute liberty of
+expression of opinions. Born in 1732, at the house of a surgeon of
+Lyons, she was the illegitimate daughter of the Comtesse d'Albon
+and was baptized as the child of a man supposed to be named Claude
+Lespinasse. From 1753 she was the constant attendant to Mme. du
+Deffand, her mother's sister-in-law, for a period of ten years, until
+she became completely worn out physically, morally, and mentally by
+incessant care and endless all-night readings. An attempt to end her
+existence with sixty grains of opium failed. Owing to the jealousy of
+Mme. du Deffand, a separation ensued in 1764, when she retired some
+distance from the Convent Saint-Joseph to very modest apartments,
+where, by means of her friends, she was able to receive in a dignified
+way. The Marechale de Luxembourg completely fitted up her apartment,
+the Duc de Choiseul succeeded in getting her an annual pension from
+the king, and Mme. Geoffrin allowed her three thousand francs.
+
+The majority of the members of her salon were from that of Mme. du
+Deffand, having followed Mlle. de Lespinasse after the rupture of
+the two women; besides these, there were Condorcet, Helvetius, Grimm,
+Marmontel, Condillac, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, and many others. As
+her hours for receiving were after five o'clock, her friends were made
+to understand that her means were not such as to warrant suppers or
+dinners, four o'clock being the dinner hour in those days.
+
+Her salon immediately became known as the official encyclopaedia
+resort, Mme. du Deffand dubbing it _La Muse de l'Encyclopedie_.
+D'Alembert was the high priest, and it was not long before he
+was comfortably lodged in the third story of her house, Mlle. de
+Lespinasse having nursed him through a malignant fever which the poor
+man had contracted in the wretched place where he lodged. A strange
+gathering, those salons! Mlle. de Lespinasse, one of the leaders
+in the social world, with a prominent salon, was the illegitimate
+daughter of a Comtesse d'Albon, and her presiding genius was the
+illegitimate son of Mme. de Tencin; here we find the wealthiest and
+most elegant of the aristocracy coming from their palaces to meet, in
+friendly social and intellectual intercourse, men who lived on a mere
+pittance, dressed on almost nothing, lodged in the most wretched of
+dens, boarding wherever a salon or palace was opened to them. Surely,
+intellect was highly valued in those days, and moral etiquette was at
+a low ebb!
+
+Mlle. de Lespinasse possessed two characteristics which were prominent
+in a remarkable degree--love and friendship. She appeared to interest
+herself in everybody in such a way as to make him believe that he
+was the preferred of her heart; loving everybody sincerely and
+affectionately, she "lacked altogether the sentimental equilibrium."
+Especially pathetic was her love for two men--the Count de Mora, a
+Spanish nobleman, and a Colonel Guibert, who was celebrated for his
+relations with Frederick the Great; although this wore terribly on
+her, consuming her physical force, she always received her friends
+with the same good grace, but often, after their departure, she would
+fall into a frightful nervous fit from which she could find relief
+only by the use of opium.
+
+Her love for Guibert was known to her friends, but was a secret from
+her platonic lover, D'Alembert. When, after a number of years of
+untold sufferings which even opium could not relieve, she died in
+1776, having been cared for to the last by D'Alembert, the Duke de La
+Rochefoucauld, and her cousin, the Marquis d'Enlezy, it was with these
+words on her dying lips, addressed to Guibert: "Adieu, my friend!
+If ever I return to life, I should like to use it in loving you;
+but there is no longer any time." When D'Alembert read in her
+correspondence that she had been the mistress of Guibert for sixteen
+years, he was disconsolate, and retired to the Louvre, which was
+his privilege as Secretary of the Academy. He left there only to go
+walking in the evening with Marmontel, who tried to console him by
+recalling the changeableness of humor of Mlle. de Lespinasse. "Yes,"
+he would reply, "she has changed, but not I; she no longer lived for
+me, but I always lived for her. Since she is no longer, I don't
+know why I am living. Ah, that I must still suffer these moments of
+bitterness which she knew so well how to soothe and make me forget!
+Do you remember the happy evenings we used to pass? What is there now?
+Instead of her, when coming home, I find only her shadow! This Louvre
+lodging is itself a tomb, which I enter only with fright."
+
+Mlle. de Lespinasse died of grief for a lover's death, but she left
+a group of lovers to lament her loss. In many respects she was not
+unlike Mlle. de Scudery; exceptionally plain, her face was much
+marked with smallpox, a disfigurement not uncommon in those days; her
+exceedingly piercing and fine eyes, beautiful hair, tall and elegant
+figure, excellent taste in dress, pleasing voice and a most brilliant
+talent for conversation, combined to make her one of the most
+attractive and popular women of her time. As previously stated, she
+was the only female admitted to the dinners given by Mme. Geoffrin to
+her men of letters.
+
+Mme. du Deffand's friend, _le President_ Henault, left the following
+portrait of Mlle. de Lespinasse: "You are cosmopolitan--you are
+suitable to all occasions. You like company--you like solitude.
+Pleasures amuse, but do not seduce you. You have very strong passions,
+and of the best kind, for they do not return often. Nature, in
+endowing you with an ordinary state, gave you something with which to
+rise above it. You are distinguished, and, without being beautiful,
+you attract attention. There is something piquant in you; one might
+obstinately endeavor to turn your head, but it would be at one's own
+expense. Your will must be awaited, because you cannot be made to
+come. Your cheerfulness embellishes you, and relaxes your nerves,
+which are too highly strung. You have your own opinion, and you leave
+others their own. You are extremely polite. You have divined _le
+monde_. In vain one would transplant you--you would take root
+anywhere. In short, you are not an ordinary person."
+
+The salon of Mlle. de Lespinasse was unique. Everyone was at perfect
+liberty to express and sustain his own opinions upon any subject,
+without danger of offending the hostess, which, as has been seen,
+was not the case in the salon of Mme. Geoffrin. Her high and sane
+intellectual culture permitted her to listen to all discussions and to
+take part in all. She had no strong prejudices, having read--for Mme.
+du Deffand--nearly everything that was read at that time; also, she
+had the talent of preserving harmony among her members by drawing from
+each one his best qualities.
+
+A woman who played a prominent part in society during the Regency,
+but who had no salon in the proper sense of that word, was Mme.
+du Chatelet, commonly called Voltaire's Emilie. She was especially
+interested in sciences, mathematics, geometry, and astronomy, and did
+more than any other woman of that time to encourage nature study.
+It was at her Chateau de Cirey that Voltaire found protection when
+threatened with a second visit to the Bastille; and there, from time
+to time for sixteen years, he did some of the best work of his life.
+It was Mme. du Chatelet who encouraged him, sympathized with him,
+and appreciated his mobile humor as well as his talent. During these
+years, while he was under the influence of madame, appeared _Merope_,
+_Alzire_, the _Siecle de Louis XIV_, etc.
+
+Mme. du Chatelet was the one great _femme savante_ of that century. In
+the preface to her _Traduction des Principes Mathematiques de Newton_,
+Voltaire wrote: "Never was a woman so _savante_ as she, and never did
+a woman merit less the saying, _she is a femme savante_. She did
+not select her friends from those circles where there was a war of
+_esprit_, where a sort of tribunal was established, where they judged
+their century, by which, in recompense, they were severely judged.
+She lived for a long time in societies which were ignorant of what she
+was, and she took no notice of this ignorance. The words precision,
+justness, and force are those which correctly describe her elegance.
+She would have written as Pascal and Nicole did rather than like Mme.
+de Sevigne; but this severe firmness and this tendency of her _esprit_
+did not make her inaccessible to the beauties of sentiment."
+
+Maupertuis, the astronomer, wrote: "What a marvel, moreover, to have
+been able to combine the fine qualities of her sex with the sublime
+knowledge which we believe uniquely made for us! This enterprising
+phenomenon will make her memory eternally respected."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+Salon Leaders--(Continued)
+
+Mme. Necker, Mme. d'Epinay, Mme. de Genlis: Minor Salons
+
+
+It seems strange indeed that in a century in which the universal
+impulse was toward pleasure, and sameness of personality was
+visible everywhere, the types of great women showed such an absolute
+dissimilarity. The contrast between the natural inclinations of Mme.
+Necker, the wife of the great minister of finance, and the atmosphere
+in which she lived, makes the study of her a most interesting one.
+Born in Switzerland, the daughter of Curchod, a poor Protestant
+minister, "with patriarchal morals, solid education, and strong
+good sense," this moral and stern woman was thrown into the midst of
+depraved elegance, refined licentiousness, and physical debauchery.
+Sincere, chaste, enthusiastic, and essentially religious, she remained
+so amidst all the corruption and physical and mental degeneracy of the
+age.
+
+Critics have made much ado over her marriage, a union of pure love and
+mutual inclinations, amidst the marriages of mere convenience and the
+gallant liaisons, such as those of Mme. du Deffand and _le President_
+Henault, and Mme. d'Epinay and Grimm. The matrimonial selection of
+Susanne Curchod was natural in a girl of her serious make-up, her
+moral education and her pure ancestry of the strict Protestant type.
+As a girl of sixteen, she had given evidence of remarkable mental
+ability and had acquired a wide knowledge--physics, Latin, philosophy,
+metaphysics--when she was sent to Lausanne, possibly with the idea
+of meeting a future husband with whom she could become thoroughly
+acquainted before giving up her independence. There she became
+the centre of a group or academy of young people, who, under her
+leadership, discussed subjects of every nature. At first she showed
+a tendency toward _preciosite_ and the spirit of the blue-stocking
+rather than toward the seriousness and dignity which marked her later
+career.
+
+It was at Lausanne that she met and fell in love with Gibbon, the
+English historian; this love affair met with opposition from Gibbon's
+father, and, after the death of the father of his fiancee, a calamity
+which left her poor and necessitated her teaching for a living,
+the Englishman, by his actions and manner toward her, compelled the
+breaking of their engagement. When, later in life, he went to her
+salon, they became intimate friends, enjoying "the intellectual union
+which had been impossible for them in their earlier days."
+
+Thus, at the age of twenty-four, Mlle. Curchod, beautiful, virtuous,
+and accomplished, and at the height of her reputation in a small town
+in Switzerland, was left an orphan. She was taken to Paris by Mme. de
+Vermenoux, a wealthy widow, who was sought in marriage by M. Necker,
+banker and capitalist; but, as she was unable to make up her mind to
+a definite answer, his attention was attracted to her young companion.
+The result was that, after a few months' sojourn in Paris, Mlle.
+Curchod became the wife of M. Necker, an event which caused rejoicing
+from Lausanne to Geneva. Their characters are well portrayed in two
+letters, written by them to their friends after their marriage. M.
+Necker wrote, in reply to a letter of congratulation:
+
+"Yes, sir; your friend (Mlle. Curchod) was indeed willing to have me,
+and I believe myself as happy as one can be. I cannot understand how
+it can be you whom they congratulate, unless it is as my friend. Will
+money always be the measure of opinion? That is pitiable! He who
+wins a virtuous, kind, and sensible woman--has he not made a good
+transaction, whether or not she be seated on sacks of money? Humanity,
+what a poor judge you are!"
+
+Shortly after her marriage, Mme. Necker wrote to one of her friends:
+"My dear, I have married a man who, according to my ideas, is the
+kindest of mortals, and I am not the only one to judge thus. I had had
+a liking for him ever since I learned to know him. At present, I see,
+in all nature, only my husband. I take notice of other men only in so
+far as they come more or less up to the standard of my husband, and
+I compare them only for the pleasure of seeing the difference." The
+marital relations of this loving pair lasted throughout life; and
+among great women of the eighteenth century, Mme. Necker is one of the
+few examples of ideal marriage relations.
+
+Soon after their marriage, the Neckers took up their quarters at the
+Rue Michel-le-Comte, where they began to receive friends. As at that
+time every day in the week was reserved by other salons,--Monday and
+Wednesday at Mme. Geoffrin's, Tuesday at Helvetius's, Thursday and
+Sunday at the Baron d'Holbach's,--Mme. Necker was compelled to appoint
+Friday as her reception day. She soon succeeded in attracting to her
+hotel the best _esprit_ of Paris: Diderot, Suard, Grimm, Comte de
+Schomberg, Marmontel, D'Alembert, Thomas, Saint-Lambert, Helvetius,
+Ducis, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, the Abbes Raynal, Armand, and
+Morellet, Mme. Geoffrin, Mme. du Deffand, Mme. de Marchais, Mme.
+Suard, the Marechale de Luxembourg, the Duchesse de Lauzun, the
+Marquise de La Ferte-Imbault, Mme. de Boufflers.
+
+Among these visitors, most of whom were atheists, Mme. Necker
+preserved her own religious opinions and piety, although her friends
+at Geneva never ceased to be concerned about her. Her admirers were
+many, but they were kept within the bounds of propriety and never
+attempted any gallant liberties with the hostess--except her ardent
+admirer Thomas, the intensity of whose eulogies upon her she was
+forced to check occasionally. It was not long before she became very
+influential in filling the vacant seats of the Academy. In this and
+many other respects, her salon may be compared with that of Mme. de
+Lambert.
+
+Mme. Necker's idea of conducting a salon and its conversation was much
+the same as the management of a state; she believed that the hostess
+must never join in the conversation as long as it goes on by itself,
+but, ever watchful, must never permit disturbances, disagreements,
+improprieties, or obstacles; she must animate it if it languish; she
+must see that conversation never takes a dangerous, disagreeable, or
+tiresome turn, and that it never brings into undue prominence one man
+especially, as this makes others jealous and displeases the entire
+society; it must always interest and include all members. The
+discussions at Mme. Necker's were literary and philosophical; and to
+prevent even the possibility of tedium, frequent readings were given
+in their place.
+
+It was at the salon of Mme. Necker that Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
+first read his _Paul et Virginie_, which received such a cold and
+indifferent welcome that the author, utterly discouraged, was on the
+point of burning his manuscript, when he was prevailed upon by his
+friend Vernet, the great artist, to preserve all his works. Mme.
+Necker was always quite frank and outspoken, often showing a cutting
+harshness and a rigor which, as was said, was little in harmony with
+her bare neck and arms--a style then in vogue at court. She never
+judged persons by their reputations, but by their _esprit_; thus, it
+was possible for her to receive people of the most diverse tendencies.
+When the Marquise de La Ferte-Imbault, one of the few virtuous women
+of the time, and of the highest aristocracy, was invited to attend the
+salon of Mme. Necker and was told that the Marechale de Luxembourg,
+Mme. du Deffand, Mme. de Boufflers, and Mme. Marchais were
+frequenters, she said: "These four women are so discredited by
+manners, and the first two are so dangerous, that for thirty years
+they have been the horror of society."
+
+The two portraits by Marmontel and Galiani are interesting, as
+throwing light upon the doings of her salon. Marmontel wrote: "Mme.
+Necker is very virtuous and instructed, but emphatic and stiff. She
+does not know Mme. de Sevigne, whom she praises, and only esteems
+Buffon and Thomas. She calculates all things; she sought men of
+letters only as trumpets to blow in honor of her husband. He never
+said a word; that was not very recreating."
+
+Galiani leaves a different impression: "There is not a Friday that
+I do not go to your house _en esprit_. I arrive, I find you now busy
+with your headdress, now busy with this duchess. I seat myself at your
+feet. Thomas quietly suffers, Morellet shows his anger aloud. Grimm
+and Suard laugh heartily about it, and my dear Comte de Greuze does
+not notice it. Marmontel finds the example worthy to be imitated,
+and you, madame, make two of your most beautiful virtues do battle,
+bashfulness and politeness, and in this suffering you find me a little
+monster more embarrassing than odious. Dinner is announced. They leave
+the table and in the cafe all speak at the same time. M. Necker thinks
+everything well, bows his head and goes away."
+
+In summer her receptions were first held at the Chateau de Madrid,
+and, later on, in a chateau at Saint-Ouen; the guests were always
+called for and returned in carriages supplied by the hostess. It was
+in her salon, in 1770, that the plan originated to erect the statue
+of Voltaire, which is to-day the famous statue of the _Palais de
+l'Institute_.
+
+When, during the stirring times before the Revolution, her salon took
+on a purely political nature, Mme. Necker played a very secondary
+role. In 1788 she and her husband were compelled to leave Paris; but
+being recalled by Louis XVI., Necker managed affairs for thirteen
+months, after which he retired with Mme. Necker to Coppet, where, in
+1794, the latter died.
+
+Mme. Necker never became a thorough Frenchwoman; she always lacked
+the grace and charm which are the necessary qualifications of a salon
+leader; intelligence was her most meritorious quality. Her dinners
+were apt to become tiresome and to drag. A very interesting story is
+told of her by the Marquis de Chastellux, which was reported by Mme.
+Genlis, one of her intimate friends:
+
+"Dining at Mme. Necker's, the marquis was first to arrive, and so
+early that the hostess was not yet in the salon. In walking up and
+down the room, he noticed a small book under Mme. Necker's chair. He
+picked it up and opened it. It was a blank book, a few of the pages
+of which had been written upon by Mme. Necker. Certainly, he would
+not have read a letter, but, believing to find only a few spiritual
+thoughts, he read without any scruples. It contained the plan for the
+dinner of that day, to which he had been invited, and had been written
+by Mme. Necker on the previous evening. It told what she would say to
+the most prominent of the invited guests. She wrote: 'I shall speak
+to the Chevalier de Chastellux about public felicity and Agatha; to M.
+d'Angeviller, I shall speak of love; between Marmontel and Guibert
+I shall raise some literary discussion.' After reading the note, he
+hurriedly replaced the book under the chair. A moment later, a valet
+entered, saying that madame had left her notebook in the salon. The
+dinner was charming for M. de Chastellux, because he had the pleasure
+of hearing Mme. Necker say, word for word, what she had written in her
+notebook."
+
+This woman was ever preoccupied with style, and, throughout her life,
+retained the solemn, studied, and academic air, as well as the simple,
+rural, innocent manner and spirit of her early surroundings. A mere
+bourgeoise, unaccustomed to elegance or to the manners of French
+social life, upon entering Parisian society she set her mind to
+observing, and immediately began to change her provincial ways and to
+make over her _esprit_ for conversation, for circumstances, and for
+characters; she adjusted her provincial spirit to that of Paris, thus
+making of it an entirely new product. Later on, her salon became the
+first of the modern political salons, but it was far from reaching the
+prominence of that of Mme. Geoffrin, whose characteristics were social
+prudence and strict propriety, while those of Mme. Necker were virtue
+and goodness.
+
+Mme. Necker was never in perfect sympathy with her visitors, the
+philosophers, the common basis of ideas and sentiments never existing
+between her and her friends as it did between Mme. Geoffrin and her
+frequenters; her tie was always artificial. "She represented the Swiss
+spirit in Parisian society; those serious and educated souls, virtuous
+and sentimental, somewhat sad and strictly moral, were rather tiresome
+to the Parisian world." Marmontel well describes her in another of his
+famous portraits:
+
+"A stranger to the customs of Paris, Mme. Necker had none of the
+charms and accomplishments of the young French woman. In her manner
+and language she had neither the air nor the tone of a woman reared
+in the school of arts, formed at the school of high society.
+Without taste in her headdress, without ease in her bearing, without
+fascination in her politeness, her mind--as was her countenance--was
+too properly adjusted to show grace. But a charm more worthy of her
+was that of propriety, of candor, of goodness. A virtuous education
+and solitary studies had given to her all that culture can add to an
+excellent nature. In her, sentiment was perfect, but her thought was
+often confused and vague; instead of clearing her ideas, meditation
+disturbed them; in exaggerating them, she believed to enlarge them;
+in order to extend them, she wandered off into abstractions and
+hyperboles. She seemed to see certain objects only through a fog,
+which augmented their importance in her eyes; and then her expression
+became so inflated that the pomposity of it would have been laughable
+if one had not known her to be entirely ingenuous."
+
+"In summing up the character of Mme. Necker, we find," says
+Sainte-Beuve, "first of all, a genuine individuality and a personality
+with defects which at first impression are shocking, but which only
+helped to render the woman and all her aspirations the more admirable.
+Entering a Parisian society with the firm decision of becoming a woman
+of _esprit_ and of being in relation with the _beaux esprits_, she was
+able to preserve the moral conscience of her Protestant training, to
+protest against the false doctrines about her, to give herself up to
+duties in the midst of society, to found institutions for the sick and
+needy,--and to leave a memory without a stain."
+
+While, among the famous salon leaders of the eighteenth century, Mme.
+Necker stands out preeminently for her strict moral integrity and
+fidelity to her marriage relations, Mme. d'Epinay is unique for
+the constancy of her affections for the men to whom she owes her
+celebrity, Rousseau and Grimm. Born in 1725, the record of her life
+runs like that of most French women. At the age of twenty she was
+married to her cousin, La Live, who later took the name of d'Epinay,
+from an estate his father, the wealthy M. de Bellegarde, had bought--a
+man who was really in love with her for a whole month after their
+marriage, but who, tiring of the pure affections of a loving wife,
+soon began to lavish his time and fortune upon a _danseuse_. The
+poor young wife was between two fires, the extravagance and wild
+dissipations of her husband and the rigid discipline and orthodoxy of
+her mother. Never was a woman treated so outrageously and insultingly
+as was this woman by a man who contrived in every manner to corrupt
+her morals by throwing her among his dissolute companions, Mme.
+d'Artz, the mistress of the Prince de Conti, and Mlle. d'Ette, an
+intriguing woman of the time; to the latter, Mme. d'Epinay confided
+her troubles, and, as the result of her counsels, fell into the hands
+of a M. de Francueil, handsome, clever, accomplished, but as morally
+depraved as was her husband.
+
+When Mme. d'Epinay was finally convinced that her husband was untrue
+to her, she felt nothing but disdain and contempt for him, and
+decided to live a virtuous life; after holding for a short time to
+her resolution "that a woman may have the most profound and tender
+sentiment for a man and yet remain faithful to her duties," she lost
+herself under the influence of the professional seducer Francueil,
+and, completely carried away by that passion, she cries out, in her
+memoirs: _Francueil, Francueil, tu m'as perdue, et tu disais que tu
+m'aimais_ [You have undone me--and you said you loved me]! Such was
+the lot, as was seen, of most women of those days, who had noble
+intentions, but a woman's weakness. The century did not demand
+faithfulness to the marital vows; but when a woman had once abandoned
+herself to love, it required that the attachment be to a man of honor
+and standing. Marriage was simply a preliminary step to freedom;
+after that ceremony came the natural election of the heart and mutual
+tenderness of the beings who could be mated only through the freedom
+which married life afforded. A superior illegitimate liaison was
+nothing unnatural--on the contrary, it was but a natural human
+selection; such was the nature of the affection of Mme. d'Epinay for
+this debauche Francueil.
+
+As she enjoyed absolute liberty, her lover paid his respects to her at
+Epinay; there he inaugurated amusements and took his friends. It
+was he who suggested the erection of a theatre at which her friends'
+productions might be offered to the world of critics. Through his
+efforts, the great men who made her salon famous were gathered at "La
+Chevrette," where the actors and players soon drew the attention of
+literary Paris. After a year or two of attachment, Francueil became
+indifferent to Mme. d'Epinay and transferred his affections to an
+actress--the sister of M. d'Epinay's mistress. Thus runs the story of
+the life of the average married woman. If she remained virtuous,
+she usually became resigned to her fate and lived happily; if she
+undertook to imitate her husband's tactics, she fell from the good
+graces of one lover to those of another, ending her life in absolute
+wretchedness.
+
+These two men--the lover and the husband--carried on with two sisters
+their licentious living and extravagances to such an extent that the
+injured wife demanded a separation of her fortune from that of her
+husband, in which project her father-in-law aided her and gave her
+thirteen thousand francs income. Mme. d'Epinay, in the midst of
+success, became acquainted with Mlle. Quinault, the daughter of the
+famous actor of the time, and herself a great actress. This woman
+invited Mme. d'Epinay to her so-called salon, which was, possibly, the
+most licentious and irreligious of the salons then in vogue, where she
+met Duclos, with whom she immediately formed a strong friendship.
+
+After the death of M. de Bellegarde, her wealth was considerably
+increased, a piece of good fortune which enabled her to carry out all
+her plans. It was at this time, 1755, that she induced Rousseau
+to live in her cottage, "l'Hermitage;" and for about two years she
+enjoyed perfect happiness with him. By a peculiar freak of fate she
+fell in with Grimm, who was introduced to her by Rousseau and who had,
+for some time, been on the hunt for a "faithful mistress." This German
+by birth, but Frenchman in spirit, had championed her at a dinner,
+where she was the object of the severest reproach. She had burned
+the papers of her sister, Mme. de Jully, who had betrayed an honest
+husband. Stricken with smallpox, just before dying, she confessed all
+to Mme. d'Epinay. The latter owed Mme. de Jully fifty ecus and the
+note was among the papers of Mme. de Jully. Mme. d'Epinay was accused
+of having burned the note to which it was asserted she had access; and
+Grimm undertook to plead her cause, an act which so elated madame that
+she turned all her affection upon her defender, whereupon Rousseau
+departed. Later on, the note having been found, Mme. d'Epinay was
+completely vindicated. Grimm then became her third lover.
+
+This third marriage, so to speak, was one of reason; the first was one
+of mere emancipation; the second, one of passion and genuine love.
+In 1755, worn out physically, she took a trip to Switzerland, to be
+treated by the famous Dr. Tronchin; there she became so ill that Grimm
+was summoned. They remained together for about two years, and after
+her return to Paris she reopened her salon of "La Chevrette." Her
+reunions partook more of the nature of our house parties; the salon
+was an immense room, in which the members would pair off and divert
+themselves as they pleased; in that respect "La Chevrette" was
+unique. After her fortune, which at one time was quite large, became
+diminished, partly through her own extravagance and partly through
+that of her son, who was the very counterpart of his father, she was
+forced to rent "La Chevrette" and, later on, "La Briche," where she
+had opened her second salon.
+
+The last years of her life she spent in Paris with Grimm. She had
+reached such a physical condition that her sufferings could be
+relieved only by the use of opium. Financial relief came to her in
+1783, when the Academy awarded her the Montyon prize, then given for
+the first time, for her _Conversations d'Emilie_. She died in the same
+year, surrounded by her dearest friends--Grimm, M. and Mme. Belgunce,
+and Mme. d'Houdetot.
+
+Mme. d'Epinay, in many respects, was a remarkable woman. Amid all her
+social duties, with all her physical and mental troubles, she found
+time to help others and to manage her own business affairs and
+those of her children, took an active interest in art, music, and
+literature, raised, with the utmost care, her granddaughter, produced
+one of the best works of the time for children, made tapestry, and
+wrote innumerable letters. Her fortune was lost through the reforms of
+Necker.
+
+She was not a beautiful woman; but she was distinguished by a small,
+thin figure, an abundance of rich dark hair, which brought out in
+striking relief the peculiar whiteness of her skin, and large brown
+eyes. Her five lovers she called her five bears: Rousseau, Grimm,
+Desmoulin, Saint-Lambert, Gauffecourt. An epistle to Grimm begins
+thus;
+
+  "Moi, de cinq ours la souveraine,
+  Qui leur donne et present des lois,
+  Faut-il que je sois a la fois
+  Et votre esclave et votre reine,
+  O des tyrans le plus tyran?"
+
+  [I, sovereign over five bears,
+  Who give and prescribe laws for them--
+  Must I be your slave and queen at the same time,
+  O among tyrants, the greatest?]
+
+As far as the care of the education of her children is concerned,
+with its sacrifice and real application to duty, she was sometimes
+called--and not unadvisedly--the type of the ideal mother. From 1757
+on her ideas and thoughts ran to education. Her friends were all
+of the philosophical trend, and intellectual labor was their chief
+pleasure. After having passed through a career of excitement and
+love's caprices, she longed for a peaceful, quiet existence; at
+that point, however, her health gave way, and she entered upon a new
+territory at Geneva. There she conquered Voltaire, who was profuse
+with his compliments and kindnesses. Upon her return she became the
+recognized leader or champion of the philosophic and foreign group
+and the Encyclopaedists, and was regarded as the central figure of the
+philosophical movement in general.
+
+The ideas of the philosophers had been gaining ground, and were
+disseminated through all classes. The mere love of pleasure and luxury
+at first found under Louis XV. gave way to more serious reflections
+when society was confronted with those all-important questions which
+finally culminated in the Revolution. The salon of Mme. d'Epinay grew
+to be the most important and, intellectually, the most brilliant
+of the time. Rousseau, Diderot, Helvetius, Duclos, Suard, the Abbes
+Galiani, Raynal, the Florentine physician Gatti, Comte de Schomberg,
+Chevalier de Chastellux, Saint-Lambert, Marquis de Croixmare, the
+different ambassadors, counts and princes, were frequent visitors
+In this brilliant circle her letters from Voltaire, read aloud, were
+always eagerly awaited. Such dramas as Voltaire's _Tancred_, Diderot's
+_Le Pere de Famille_, were given under her patronage and discussed in
+her salon; after the performance she entertained all the friends at
+supper.
+
+Upon the departure of Abbe Galiani from Paris, Mme. d'Epinay and
+Diderot were intrusted with the revision and printing of his famous
+_Dialogues sur les Bles_; Grimm left to them the continuance of
+his _Correspondance Litteraire_. She was known for her wonderful
+analytical ability and her keen power of observation--faculties which
+won the esteem and respect of such men and caused her collaboration
+to be anxiously sought by them; however, she never attempted to rival
+them in their particular sphere. In her writings she displayed a
+reactionary tendency against the educational methods of the day, her
+chief work of real literary worth being mostly in the form of
+sound advice to a child. Being a reasonable, careful, and sensible
+woman,--in spite of the defects in her moral life,--she desired to
+show the possibilities of a moral revolution against the habits and
+customs of the time, of which she herself had been a most unfortunate
+victim. She was relieved of actual want by means of this work, which
+gained for her a pension from Catherine II. of Russia, who adopted
+her methods for her own children, and the award of the Montyon prize,
+which was given her in a competition with a large number of aspirants,
+the most famous of whom was Mme. de Genlis. It was her ability to gain
+and retain the respect of great men which won that honor for her.
+
+The memoirs of Mme. d'Epinay leave one of the most accurate and
+faithful pictures of the polished society of the France of about 1750.
+"Her salon was the centre about which circled the greatest activity;
+it was filled with men who ordered events, thinkers whose minds were
+bent upon untangling the knotty problems of the age; it was her salon,
+more than any other, that quickened the philosophical movement of
+the day. Mme. d'Epinay made her reputation not so much through her
+_esprit_, intelligence, or beauty, possibly, as through the strength
+of her affection. Timid, irresolute, and highly impressionable,
+and amiable in disposition, she was constantly influenced by
+circumstances--a quality which led her on to the two principal
+occupations of her later life, education and philosophy. To-day,
+her name is recalled principally for its association with that of
+Rousseau, whose mistress and benefactress she was; it is to her that
+the world owes his famous _Nouvelle Heloise_.
+
+The last of the great literary and social leaders of the eighteenth
+century was Mme. de Genlis, a prodigy in every respect, an amateur
+performer upon nearly every instrument, an authority on intellectual
+matters as well, a fine story teller, a consummate artist,
+entertainer, and general charmer. Authoress, governess of
+Louis-Philippe, councillor of Bonaparte, her success as a social
+leader established her reputation and places her in the file of great
+women, although she was not a salon leader such as Mme. Geoffrin or
+Mme. du Deffand.
+
+She was born in 1746, and at a very early age showed a remarkable
+talent for music, but her general education was much neglected. At the
+age of about seventeen she was married to a Comte de Genlis, who
+had fallen in love with her on seeing her portrait. As his relatives
+refused to welcome the young girl, she was placed in the convent of
+Origny, where she remained until 1764, after which her husband took
+her to his brother's estate, where they lived happily for a short
+time. When, in 1765, she became a mother, her husband's family became
+reconciled to his union, and, later on, took her to court.
+
+Before her marriage, upon the departure of her father to San Domingo
+to retrieve his fortunes, her mother had found an asylum for her at
+the elegant home of the farmer-general M. de La Popeliniere. This
+occurred at the time that Paris was theatre mad, and when great actors
+and actresses were the heroes and heroines of society. At this house
+the young girl became the central figure in the theatrical and musical
+entertainments. After passing through this schooling, she stood the
+test of the court without any difficulty, and completely won the favor
+of her husband's family, as well as that of the court ladies and
+the members of the other distinguished households where she was
+introduced. With an insatiable appetite for frolics, quite in keeping
+with the customs of the time, she plunged into social life with a
+vigor and an aptitude which soon attracted attention. She played all
+sorts of roles at the most fashionable houses, "through her consummate
+acting and _bons mots_ drawing tears of vexation from her less gifted
+sisters. She plays nine instruments, writes dramas, recasts others,
+organizes and drills amateurs, besides attending to a thousand and one
+other things."
+
+Through the influence of her aunt, Mme. de Montesson, who was
+secretly married to the Duke of Orleans, Mme. de Genlis was appointed
+lady-in-waiting in the household of the Duchesse de Chartres, the
+duke's daughter-in-law, whose salon was celebrated in Paris. She
+soon won the confidence of the duchess, and became her confessor,
+secretary, guide, and oracle, but did not abandon in the least her
+pursuit of pleasure. She even took possession of the heart of the duke
+himself, and in 1782 was made "_gouverneur_" to his children, the Duc
+de Valois, later Louis-Philippe, the Duc de Montpensier, the Comte de
+Beaujolais, and Mlle. Adelaide; for the education of her pupils she
+had the use of several chateaux. Many a piquant epigram and chanson
+were composed for the edification of the "_gouverneur_." It is said
+that she acted as panderer for the princes, especially Louis-Philippe,
+of a "legitimate means of satisfying these ardent desires of which
+I am being devoured," by leading them to the nuns in the convents
+by means of a subterranean passage. The following passages from the
+journal of Louis-Philippe show the nature of his relations with her:
+
+(December, 1790.) "I went to dine with my mother and grandfather.
+Although I am delighted to dine often with my mother, I am deeply
+sorry to give only three days out of the seven to my dear Bellechasse
+[that is, to Mme. de Genlis]."
+
+(January, 1791.) "Last evening, returned to my friend [Mme. de
+Genlis]; remained there until after midnight; I was the first one to
+have the good fortune of wishing her a 'Happy New Year.' Nothing can
+make me happier; I don't know what will become of me when I am no
+longer with her."
+
+(January, 1791.) "Yesterday, I was at the Tuileries. The queen spoke
+to my father, to my brother, and said nothing to me--neither did the
+king nor Monsieur, in fact, no one. I remained at my friend's until
+half-past twelve. No one in the world is so agreeable to me as is
+she." (February, 1791.) "I was at the assembly at Bellechasse, dined
+at the Palais-Royal, I was at the Jacobins, returned to Bellechasse,
+after supper went to my friend's. I remained with her alone; she
+treated me with an infinite kindness; I left, the happiest man in the
+world." Such language speaks for itself.
+
+No sons of a nobleman ever received a finer, more typically modern
+education than did her pupils. She was, possibly, the first teacher to
+use the natural method system, teaching German, English, and Italian
+by conversation. The boys were compelled to act, in the park, the
+voyages of Vasco da Gama; in the dining room the great historical
+tableaux were presented; in the theatre, built especially for them,
+they acted all the dramas of the _Theatre d'Education_. She taught
+them how to make portfolios, ribbons, wigs, pasteboard work, to
+gild, to turn, and to do carpentering. They visited museums and
+manufactories, during which expeditions they were taught to observe,
+criticise, and find defects. This was the first step taken in France
+in the eighteenth century toward a modern education. Although it was
+superficial, in consequence of its great breadth, yet this education
+inculcated manliness and courage.
+
+In 1778 Mme. de Genlis published her moral teachings in _Adele et
+Theodore_, a work which created quite a little talk at the time, but
+which eventually brought upon her the condemnation of the philosophers
+and Encyclopaedists, because in it she opposed liberty of conscience.
+When, on the occasion of the first communion of the Duc de Valois,
+she wrote her _Religion Considered as the Only True Foundation of
+Happiness and of True Philosophy_, all the Palais-Royal place hunters,
+philosophers, and her political enemies, in a mass, opposed and
+ridiculed her. Rivarol declared that she had no sex, that heaven had
+refused the magic of talent to her productions, as it had refused the
+charm of innocence to her childhood.
+
+One of the best portraits of her is in the memoirs of the Baroness
+d'Oberkirch (it was she who disturbed Mme. de Genlis and the Duc
+d'Orleans while they were walking in the gardens one night):
+
+"I did not like her, in spite of her accomplishments and the charm of
+her conversation; she was too systematic. She is a woman who has laid
+aside the flowing robes of her sex for the costume of a pedagogue.
+Besides, nothing about her is natural; she is constantly in an
+attitude, as it were, thinking that her portrait--physical or
+moral--is being taken by someone. One of the great follies of this
+masculine woman is her harp, which she carries about with her; she
+speaks about it when she hasn't it--she plays on a crust of bread and
+practises with a thread. When she perceives that someone is looking
+at her, she rounds her arm, purses up her mouth, assumes a sentimental
+expression and air, and begins to move her fingers. Gracious! what
+a fine thing naturalness is!... I spent a delightful evening at the
+Comtesse de La Massais's; she had hired musicians whom she paid dear;
+but Mme. de Genlis sat in the centre of the assembly, commanded,
+talked, commented, sang, and would have put the entire concert in
+confusion, had not the Marquise de Livry very drolly picked a quarrel
+with her about her harp, which she had brought to her. Decidedly, this
+young D'Orleans has a singular governor. She holds too closely to her
+role, and never forgets her _jupons_ [skirts] except when she ought
+most to remember them."
+
+During her visit to England she was petted by everyone; but even in
+England there was a widespread prejudice against her--a feeling which
+the mere sight of her immediately dissipated. An English lady wrote
+about her:
+
+"I saw her at first with a prejudice in her disfavor, from the cruel
+reports I had heard; but the moment I looked at her it was removed.
+There was a dignity with her sweetness and a frankness with her
+modesty, that convinced me, beyond all power of contrary report, of
+her real worth and innocence."
+
+During the Revolution Mme. de Genlis travelled about Switzerland,
+Germany, and England. At Berlin, owing to her poverty, she supported
+herself by writing, making trinkets, and teaching, until she was
+recalled to France, under the Consulate. In Paris she produced some of
+her best works--although they were written to order. Napoleon gave
+her a pension of six thousand francs and handsome apartments at the
+Arsenal. To this liberal pension, the wife of his brother, Joseph
+Bonaparte, added three thousand francs.
+
+From Mme. de Genlis, Napoleon received a letter fortnightly, in which
+epistle she communicated to him her opinions and observations upon
+politics and current events. Upon the return to power of the Orleans
+family, she was put off with a meagre pension. Like many other French
+women, she became more and more melancholy and misanthropic. She was
+unable to control her wrath against the philosophers and some of the
+contemporary writers, such as Lamartine, Mme. de Stael, Scott, and
+Byron. Her death, in 1830, was announced in these words: "Mme. de
+Genlis has ceased to write--which is to announce her death."
+
+Throughout life she was so generous that as soon as she received
+her pensions, presents, or earnings from her work, the money was
+distributed among the poor. When she died, she left nothing but a few
+worn and homely dresses and articles of furniture. The diversity of
+her works and her conduct, the politics in which she was steeped,
+the satires, the perfidious accusations that have pursued her, have
+contributed to leave of her a rather doubtful portrait; however,
+those who have written bitterly against her have done so mostly from
+personal or political animosity. She was so many-sided--a reformer,
+teacher, pietist, politician, actress--that a true estimate of her
+character is difficult. A woman of all tastes and of various talents,
+she was a living encyclopaedia and mistress of all arts of pleasing.
+She had studied medicine, and took special delight in the art of
+bleeding, which she practised upon the peasants, each one of whom she
+would present with thirty sous (thirty cents), after the bleeding--and
+she never lacked patients. Mme. de Genlis was an expert rider and
+huntress; also, she was graceful, with an elegant figure, great
+affability, and a talent for quickly and accurately reading character;
+and these gifts were stepping-stones to popularity.
+
+She wrote incessantly, on all things, essaying every style, every
+subject. "She has discoursed for the education of princes and of
+lackeys; prepared maxims for the throne and precepts for the pantry;
+you might say she possessed the gift of universality. She was gifted
+with a singular confidence in her own abilities, infinite curiosity,
+untiring industry, and never-ending and inexhaustible energy. She
+wrote nearly as much as Voltaire, and barely excelled him in the
+amount of unreadable work, which, if printed, would fill over one
+hundred volumes."
+
+"Let us remember," says Mr. Dobson, "her indefatigable industry and
+untiring energy, her kindness to her relatives and admirers, her
+courage and patience when in exile and poverty, her great talent,
+perseverance, and rare facility." In protesting vigorously against the
+universal neglect of physical development, against the absence of the
+gymnasium and the lack of practical knowledge in the education of
+her time, in advocating the study of modern languages as a means of
+culture and discipline, in applying to her pupils the principles of
+the modern experimental and observational education, Mme. de Genlis
+will retain a place as one of the great female educators--as a woman
+pedagogue, _par excellence_, of the eighteenth century.
+
+A great number of minor salons existed, which were partly literary,
+partly social. From about 1750 to 1780 the amusements varied
+constantly, from all-day parties in the country to cafes served by
+the great women themselves, from playing proverbs to playing synonyms,
+from impromptu compositions to questionable stories, from laughter to
+tears, from Blind-man's-buff to Lotto. Some of the proverbs were quite
+ingenious and required elaborate preparations; for example, at one
+place Mme. de Lauzun dances with M. de Belgunce, in the simplest kind
+of a costume, which represented the proverb: _Bonne renommee vaut
+mieux que ceinture doree_ [A good name is rather to be chosen than
+great riches]. Mme. de Marigny danced with M. de Saint-Julien as a
+negro, passing her handkerchief over her face in the various figures
+of the dance, meaning _A laver la tete d'un More on perd sa lessive_
+[To wash a blackamoor white].
+
+Among the social salons, the finest was the Temple of the Prince de
+Conti and his mistress, the Countess de Boufflers. It was a salon of
+pleasure, liberty, and unceremonious intimacy; his _thes a l'anglaise_
+were served by the great ladies themselves, attired in white aprons.
+The exclusive and elite of the social world made up his company. The
+most elegant assembly was that of the Marechale de Luxembourg; it will
+be considered later on. The salon of Mme. de Beauvau rivalled that
+of the Marechale de Luxembourg; she was mistress of elegance and
+propriety, an authority on and model of the usages of society. A
+manner perhaps superior to that of any other woman, gave Mme. de
+Beauvau a particular _politesse_ and constituted her one of the women
+who contributed most to the acceptance of Paris as the capital of
+Europe, by well-bred people of all countries. Her _politesse_ was kind
+and without sarcasm, and, by her own naturalness, she communicated
+ease. She was not beautiful, but had a frank and open expression and
+a marvellous gift of conversation, which was her delight and in which
+she gloried. Her salon was conspicuous for its untarnished honor and
+for the example it set of a pure conjugal love.
+
+The salon of Mme. de Grammont, at Versailles, was visited at all hours
+of the day and night by the highest officials, princes, lords, and
+ladies. It had activity, authority, the secret doors, veiled and
+redoubtable depths of a salon of the mistress of a king. Everybody
+went there for counsel, submitted plans, and confided projects to this
+lady who had willingly exiled herself from Paris.
+
+The house of M. de La Popeliniere, at Passy, was noted for its unique
+entertainment; there the celebrated Gossec and Gaiffre conducted the
+concerts, Deshayes, master of the ballet at the Comedie-Italienne,
+managed the amusements. It was a house like a theatre and with all the
+requisites of the latter; there artists and men of letters, virtuosos
+and _danseuses_, ate, slept, and lodged as in a hotel. With Mme. de
+Blot, mistress of the Duke of Orleans, as hostess, the Palais-Royal
+ranked next to the Temple of the Prince de Conti; it was open only to
+those who were presented; after that ceremony, all those who were thus
+introduced could, without invitation, dine there on all days of the
+Grand Opera. On the _petits jours_ a select twenty gathered, who, when
+once invited, were so for all time. The "Salon de Pomone," of Mme.
+de Marchais, received its name from Mme. du Deffand on account of the
+exquisite fruits and magnificent flowers which the hostess cultivated
+and distributed among her friends.
+
+"La Paroisse," of Mme. Doublet de Persan, was the salon of the
+sceptics and was under the constant surveillance of the police. All
+the members arrived at the same time and each took possession of the
+armchair reserved for him, above which hung his portrait. On a
+large stand were two registers, in which the rumors of the day were
+noted--in one the doubtful, in the other the accredited. On Saturday,
+a selection was made, which went to the _Grand Livre_, which became a
+journal entitled _Nouvelles a la Main_, kept by the _valet-de-chambre_
+of Mme. Doublet. This book furnished the substance of the six volumes
+of the _Memoires Secrets_, which began to appear in 1770.
+
+Besides these salons of the nobility, there were those of the
+financiers, a profession which had risen into prominence within the
+last half century, after the death of Louis XIV. According to the
+Goncourt brothers, the greatest of these salons was that of Mme.
+de Grimrod de La Reyniere, who, by dint of shrewd manoeuvring, by
+unheard-of extravagances, excessive opulence in the furnishings of
+her salon, and by the most gorgeous and rare fetes and suppers, had
+succeeded in attracting to her establishment a number of the court and
+nobility.
+
+The salon of M. de La Popeliniere belonged to this class, although he
+was ranked, more or less, among the nobility. There were the weekly
+suppers of Mme. Suard, Mme. Saurin, the Abbe Raynal, and the luncheons
+of the Abbe Morellet on the first Sunday of the month; to the latter
+functions were invited all the celebrities of the other salons, as
+well as artists and musicians--it was there that the famous quarrel
+of the Gluck and Piccini parties originated. The Tuesday dinners of
+Helvetius became famous; it was at them that Franklin was one of the
+favorites; after the death of Helvetius, he attempted in vain to
+put an end to the widowhood of madame. No man at that time was more
+popular than Franklin or had as much public attention shown him.
+
+There were a number of celebrated women whose reputations rest mainly
+on their wit and conversational abilities; they may be classed as
+society leaders, to distinguish them from salon leaders.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+Social Classes
+
+
+The belief generally prevails that devotion and constancy did not
+exist among French women of the eighteenth century; but, in spite of
+the very numerous instances of infidelity which dot the pages of
+the history of the French matrimonial relations of those days, many
+examples of rare devotion are found, even among the nobility. Love of
+the king and self-eliminating devotion to him were feelings to which
+women aspired; yet we have one countess, the Countess of Perigord,
+who, true to her wifehood, repels the advances of the king, preferring
+a voluntary exile to the dishonor of a life of royal favors and
+attentions. There is also the example of Mme. de Tremoille; having
+been stricken with smallpox, she was ministered to by her husband, who
+voluntarily shared her fate and died with her.
+
+It would seem that the highest types of devotion are to be found in
+the families of the ministers and men of state, where the wife was
+intimately associated with the fortune and the success of her husband.
+The Marquis de Croisy and his wife were married forty years; M.
+and Mme. de Maurepas lived together for fifty years, without being
+separated one day. Instances are many in which reconciliations
+were effected after years of unfaithfulness; these seldom occurred,
+however, until the end of life was near. The normal type of married
+life among the higher classes still remained one of most ideal and
+beautiful devotion, in spite of the great number of exceptions.
+
+It must be observed that in the middle class the young girl grew up
+with the mother and was given her most tender care; surrounded with
+wholesome influences, she saw little or nothing of the world, and,
+the constant companion of her mother, developed much like the average
+young girl of to-day. At the age of about eleven she was sent to a
+convent, where--after having spent some time in the _pension_, where
+instruction in religion was given her--she was instructed by the
+sisters for one year.
+
+After her confirmation and her first communion, and the home visits to
+all the relatives, she was placed in a _maison religieuse_, where the
+sisters taught the daughters of the common people free of charge. The
+young girl was also taught dancing, music, and other accomplishments
+of a like nature, but there was nothing of the feverish atmosphere of
+the convent in which the daughters of the nobility were reared; these
+institutions for the middle classes were peaceful, silent, and calm,
+fostering a serenity and quietude. The days passed quickly, the
+Sundays being eagerly looked forward to because of the visits of the
+parents, who took their daughters for drives and walks and indulged
+them in other innocent diversions. Such a life had its after effects:
+the young girls grew up with a taste for system, discipline, piety,
+and for a rigid devotion, which often led them to an instinctive need
+of doctrine and sacrifice; consequently, in later life many turned to
+Jansenism.
+
+However, the young girls of this class who were not thus educated,
+because their assistance was required at home, received an early
+training in social as well as in domestic affairs; they had a solid
+and practical, if uncouth, foundation, combined with a worldly and,
+often, a frivolous temperament. To them many privileges were opened:
+they were taken to the opera, to concerts and to balls, to the salons
+of painting, and it often happened that they developed a craving for
+the society to which only the nobly born demoiselle was admitted. When
+this craving went too far, it frequently led to seduction by some of
+the chevaliers who make seduction a profession.
+
+The marriage customs in these circles differed little from those
+of to-day. The suitor asked permission to call and to continue his
+visits; then followed the period of present giving. The young girl
+was almost always absolute mistress of the decision; if the father
+presented a name, the daughter insisted upon seeing, receiving,
+and becoming intimately acquainted with the suitor, a custom quite
+different from that practised among the nobility. Instead of giving
+her rights as it did the girl of the nobility, marriage imposed duties
+upon the girl of the middle class; it closed the world instead of
+opening it to her; it ended her brilliant, gay, and easy life, instead
+of beginning it, as was the case in the higher classes. This she
+realized, therefore hesitated long before taking the final step which
+was to bind her until death.
+
+With her, becoming a wife meant infinitely more than it did to the
+girl of the nobility; her husband had the management of her money, and
+his vices were visited upon her and her children--in short, he became
+her master in all things. These disadvantages she was taught to
+consider deeply before entering the marriage state.
+
+This state of affairs developed distinctive physiognomies in the
+different classes of the middle-class society: thus, "the wives of the
+financiers are dignified, stern, severe; those of the merchants are
+seductive, active, gossiping, and alert; those of the artists are
+free, easy, and independent, with a strong taste for pleasure and
+gayety--and they give the tone." As we approach the end of the
+century, the _bourgeoisie_ begins to assume the airs, habits,
+extravagances, and even the immoralities, of the higher classes.
+
+Below the _bourgeoise_ was the workingwoman, whose ideas were limited
+to those of a savage and who was a woman only in sex. Her ideas of
+morality, decency, conjugal happiness, children, education, were
+limited by quarrels, profanity, blows, fights. At that time brandy was
+the sole consolation for those women; it supplied their moral force
+and their moral resistance, making them forget cold, hunger, fatigue,
+evil, and giving them courage and patience; it was the fire that
+sustained, comforted, and incited them.
+
+These women were not much above the level of animals, but from them,
+we find, often sprang the entertainers of the time, the queens of
+beauty and gallantry--Laguerre, D'Hervieux, Sophie Arnould. Having
+lost their virtue with maturity, these women had no sense of morality;
+in them, nothing preserved the sense of honor--their religion
+consisted of a few superstitious practices. The constituents of duty
+and the virtue of women they could only vaguely guess; marriage itself
+was presented to them under the most repugnant image of constant
+contention.
+
+It was in such an atmosphere as this that the daughters of these women
+grew up. Their talents found opportunity for display at the public
+dances where some of them would in time attract especial attention.
+Some became opera singers, dancers, or actresses, and were very
+popular; others became influential, and, through the efforts of
+some lover, allured about them a circle of ambitious _debauches_ or
+aspirants for social favors. Through their adventures they made their
+way up in the world to high society.
+
+From this element of prostitution was disentangled, to a large extent,
+the great gallantry of the eighteenth century. This was accomplished
+by adding an elegance to debauch, by clothing vice with a sort of
+grandeur, and by adorning scandal with a semblance of the glory and
+grace of the courtier of old. Possessing the fascination of all gifts,
+prodigalities, follies, with all the appetites and tendencies of the
+time, these women attracted the society of the period--the poets,
+the artists, even the scientists, the philosophers, and the nobility.
+Their reputation increased with the number and standing of their
+lovers. The genius of the eighteenth century circled about these
+street belles--they represented the fortune of pleasure.
+
+As the church would not countenance the marriage of an actress, she
+was forced to renounce the theatre when she would marry, but once
+married a permit to return to the stage was easily obtained. Society
+was not so severe as the laws; it received actresses, sought out, and
+even adored them; it received the women of the stage as equals, and
+many of them were married by counts and dukes, given a title, and
+presented at court. The regular type of the prostitute was tolerated
+and even received by society; "a word of anger, malediction, or
+outrage, was seldom raised against these women: on the contrary, pity
+and the commiseration of charity and tenderness were felt for them
+and manifested." This was natural, for many of them--through
+notoriety--reached society and, as mistresses of the king, even the
+throne itself. "If such women as Mme. de Pompadour were esteemed, what
+principles remained in the name of which to judge without pity and to
+condemn the _debauches_ of the street," says Mme. de Choiseul, one of
+the purest of women.
+
+This class usually created and established the styles. There is a
+striking contrast between the standards of beauty and fashions of the
+respective periods of Louis XIV. and Louis XV.: "The stately figure,
+rich costume, awe-inspiring peruke of the magnificent Louis XIV.--the
+satins, velvets, embroideries, perfumes, and powder of the indolent
+and handsome Louis XV., well illustrate the two epochs." The beauty of
+the Louis XIV. age was more serious, more imposing, imperial, classic;
+later in the eighteenth century, under Louis XV., she developed into
+a charming figure of _finesse, sveltesse et gracilite_, with an
+extremely delicate complexion, a small mouth and thin nose, as opposed
+to the strong, plump mouth and _nez leonin_ (leonine nose). More
+animated, the face was all movement, the eyes talked; the _esprit_
+passed to the face. It was the type of Marivaux' comedies, with an
+_esprit mobile_, animated and colored by all the coquetries of grace.
+
+Later in the century, the very opposite type prevailed; the aspiration
+then became to leave an emotion ungratified rather than to seduce;
+a languishing expression was cultivated; women sought to sweeten the
+physiognomy, to make it tender and mild. The style of beauty changed
+from the brunette with brown eyes--so much in vogue under Louis XV.,
+to the blonde with blue eyes under Louis XVI. Even the red which
+formerly "dishonored France," became a favorite. To obtain the much
+admired pale complexion, women had themselves bled; their dress
+corresponded to their complexion, light materials and pure white being
+much affected.
+
+In these three stages of the development of beauty, fashion changed
+to harmonize with the popular style in beauty. In general, styles
+were influenced by an important event of the day: thus, when Marie
+Leczinska, introduced the fad of quadrilles, there were invented
+ribbons called "quadrille of the queen"; and many other fads
+originated in the same way. French taste and fashions travelled over
+entire Europe; all Europe was _a la francaise_, yoked and laced in
+French styles, French in art, taste, industry. The domination of the
+French _Galerie des Modes_ was due to the inventive minds of French
+women in relation to everything pertaining to headdress, to detailed
+and delicate arrangements of every phase of ornamentation.
+
+Every country had, in Paris, its agents who eagerly waited for the
+appearance of the famous doll of the Rue Saint-Honore; this figure
+was an exponent of the latest fashions and inventions, and, changing
+continually, was watched and copied by all Europe. Alterations in
+style frequently originated at the supper of a mistress, in the box
+of a dancer or in the atelier of a fine modiste; therefore, in that
+respect, that century differed little from the present one. Trade
+depended largely upon foreign patronage. Fortunes were made by the
+modistes, who were the great artists of the day and who set the
+fashion; but the hairdresser and shoemaker, also, were artists, as was
+seen, at least in name, and were as impertinent as prosperous.
+
+An interesting illustration of the change of fashion is the following
+anecdote: In 1714, at a supper of the king, at Versailles, two English
+women wore low headdress, causing a scandal which came near costing
+them their dismissal. The king happened to mention that if French
+women were reasonable, they would not dress otherwise. The word was
+spread, and the next day, at the king's mass the ladies all wore their
+hair like the English women, regardless of the laughter of the women
+who, being absent the previous evening, had their hair dressed high.
+The compliment of the king as he was leaving mass, to the ladies with
+the low headdress, caused a complete change in the mode.
+
+It now remains but to illustrate these various classes by types--by
+women who have become famous. The Duchesse de Boufflers, Marechale de
+Luxembourg, was the woman who most completely typified the spirit and
+tone of the eighteenth-century _classique_ in everything that belonged
+to the ancient regime which passed away with the society of 1789.
+She was the daughter of the Duc de Villeroy, and married the Duc de
+Boufflers in 1721; after the death of the latter in 1747, and after
+having been the mistress of M. de Luxembourg for several years, she
+married him in 1750. Her youth was like that of most women of the
+social world. A _savante_ in intrigues at court, present at all
+suppers, bouts, and pleasure trips as lady-of-the-palace to the queen,
+intriguing constantly, holding her own by her sharp wit, in a society
+of _roues et elegants enerves_ she soon became a leader. Mme. du
+Deffand left a striking portrait of her:
+
+"Mme. la Duchesse de Boufflers is beautiful without having the air
+of suspecting it. Her physiognomy is keen and piquant, her expression
+reveals all the emotions of her soul--she does not have to say
+what she thinks, one guesses it. Her gestures are so natural and so
+perfectly in accord with what she says, that it is difficult not to be
+led to think and feel as she does. She dominates wherever she is, and
+she always makes the impression she desires to make. She makes use of
+her advantages almost like a god--she permits us to believe that we
+have a free will while she determines us. In general, she is more
+feared than loved. She has much _esprit_ and gayety. She is constant
+in her engagements, faithful to her friends, truthful, discreet,
+generous. If she were more clairvoyant or if men were less ridiculous,
+they would find her perfect."
+
+On one occasion M. de Tressan composed this famous couplet:
+
+  "Quand Boufflers parut a la cour,
+  On crut voir la mere d'Amour,
+  Chacun s'empressait a lui plaire,
+  Et chacun l'avait a son tour."
+
+  [When Boufflers appeared at court,
+  The mother of love was thought to be seen,
+  Everyone became so eager to please her,
+  And each one had her in his turn.]
+
+One day Mme. de Boufflers mumbled this before M. de Tressan, saying to
+him: "Do you know the author? It is so beautiful that I would not
+only pardon her, but I believe I would embrace her." Whereupon he
+stammered: _Eh bien! c'est moi._ She quickly dealt him two vigorous
+slaps in the face. All feared her; no one equalled her in skill and
+shrewdness, or in knowing and handling men.
+
+After her marriage to the Marechal de Luxembourg, she decided, about
+1750, to open a salon in Paris; it became one of the real forces of
+the eighteenth century, socially and politically. While her husband
+lived, she did not enjoy the freedom she desired; after his death in
+1764 she was at liberty to do as she pleased, and she then began
+her career as a judge and counsellor in all social matters. She was
+regarded as the oracle of taste and urbanity, exercised a supervision
+over the tone and usage of society, was the censor of _la bonne
+compagnie_ during the happy years of Louis XVI. This power in her was
+universally recognized. She tempered the Anglomania of the time,
+all excesses of familiarity and rudeness; she never uttered a bad
+expression, a coarse laugh or a _tutoiement_ (thee and thou). The
+slightest affectation in tone or gesture was detected and judged
+by her. She preserved the good tone of society and permitted no
+contamination. She retarded the reign of clubs, retained the urbanity
+of French society, and preserved a proper and unique character in the
+_ancien salon francais_, in the way of excellence of tone.
+
+The Marquise de Rambouillet, Mme. de La Fayette, Mme. de Maintenon,
+Mme. de Caylus, and Mme. de Luxembourg are of the same type--the same
+world, with little variance and no decadence; in some respects, the
+last may be said to have approached nearest to perfection. "In her,
+the turn of critical and caustic severity was exempt from rigidity
+and was accompanied by every charm and pleasingness in her person. She
+often judged [a person] by [his] ability at repartee, which she tested
+by embarrassing questions across the table, judging [the person] by
+the reply. She herself was never at a loss for an answer: when shown
+two portraits--one of Moliere and one of La Fontaine--and asked which
+was the greater, she answered: 'That one,' pointing to La Fontaine,
+'is more perfect in a _genre_ less perfect.'"
+
+By the Goncourt brothers, her salon has been given its merited credit:
+"The most elegant salon was that of the Marechale de Luxembourg, one
+of the most original women of the time. She showed an originality in
+her judgments, she was authority in usage, a genius in taste. About
+her were pleasure, interest, novelty, letters; here was formed the
+true elegance of the eighteenth century--a society that held sway over
+Europe until 1789. Here was formed the greatest institution of
+the time, the only one that survived till the Revolution, that
+preserved--in the discredit of all moral laws--the authority of one
+law, _la parfaite bonne compagnie_, whose aim was a social one--to
+distinguish itself from bad company, vulgar and provincial society,
+by the perfection of the means of pleasing, by the delicacy of
+friendship, by the art of considerations, complaisances, of _savoir
+vivre_, by all possible researches and refinements of _esprit_. It
+fixed everything--usages, etiquette, tone of conversation; it
+taught how to praise without bombast and insipidness, to reply to
+a compliment without disdaining or accepting it, to bring others to
+value without appearing to protect them; it prevented all slander.
+If it did not impart modesty, goodness, indulgence, nobleness of
+sentiment, it at least imposed the forms, exacting the appearances
+and showing the images of them. It was the guardian of urbanity and
+maintained all the laws that are derived from taste. It represented
+the religion of honor; it judged, and when it condemned a man he was
+socially-ruined."
+
+A type of what may be called the social mistress of the nobility--the
+personification of good taste, elegance and propriety such as it
+should be--was the Comtesse de Boufflers, mistress of the Prince de
+Conti, intimate friend of Hume, Rousseau, and Gustave III., King of
+Sweden. The countess was one of the most influential and spirituelle
+members of French society, her special mission and delight being the
+introduction of foreign celebrities into French society. She piloted
+them, was their patroness, spoke almost all modern languages, and
+visited her friends in their respective countries. She was the most
+travelled and most hospitable of great French women, hence the woman
+best informed upon the world in general.
+
+She was born in Paris in 1725, and in 1746 was married to the Comte
+de Boufflers-Rouvrel; soon after, becoming enamored of the Prince de
+Conti, she became his acknowledged mistress. To give an idea of
+the light in which the women of that time considered those who were
+mistresses of great men, the following episodes may be cited: One day,
+Mme. de Boufflers, momentarily forgetting her relations to the Prince
+de Conti, remarked that she scorned a woman who _avait un prince du
+sang_ (was mistress of a prince of the blood). When reminded of her
+apparent inconsistency, she said: "I wish to give by my words
+to virtue what I take away from it by my actions...." On another
+occasion, she reproached the Marechale de Mirepoix for going to see
+Mme. de Pompadour, and in the heat of argument said: "Why, she
+is nothing but the first _fille_ (mistress) of the kingdom!" The
+marechale replied: "Do not force me to count even unto three" (Mme.
+de Pompadour, Mlle. Marquise, Mme. de Boufflers). In those days,
+the position of mistress of an important man attracted little more
+attention than might a petty, trivial, light-hearted flirtation
+nowadays.
+
+After the death of M. de Boufflers, in 1764, the all-absorbing
+question of society, and one of vital importance to madame, was, Will
+the prince marry her? If not, will she continue to be his mistress? In
+this critical period, Hume showed his friendship and true sympathy
+by giving Mme. de Boufflers most persuasive and practical advice in
+reference to morals--which she did not follow. Her relations
+with Rousseau showed her capable of the deepest and most profound
+friendship and sympathy. According to Sainte-Beuve, it was she who,
+by aid of her friends in England, procured asylum for him with Hume at
+Wootton. When Rousseau's rashness brought on the quarrel which set in
+commotion and agitated the intellectual circles of both continents,
+Mme. de Boufflers took his part and remained faithful to him, securing
+a place for him in the Chateau de Trie, which belonged to the Prince
+de Conti.
+
+All who came in contact with her recognized the distinction, elevation
+of _esprit_, and sentiment of Mme. de Boufflers. With her are
+associated the greatest names of the time; being perfectly at home
+on all the political questions of the day, she was better able to
+converse upon these subjects than was any other woman of the time.
+When in 1762 she visited England, she was lionized everywhere. She was
+feted at court and in the city, and all conversation was upon the one
+subject, that of her presence, which was one of the important events
+of London life. Everyone was anxious to see the famous woman, the
+first of rank to visit England in two hundred years. She even received
+some special attention from the eccentric Samuel Johnson, in this
+manner: "Horace Walpole had taken the countess to call on Johnson.
+After the conventional time of a formal call had expired, they left,
+and were halfway down stairs, when it dawned upon Johnson that it was
+his duty, as host, to pay the honors of his literary residence to a
+foreign lady of quality; to show himself gallant, he jumped down from
+the top of the stairway, and, all agitation, seized the hand of the
+countess and conducted her to her carriage."
+
+No woman at court had more friends and fewer enemies than did Mme. de
+Boufflers, because "she united to the gifts of nature and the culture
+of _esprit_ an amiable simplicity, charming graces, a goodness,
+kindness, and sensibility, which made her forget herself always and
+constantly seek to aid those about her." She made use of her influence
+over the prince in such ways as would, in a measure, recompense for
+her fault, and thus recommended herself by her good actions. She was
+the soul of his salon, "Le Temple." The love of these two people,
+through its intimacy and public display, through its constancy,
+happiness, and decency, dissipated all scandal. Always cheerful
+and pleased to amuse, knowing how to pay attention to all, always
+rewarding the bright remarks of others with a smile, which all sought
+as a mark of approbation, no one ever wished her any ill fortune.
+
+The last days of the Prince de Conti were cheered by the presence of
+Mme. de Boufflers and the friends whom she gathered about him to help
+bear his illness. The letter to her from Hume, on his deathbed, is
+most pathetic, showing the influence of this woman and the nature of
+the impression she left upon her friends:
+
+"Edinburgh, 20th of August, 1776.
+
+"Although I am certainly within a few weeks, dear Madame, and perhaps
+within a few days, of my own death, I could not forbear being struck
+with the death of the Prince of Conti--so great a loss in every
+particular. My reflection carried me immediately to your situation in
+this melancholy incident. What a difference to you in your whole plan
+of life! Pray write me some particulars, but in such terms that you
+need not care, in case of my decease, into whose hands your letter may
+fall.... My distemper is a diarrhoea or disorder in my bowels, which
+has been gradually undermining me for these two years, but within
+these six months has been visibly hastening me to my end. I see death
+approach gradually, without any anxiety or regret. I salute you with
+great affection and regard, for the last time.
+
+"David Hume."
+
+Hume died five days after this letter was written.
+
+The last years of her life she spent with her daughter-in-law, at
+Auteuil, where she lived a happy life and received the best society of
+Paris. When she died or under what circumstances is not known. During
+the Revolution she lived in obscurity, busying herself with charitable
+work; she was one of the few women of the nobility to escape the
+guillotine, "This woman, who had kept the intellectual world alive
+with her _esprit_ and goodness, of a sudden vanishes like a star from
+the horizon; she lives on, unnoticed by everyone, and, in that new
+society, no one misses her or regrets her death."
+
+In order to fully appreciate the mistress of the eighteenth century,
+her power and influence, her rise to popularity and social standing,
+the general and accepted idea and nature of the sentiment called love
+must be explained; for it was to the peculiar development of that
+emotion that the mistress owed her fortune.
+
+In the eighteenth century love became a theory, a cult; it developed a
+language of its own. In the preceding age love was declared, it spoke,
+it was a virtue of grandeur and generosity, of courage and delicacy,
+exacting all proofs of decency and gallantry, patient efforts,
+respect, vows, discretion, and reciprocal affection. The ideal was
+one of heroism, nobleness, and bravery. In the eighteenth century this
+ideal became mere desire; love became voluptuousness, which was to be
+found in art, music, styles, fashions--in everything. Woman herself
+was nothing more than the embodiment of voluptuousness; it made her
+what she was, directing and fashioning her. Every movement she
+made, every garment she wore, all the care she applied to her
+appearance--all breathed this _volupte_.
+
+In paintings it was found in impure images, coquettish immodesties, in
+couples embraced in the midst of flowers, in scenes of tenderness:
+all these representations were hung in the rooms of young girls, above
+their beds. They grew up to know _volupte_, and, when old enough, they
+longed for it. It was useless for women to try to escape its power,
+and chastity naturally disappeared under these temptations. The young
+girl inherited the impure instincts of the mother, and, when matured,
+was ready and eager for all that could enchant and gratify the senses.
+
+True domestic friendship and intimacy were rare, because the husband
+given to a young girl had passed through a long list of mistresses,
+and talked--from experience--gallant confidences which took away the
+veil of illusion. She was immediately taken into society, where she
+became familiar with the spicy proverbs and the salty prologues of
+the theatre, where supposedly decent women were present, in curtained
+boxes. At the suppers and dinners, by songs and plays, at the
+gatherings where held forth Duclos and others like him, in the midst
+of champagne, _ivresse d'esprit_, and eloquence, she was taught and
+saw the corruption of society and marriage, the disrespect to modesty;
+in such an atmosphere all trace of innocence was destroyed. She was
+taught that faithfulness to a husband belonged only to the people,
+that it was an evidence of stupidity. Manners, customs, and even
+religion were against the preservation of innocence and purity; and in
+this depravity the abbes were the leaders.
+
+Such conditions were dangerous and disastrous not to young girls
+only, they affected the young men also; the latter, amidst this
+social demoralization, developed their evil tendencies, and, in a few
+generations, there was formed a Paris completely debauched. Love meant
+nothing more elevated than desire; for man, the paramount idea was
+to have or possess; for woman, to capture. There was no longer any
+mystery, any secret; the lover left his carriage at the door of
+his love, as if to publish his good fortune; he regularly made his
+appearance at her house, at the hour of the toilette, at dinner and at
+all the fetes; the public announcement of the liaison was made at the
+theatre when he sat in her box.
+
+There came a period when so-called love fell so low that woman no
+longer questioned a man's birth, rank, or condition, and vice versa,
+as long as he or she was in demand; a successful man had nearly every
+woman of prominence at his feet. The men planned their attacks upon
+the women whom they desired, and the women connived, posed, and set
+most ingenious traps and devised most extraordinary means to captivate
+their hero. As the century wore on and the vices and appetites
+gradually consumed the healthy tissues, there sprang up a class of
+monsters, most accomplished _roues_, consummate leaders of theoretical
+and practical immorality, who were without conscience. To gain their
+ends, they manipulated every medium--valets, chambermaids, scandal,
+charity; their one object was to dishonor woman.
+
+Women were no better; "a natural falseness, an acquired dissimulation,
+a profound observation, a lie without flinching, a penetrating eye,
+a domination of the senses--to these they owed their faculties and
+qualities so much feared at the time, and which made them professional
+and consummate politicians and ministers. Along with their gallantry,
+they possessed a calmness, a tone of liberty, a cynicism; these were
+their weapons and deadly ones they were to the man at whom they were
+aimed."
+
+There were, in this century, superior women in whom was exhibited a
+high form of love, but who realized that perfect love was impossible
+in their age; yet they desired to be loved in an intense and
+legitimate manner. This phase of womanhood is well represented by
+Mlle. Aisse and Mlle. de Lespinasse, both of whom felt an irresistible
+need of loving; they proclaimed their love and not only showed
+themselves to be capable of loving and of intense suffering, but
+proved themselves worthy of love which, in its highest form, they felt
+to be an unknown quantity at that time. Their love became a constant
+inspiration, a model of devotion, almost a transfiguration of passion.
+These women were products of the time; they had to be, to
+compensate for the general sterility and barrenness, to equalize the
+inequalities, and to pay the tribute of vice and debauch.
+
+All the customs of the age were arrayed against pure womanhood and
+offered it nothing but temptation. Inasmuch as the husband belonged
+to court and to war more than to domestic felicity, he left his wife
+alone for long periods. The husbands themselves seemed actually to
+enjoy the infidelity of their wives and were often intimate friends of
+their wives' lovers; and it was no rare thing that when the wife found
+no pleasure in lovers, she did not concern herself about her husband's
+mistresses (unless they were intolerably disagreeable to her), often
+advising the mistress as to the best method of winning her husband.
+
+It must be admitted that this separation in marriage, this reciprocity
+of liberty, this absolute tolerance, was not a phase of the eighteenth
+century marriage, but was the very character of it. In earlier times,
+in the sixteenth century, infidelity was counted as such and caused
+trouble in the household. If the husband abused his privileges, the
+wife was obliged to bear the insult in silence, being helpless to
+avenge it. If she imitated his actions, it was under the gravest
+dangers to her own life and that of her lover. The honor of the
+husband was closely attached to the virtue of the wife; thus, if
+he sought diversion elsewhere, and his wife fell victim to the
+fascinations of another, he was ridiculed. Marriage was but an
+external bond; in the eighteenth century, it was a bond only as long
+as husband and wife had affection for one another; when that no
+longer existed, they frankly told each other and sought that emotion
+elsewhere; they ceased to be lovers and became friends.
+
+A very fertile source of so much unfaithfulness was the frequent
+marriage of a ruined nobleman to a girl of fortune, but without rank.
+Giving her his name was the only moral obligation; the marriage over
+and the dowry portion settled, he pursued his way, considering that
+he owed her no further duty. Very frequently, the husband, overcome by
+jealousy or humiliated by the low standard of his wife who injured or
+brought ridicule upon his name, would have her kidnapped and taken
+to a convent. This right was enjoyed by the husband in spite of the
+general liberty of woman. A letters-patent was obtained through proof
+of adultery, and the wife was imprisoned in some convent for the rest
+of her life, being deprived of her dowry which fell to her husband.
+
+At one time, the great ambition of woman was to procure a legal
+separation--an ambition which seems to have developed into a fad,
+for at one period there were over three hundred applicants for legal
+separation, a state of affairs which so frightened Parliament that
+it passed rigid laws. A striking contrast to this was the custom
+connected with mourning. At the death of the husband, the wife wore
+mourning, her entire establishment, with every article of interior
+furnishing, was draped in the sombre hue; she no longer went out and
+her house was open only to relatives and those who came to pay visits
+of condolence. Unless she married again, she remained in mourning all
+her life; but it should not be understood that the veil concealed her
+coquetry or prevented her from enjoying her liberty and planning her
+future. Then, as to-day, there were many examples of fanaticism and
+folly; one widow would endeavor to commit suicide; another lived with
+the figure of her husband in wax; another conversed, for several
+hours of the day, with the shade of her husband; others consecrated
+themselves to the church.
+
+This all-supreme sway of love and its attributes, left its impression
+and lasting effect upon the physiognomy of the mistress; in the early
+part of the century, the mistress was chosen from the respectable
+aristocracy and the nobility; gradually, however, the limits of
+selection were extended until they included the _bourgeoisie_ and,
+finally, the offspring of the common _femme du peuple_. A woman
+from any profession, from any stratum of society, by her charm and
+intelligence, her original discoveries and inventions of debauch
+and licentiousness, could easily become the heroine of the day, the
+goddess of society, the goal and aspiration of the used-up _roues_
+of the aristocracy. Under Louis XIV., such popularity was an
+impossibility to a woman of that sort, but society under the Regency
+seemed to have awakened from the torpor and gloom of the later years
+of the monarchy to a reign of unrestrained gayety and vice.
+
+The first woman to infect the social atmosphere of the nobility with a
+new form of extravagance and licentiousness was Adrienne Le Couvreur,
+who was the heroine of the day during the first years of the Regency.
+She was the daughter of a hatter, who had gone to Paris about 1702;
+while employed as a laundress, she often gave proof of the possession
+of remarkable dramatic genius by her performances at private
+theatricals. In 1717, through the influence of the great actor Baron,
+she made her appearance at the Comedie Francaise; the reappearance of
+that favorite with Adrienne Le Couvreur as companion, in the plays of
+Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire, reestablished the popularity of the
+French theatre. Adrienne immediately became a favorite with the titled
+class, was frequently present at Mme. de Lambert's, gave the most
+sumptuous suppers herself, and was compelled to repulse lovers of the
+highest nobility.
+
+Her principal lovers were Voltaire, whom she nursed through smallpox,
+spending many hours in reading to him, and Maurice of Saxony; she had
+children of whom the latter was the father, and it was she who, by
+selling her plate and jewelry, supplied him with forty thousand francs
+in order to enable him to equip his soldiers when he proposed to
+recover the principality of Courland. She was generous to prodigality;
+but when she died, the Church refused to grant consecrated ground for
+the reception of her remains, although it condescended to accept her
+munificent gift of a hundred thousand francs to charity. Her death was
+said to have been caused by her rival, the Duchesse de Bouillon,
+by means of poisoned pastilles administered by a young abbe. In
+the night, her body was carried by two street porters to the Rue de
+Bourgogne, where it was buried. Voltaire, in great indignation at
+such injustice, wrote his stinging poem _La Mort de Mademoiselle Le
+Couvreur_, which was the cause of his being again obliged to leave
+Paris.
+
+The popularity of the Comedie Francaise declined after the deaths of
+Baron and Adrienne Le Couvreur, until the appearance of Mlle. Clairon,
+who was one of the greatest actresses of France. Born in Flanders in
+1723, at a very early age she had wandered about the provinces, from
+theatre to theatre, with itinerant troupes, winning a great reputation
+at Rouen. In 1738 the leading actresses were Mlle. Quinault, who
+had retired to enjoy her immense fortune in private life, and Mlle.
+Dumesnil, the great _tragedienne_. When Mlle. Clairon received an
+offer to play alternately with the favorite, Mlle. Dumesnil, she
+selected as her opening part _Phedre_, the _role de triomphe_ of her
+rival.
+
+The appearance of a debutante was an event, and its announcement
+brought out a large crowd; the presumption of a provincial artist
+in selecting a role in which to rival a great favorite had excited
+general ridicule, and an unusually large audience had assembled,
+expecting to witness an ignominious failure. Mlle. Clairon's stately
+figure, the dignity and grace of her carriage, "her finely chiselled
+features, her noble brow, her air of command, her clear, deep,
+impassioned voice," made an immediate impression upon the audience.
+She was unanimously acknowledged as superior to Mlle. Dumesnil, and
+the entire social and literary world hastened to do her homage.
+
+Mlle. Clairon did as much for the theatre as did Adrienne Le Couvreur,
+especially in discarding, in her _Phedre_, the plumes, spangles, the
+panier, the frippery, which had been the customary equipments of that
+role. She and Lecain, the prominent actor of the day, introduced the
+custom of wearing the proper costume of the characters represented.
+The grace and dignity of her stage presence caused her to be sought
+by the great ladies, who took lessons in her famous courtesy _grande
+reverence_, which was later supplanted by the courtesy of Mme. de
+Pompadour.
+
+Mlle. Clairon became the recipient of great favors and honors, her
+most prominent slave being Marmontel, to whom she had given a room in
+her hotel after Mme. Geoffrin had withdrawn from him the privilege of
+occupying an apartment in her spacious establishment. She contributed
+largely to the success of his plays, as well as to those of Voltaire,
+whom she visited at Ferney, performing in his private theatre. Her
+success was uninterrupted until she declined to play, in the _Siege de
+Calais_, with an actor who had been guilty of dishonesty; she was then
+thrown into prison, and refused to reappear. When about fifty years of
+age she became the mistress of the Margrave of Ansbach, at whose court
+she resided for eighteen years. In 1791 she returned to Paris, where,
+poor and forgotten, she died in 1803.
+
+An actress or a singer who left a greater reputation through her wit,
+the promptness and malignity of her repartee, and her extravagance,
+than through her voice was Sophie Arnould, the pupil of Mlle. Clairon.
+She was the daughter of an innkeeper; her first success was won
+through her charming figure and her flexible voice. Some of the ladies
+attached to the court of Louis XV., having heard her sing at evening
+service during Passion week, had induced the royal chapel master to
+employ her in the choir. There, and by the warm eulogies of Marmontel
+during one of his toilette visits to Mme. de Pompadour, the attention
+of the _maitresse-en-titre_ was called to her beauty and vocal charm.
+
+Her debut was made with unusual success, but she afterward eloped with
+the Comte de Lauraguais, who had made a wager that he could win the
+beautiful artist. After her reappearance at Paris her career became a
+long series of dissipations and unprecedented extravagances. She was
+as witty as she was licentious, and many of her _bons mots_ have been
+collected. It was she who characterized the great Necker and Choiseul,
+on being shown a box containing their portraits: "That is receipt and
+expenditure"--the credit and debit. She was one of the few prominent
+women who died in favor and in comfortable circumstances.
+
+The lowest and most depraved of this licentious class of women was
+Mlle. La Guimard, the legitimate daughter of a factory inspector of
+cloth. In 1758 she entered the opera as a ballet girl, but very
+little is known of her during the first years of her career except in
+connection with her numerous lovers. In about 1768 she was living in
+most sumptuous style, her extravagances being paid for by two lovers,
+the Prince de Soubise, her _amant utile_, and the farmer-general, M.
+de La Borde, her _amant honoraire_.
+
+At this period she gave three suppers weekly: one for all the great
+lords at court and of distinction; the second for authors, scholars,
+and artists; the third being a supper of _debauchees_, the most
+seductive and lascivious girls of the opera; at the last function,
+luxury and debauch were carried to unknown extremes. At her
+superb country home, "Pantin," she gave private performances, the
+magnificence of which was unprecedented and admission to which was an
+honor as eagerly sought as was that of attendance at Versailles.
+
+There was another side to the nature of Mlle. La Guimard: during the
+terrible cold of the winter of 1768, she went about alone visiting the
+poor and needy, distributing food and clothing purchased with the six
+thousand livres given her by her lover, the Prince de Soubise, as
+a New Year's gift. Her charity became so general that people of all
+professions and classes went to her for assistance--actors and artists
+to borrow the money with which to pay their debts, officers with the
+same object in view. To one of the latter to whom she had just lent a
+hundred louis and who was about to sign a note, she said: "Sir, your
+word is sufficient. I imagine that an officer will have as much honor
+as _fille d'opera_."
+
+Her performances at "Pantin" and her luxurious mode of life required
+more money than the two lovers were able to supply; therefore, another
+was accepted in the person of the Bishop of Orleans, Monseigneur de
+Jarente, who supplied her with money and other necessaries. In 1771
+she decided to build a hotel with an elegant theatre which would
+comfortably seat five hundred people. The opening of this Temple de
+Terpsichore was the great event of the year (1772). All the nobility
+was there, even the princes of the blood, and the "delicious licenses
+of the presentation were fully enjoyed by those who were fortunate
+enough to obtain admission."
+
+Her costumes were of such taste and became so renowned that Marie
+Antoinette consulted her in reference to her own wonderful inventions;
+the dresses became known as the _Robe a la La Guimard_. Inasmuch as
+the management of the Opera supplied all gowns, the expense for this
+one artist was enormous, in 1779 amounting to thirty thousand livres
+for dresses alone. In 1785, being in financial straits, she sold
+her hotel on the Rue Chaussee-d'Antin by lottery, two thousand five
+hundred tickets at one hundred and twenty livres each. None of the
+salons of Paris could compare with hers in the "costliness of the
+crystal and the plate of her table service, in the taste and elegance
+of her floral decorations--choice exotics obtained from a distance,
+regardless of expense."
+
+After appearing at the Haymarket Opera House in London in 1789,
+Mlle. La Guimard decided to retire to private life, and married M.
+Despreaux, the ballet master, fifteen years her junior. During the
+Revolution the government ceased to pay pensions, and as she had
+saved very little of her wealth the two lived in the most straitened
+circumstances. Her fate was similar to that of the average woman of
+pleasure--forgotten, half-witted, stooping to any act of indecency to
+gain a few sous.
+
+Such were the principal heroines of the stage, opera, and ballet; they
+were in harmony with the general state of that depraved society of
+which they were natural products; transitory lights that shone for but
+a short space of time, consumed by their own sensuous instinct, they
+were forgotten with death. The royal mistresses lived the same life
+and followed the same ideals, but exerted a greater and more lasting
+influence in the state.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+Royal Mistresses
+
+
+In the study of the royal mistresses of the eighteenth century,
+we encounter two in particular,--Mme. de Pompadour and Mme. du
+Barry,--who, though totally different types of women, both reflect the
+gradual decline of ideals and morals in the first and last years of
+the reign of Louis XV. The former dominated the king by means of her
+intelligence, but the latter swayed the sovereign, already consumed by
+his sensual excesses, through her peculiarly seductive sensuality.
+
+During the first years of the reign of Louis XV., one of the most
+influential women was Mme. de Prie, who brought about the marriage of
+the king to Marie Leczinska, the daughter of the King of Poland, by
+which manoeuvre she made herself _Dame de Palais de la Reine_. The
+queen naturally took her and her husband into favor, regarding them
+as her and her father's benefactors and as entitled to her warmest
+gratitude. Mme. de Prie succeeded in winning the queen's affection
+and confidence; however, these were of little value, inasmuch as the
+queen's influence upon society and morals was not felt, for she led
+a life of seclusion, shut up in her oratory and constantly on her
+_prie-dieu_, and was an object of pity and ridicule.
+
+Mme. de Prie and M. le Duc, having planned to deprive M. Fleury, the
+minister, of his power,--he had been the king's preceptor,--suddenly
+had the tables turned against them. Both were exiled, and a new
+coterie of ladies came into power; the Duchesse d'Alincourt replaced
+Mme. de Prie, and the king and M. Fleury themselves took up the
+affairs of state.
+
+M. Fleury, now cardinal, perceiving that a mistress was inevitable,
+consented to the choice by the dissolute men and women of court
+of Mme. de Mailly,--or Mlle. de Nesle,--who was supposed to be a
+disinterested person. The king, who had no love for her, accepted her
+as he would have accepted anything put before him by the court. The
+queen was incapable of exerting any beneficial influence upon him; in
+fact, the more he became alienated from her, the more humble and timid
+did she appear when in his presence. The reign of Mlle. de Nesle had
+lasted less than a year, when the beautiful Mme. de La Tournelle,
+created Duchesse de Chateauroux, replaced her; the latter lived but
+a short time, being the second mistress of Louis XV. to die within a
+year. After her death the king raised the beautiful Mme. d'Etioles
+to the honor of _maitresse-en-titre_; she, as Mme. de Pompadour, was,
+without doubt, the most prominent, possibly the most intelligent and
+intellectual, certainly the most powerful, of all French mistresses.
+It was the first time that a _bourgeoise_ of the financier class
+had usurped the position of mistress--that honor having belonged
+exclusively to the nobility.
+
+After the first infidelities of the king, Marie Leczinska's life
+became more and more austere and secluded; she remained indoors, far
+from the noise and activity of Versailles, leaving only for charitable
+purposes or for the theatre. Her mornings were entirely occupied in
+prayers and moral readings, after which followed a visit to the king,
+a little painting, the toilette, mass, and dinner. After dinner,
+she retired to her apartments and passed the time making tapestry,
+embroidering, and in charity work--no longer the recreation of
+leisure, but the duty of charity which the poor expected. Her taste
+for music, the guitar, the clavecin, all amusements in which
+she delighted before her marriage, were abandoned. Under such
+circumstances the mistress had full control of everything.
+
+It was prophesied of Mlle. Jeanne Poisson, at the age of nine, that
+she would become the mistress of Louis XV. (Mme. Lebon, who made this
+pleasing prediction, was later rewarded with a pension of six hundred
+livres.) Mlle. Jeanne was the natural daughter of a butcher, but
+received a good education and, at the age of twenty, was married to Le
+Normand d'Etioles, farmer of taxes. It was shortly after this that
+she managed to attract the king's attention, at a hunting party in
+the forest of Senart. With the assistance of her friends, she was
+successful in winning the king, and, in April, 1754, at a supper which
+lasted far into the early morning, reposing in his arms, she virtually
+became the mistress of Louis XV. The actual accomplishment of this,
+however, depended upon the disposal of her husband, which was easily
+arranged by Louis, who ordered Le Normand d'Etioles from Paris, thus
+securing her from any harm from him. The brothers De Goncourt write
+thus of her talents:
+
+"Marvellous aptitudes, a scholarly and rare education, had given to
+this young woman all the gifts and virtues that made of a woman what
+the eighteenth century called a virtuoso, an accomplished model of
+the seductions of her time. Jeliotte had taught her singing and the
+clavecin; Guibaudet, dancing; Crebillon had taught her declamation and
+the art of diction; the friends of Crebillon had formed her young mind
+to _finesse_, to delicacies, to lightness of sentiment, and to irony
+of the _esprit_ of the time. All the talents of grace seemed to be
+united in her. No woman mounted a horse better; none captured applause
+more quickly than did she with her voice and instrument; none recalled
+in a better way the tone of Gaussin or the accent of Clairon; none
+could tell a story better. And there where others could vie with her
+in coquetry, she carried off the honors by her genius of toilette, by
+the graceful turn she gave to a mere rag, by the air she imparted to
+a mere nothing which ornamented her, by the characteristic signature
+which her taste gave to everything she wore."
+
+To please and charm, Mme. d'Etioles had a complexion of the most
+striking whiteness, lips somewhat pale, and eyes of an indescribable
+color in which were blended and compounded the seduction of black
+eyes, the seduction of blue eyes. She had magnificent chestnut hair,
+ravishing teeth, and the most delicious smile which "hollowed her
+cheeks into two dimples which the engraving of _La Jardiniere_ shows;
+she had a medium-sized and round waist, perfect hands, a play
+of gestures lively and passionate throughout, and, above all, a
+physiognomy of a mobility, of a changeableness, of a marvellous
+animation, wherein the soul of the woman passed ceaselessly, and
+which, constantly in process of change, showed in turn an impassioned
+and imperious tenderness, a noble seriousness, or roguish graces."
+
+In September, 1745, she was formally presented to the queen and
+court as the Marquise de Pompadour, and, in October, was installed
+at Fontainebleau in the apartments formerly occupied by Mme. de
+Chateauroux, who had just died. Her position was not an easy one,
+for all the superb jealousy and hateful scorn which the aristocracy
+cherished against the power and wealth of the _bourgeoisie_ were
+turned against her; but the court scandal-mongers and intriguers found
+their match in Mme. de Pompadour, who showed herself so superior
+in every respect to the court ladies that the hostilities gradually
+ceased, but not until the public itself had expended all its efforts
+against this upstart.
+
+Her first move was to surround herself with friends, the first of whom
+she wisely sought in the queen. Paying her every possible attention,
+she persuaded the king to show her more consideration. The Prince
+de Conti, the Paris brothers, and others of the great financiers of
+France were added to her circle. After this she began her rule as
+first minister, in place of the dead Fleury, by giving places and
+pensions to her favorites. The reign of economy and domestic morality
+came to an end with the accession of Mme. de Pompadour; in fact, it
+was soon generally considered that those upon whom she did not shower
+favors were her enemies. At this time the nobility of France was too
+corrupt to raise any serious objections to the dispensing of favors by
+the _maitresse-en-titre_, whether she were of noble birth or not.
+
+As mistress, her duties were many: to manipulate and manage
+Versailles, please and captivate the king, make allies, win over the
+highest officials and keep control of them, put her own friends in
+office, attach to her favor every man of prominence,--princes and
+ministers,--keep in touch with the court, appease, humor, and win the
+honor of the courtiers, "attach consciences, recompense capitulations,
+organize about the mistress an emulation of devotion and servility by
+means of prodigality of the favors of the king and the money of the
+state; but what was a more burdensome task,--she must occupy the king,
+aid and agitate him, fight off constantly, from day to day and hour to
+hour, ennui."
+
+This terrible ennui, indifference, enervation, this lazy and splenetic
+humor of the king, she succeeded in distracting, in soothing, and
+amusing. She understood him perfectly--therein lie the great secret
+of the favor of Mme. de Pompadour and the great reason of her long
+domination which only death could end. She had the patience and
+genius to soothe the many ills of the monarch, possessing an intuitive
+understanding of his moral temperament, and a complete comprehension
+of his nervous sensibility; these gifts were a science with her and
+enabled her to keep alive his taste for and enjoyment of life. Mme.
+de Pompadour is said to have taken possession of the very existence of
+Louis XV.
+
+"She appropriates and kills his time, robs him of the monotony of
+hours, draws him through a thousand pastimes in this eternity of ennui
+between morning and night, never abandoning him for a minute, not
+permitting him to fall back upon himself. She takes him away from
+work, disputes him to the ministers, hides him from the ambassadors.
+In his face must not be seen a cloud or the slightest trace of care of
+affairs; to Maurepas, in the act of reading some reports to the king,
+she says: 'Come now, M. de Maurepas, you turn the king yellow....
+Adieu, M. de Maurepas'; and Maurepas gone, she takes the king, she
+smiles upon the lover, she cheers the man."
+
+In 1747, two years after her installation, she interested the king in
+a theatre, and inaugurated the famous representations at the Theatre
+des Petits Appartements; she herself was one of its best actresses,
+singers, and musicians. All the members of the nobility vied with one
+another in procuring admission to these performances, as auditors or
+actors. Her contemporaries say that she was without a rival in acting,
+for in that art she found opportunity to show her vivacity, her
+_esprit_ of tone, and her malice of expression, the effect of which
+was heightened by her voice, graceful figure, and tasteful attire,
+which became the envy of every court lady.
+
+Almost all rising young artists and men of letters were encouraged or
+pensioned by Mme. de Pompadour. Her salon would have become one of
+the most distinguished of the period, as she was, herself, the most
+remarkably talented and beautiful woman of her time, had not lack
+of moral principles and an intense love of power led her to seek the
+gratification of her ambitions in the much envied position of mistress
+of the king. To assist at her toilette became a favor more eagerly
+desired than presence at the _petit lever_ of the king. The court
+became more brilliant, the middle class rose, the prestige of the
+nobility declined; the last became, in general, but a crowd of
+_cordons bleus_, eager to claim the favor of any of her proteges.
+Every noble house offered a daughter in marriage to her brother, whom
+she made _intendant_ of public buildings, and who looked with much
+displeasure upon the actions of his sister.
+
+Mme. de Pompadour made a thorough study of the politics of Europe in
+relation to the affairs of the nation--a proceeding in which she
+was aided by her extraordinary intelligence, acute perception of
+difficulties and conditions, domestic and foreign; by the exercise of
+these qualities, she put herself in touch with the politics of France,
+always consulting the best of minds and winning many friends among
+them. In 1749 she succeeded in ridding herself of her pronounced
+enemy, Maurepas, minister and confidential adviser of the king, and
+subsequently began her reign as absolute mistress and governor of
+France.
+
+Her life then became one of constant labor, which gradually undermined
+her health. Appreciating the mental indolence of Louis, she would
+place before him a clear and succinct resume of all important
+questions of state affairs, which she, better than any other, knew
+how to present without wearying him. Realizing that her power depended
+upon her influence over the king, and that she was surrounded by men
+and women who were simply waiting for a favorable opportunity to cause
+her downfall, she was constantly on the defensive. She considered it
+"the business of her life to make her yoke so easy and pleasant, and
+from habit so necessary to him, that an effort to shake it off would
+be an effort that would cause him real pain." Her happiest hours--for
+she did not love the king--were those spent with her brother, the
+Marquis de Marigny, in the midst of artists, musicians, and men of
+letters.
+
+As for the queen, she was in the background, absolutely. "All the
+prerogatives of a princess of a sovereign house were, at this time,
+about 1750, conferred by the king upon Mme. de Pompadour, and all
+the pomp and parade then deemed indispensable to rank so exalted were
+fully assumed by her." At the opera, she had her _loge_ with the king,
+her tribune at the chapel of Versailles where she heard mass, her
+servants were of the nobility, her carriage had the ducal arms, her
+etiquette was that of Mme. de Montespan, Her father was ennobled to De
+Marigny, her brother to be Marquis de Vandieres. The marriage of her
+daughter to a son of the king and his former mistress was planned,
+then with a son of Richelieu, then with others of the nobility;
+fortunately, the girl died.
+
+Mme. de Pompadour gradually amassed a royal fortune, buying the
+magnificent estate of Crecy for six hundred and fifty thousand livres;
+"La Celle," near Versailles, for twenty-six thousand livres; the Hotel
+d'Evreaux, at Paris, for seventy-five thousand livres--and these were
+her minor expenses; her paintings, sculpture, china, pottery, etc.,
+cost France over thirty-six million livres. Her imagination in art and
+inventions was wonderful; she retouched and decorated the chateau
+in which she was received by the king; she made "Choisy"--the king's
+property--her own, as it were, by all the embellishments she ordered
+and the expenditures which her lover lavished upon it at her request.
+All the luxuries of the life at "Choisy," all the refinements even to
+the smallest detail, had their origin in her inventions. It was she
+who planned the fairy chateau with its wonderful furniture, her own
+invention.
+
+At that time, her whole life was spent in adding variety to the life
+of the king and in distracting the ennui which pursued him. In her
+retreats she affected the simplicity of country life; the gardens
+contained sheepfolds and were free from the pomp of the conventional
+French gardens; there were cradles of myrtle and jasmine, rosebushes,
+rustic hiding places, statues of Cupid, and fields of jonquils filled
+the air with the most intoxicating perfume. There she amused her
+sovereign by appearing in various characters and acting the parts--now
+a royal personage, now a gardener's maid.
+
+However, in spite of all cunning study of the sensuous nature of
+the king, in spite of this perpetual enchantment of his senses,
+this favorite was obliged to fight for her power every minute of her
+existence. If hers were a conquest, it was a laborious one, held only
+through ceaseless activity; continual brainwork, all the countermoves
+and manoeuvres of the courtesan, were required to keep Mme. de
+Pompadour seated in this position, which was surrounded by snares and
+dangers.
+
+To possess the time of the king, occupy his enemies, soothe his
+fatigue, arouse his wearied body condemned to a milk diet, to preserve
+her beauty--all these were the least of her tasks. She must be ever
+watchful, see evil in every smile, danger in every success, divine
+secret plots, be on guard to resist the court, the royal family,
+the ministry. For her there was no moment of repose: even during
+the effusions of love she must act the spy upon the king, and, with
+presence of mind and calmness, must seek in the deceitful face of the
+man the secrets of the master.
+
+Every morning witnessed the opening of a new comedy: a gay smile,
+a tranquil brow, a light song, must ever disguise the mind's
+preoccupation and all the machinations of her fertile brain. At one
+time the Comte d'Argenson, desiring to succeed Fleury as minister,
+almost arrived at supplanting Mme. de Pompadour by young Mme. de
+Choiseul, who, having charmed the king on one occasion, obtained
+from him a promise that he would make her his mistress--which would
+necessitate desertion of Mme. de Pompadour; but, by the natural
+charms of which age had not robbed her and by bringing all her past
+experience into play, Mme. de Pompadour once more scored a triumph and
+remained the actual minister to the king. All this nervous strain was
+gradually killing her, and, to overcome her physical weakness, her
+weary senses, her frigid disposition, she resorted to artificial
+stimulants to keep her blood at the boiling point and enable her to
+satisfy the phlegmatic king.
+
+Undoubtedly the most disgraceful act of this all-powerful woman
+was the maintaining of a house of pleasure for the king, to which
+establishment she allured some of the most beautiful girls of the
+nobility, as well as of the _bourgeoisie_. These young women supposed
+that they were being supported by a wealthy nobleman; their children
+were given a pension of from three thousand to twelve thousand livres,
+and the mother received one hundred thousand francs and was sent to
+the provinces to marry; a father and mother were easily bought for the
+child. Thus was this clandestine trade carried on by those two--the
+king satisfying his utter depravity, and Mme. de Pompadour making
+herself all the more secure against a possible rival.
+
+All this time her active brain was ever planning for higher honors
+and greater power. She aspired to becoming _dame de palais_, but as an
+excommunicated soul, a woman living in flagrant violation of the laws
+of morality and separated from her husband, she could not receive
+absolution from the Church, in spite of her intriguing to that effect.
+She did succeed, however, in influencing the king to make her lady
+of honor to the queen; therefore, in gorgeous robes, she was ever
+afterward present at all court functions.
+
+She began to patronize the great men of the day, to make of them her
+debtors, pension them, lodge them in the Palais d'Etat, secure them
+from prison, and to place them in the Academy. Voltaire became her
+favorite, and she made of him an Academician, historiographer of
+France, ordinary gentleman of the chamber, with permission to sell
+his charge and to retain the title and privileges. For these favors he
+thanked her in the following poem:
+
+          "Ainsi donc vous reunissez
+  Tous les arts, tous les gouts, tous les talents de plaire;
+          Pompadour vous embellissez
+          La Cour, le Parnasse et Cythere,
+  Charme de tous les coeurs, tresor d'un seul mortel,
+          Qu'un sort si beau soit eternel!"
+
+[Thus you unite all the arts, all the tastes, all the talents, of
+pleasing; Pompadour, you embellish the court, Parnassus, and Cythera.
+Charm of all hearts, treasure of one mortal, may a lot so beautiful be
+eternal!]
+
+Voltaire dedicated his _Tancrede_ to her; in fact, his influence and
+favor were so great that he was about to receive an invitation to
+the _petits soupers_ of the king, when the nobility rose up in arms
+against him, and, as Louis XV. disliked him, the coveted honor was
+never attained. To Crebillon, who had given her elocution lessons
+in her early days and who was now in want, she gave a pension of
+a hundred louis and quarters at the Louvre. Buffon, Montesquieu,
+Marmontel, and many other men of note were taken under her protection.
+
+It was Mme. de Pompadour who founded, supported, and encouraged a
+national china factory; the French owe Sevres to her, for its
+artists were complimented and inspired by her inveterate zeal, her
+persistency, her courage, and were assisted by her money. She brought
+it into favor, established exhibits, sold and eulogized the ware
+herself, until it became a favorite. Also, through her management and
+zeal the Military School was founded.
+
+The disasters of the Seven Years' War are all charged to Mme. de
+Pompadour. The motive which caused her to decide in favor of an
+alliance with Austria against Frederick the Great was a personal
+desire for revenge; the latter monarch had dubbed her "Cotillon IV,"
+and had rather scorned her, refusing to have anything to do with a
+Mlle. de Poisson, "especially as she is arrogant and lacks the respect
+due to crowned heads." The flattering propositions of the Austrian
+ambassador, Kaunitz, who treated with her in person and won her over,
+did much to set her against Germany, and induced her to influence
+Louis XV. to accept her view of the situation--a scheme in which she
+was victorious over all the ministers; the result was the Austrian
+alliance. The letter of Kaunitz to her, in 1756, will illustrate her
+position:
+
+"Everything done, Madame, between the two courts, is absolutely due
+to your zeal and wisdom. I feel it and cannot refuse myself the
+satisfaction of telling you and of thanking you for having been my
+guide up to the present time. I must not even keep you ignorant of the
+fact that their Imperial Majesties give you the full justice due you
+and have for you all the sentiments you can desire. What has been done
+must merit, it seems to me, the approbation of the impartial public
+and of posterity. But what remains to be done is too great and too
+worthy of you for you to give up the task of contributing and to leave
+imperfect a work which cannot fail to make you forever dear to your
+country. I am, therefore, persuaded that you will continue your
+attention to an object so important. In this case, I look upon success
+as certain and I already share, in advance, the glory and satisfaction
+which must come to you, no one being able to be more sincerely and
+respectfully attached to you than is your very humble and obedient
+servant, the Count de Kaunitz-Rietberg."
+
+She received her first check when, Damiens having attempted to
+assassinate the king, the dauphin was regent for eleven days. She was
+confined to her room and heard nothing from the king, who was in
+the hands of the clergy. Among the friends who abandoned her was
+her protege Machault, the guard of the seals, who conspired with
+D'Argenson to deprive her of her power and went so far as to order
+her departure. After the king's recovery, both D'Argenson and Machault
+were dismissed and Mme. de Pompadour became more powerful than before.
+
+Her influence and usurpation of power bore heavily upon every
+department of state; she appointed all the ministers, made all
+nominations, managed the foreign policy and politics, directed the
+army and even arranged the plans of battle. Absolute mistress of the
+ministry, she satisfied all demands of the Austrian court, a move
+which brought her the most flattering letter from Kaunitz, in which he
+gives her the credit for all the transactions between the two courts.
+
+Despite all her political duties and intrigues, she found time for art
+and literature. Not one minute of the day was lost in idleness, every
+moment being occupied with interviews with artists and men of letters,
+with the furnishers of her numerous chateaux, architects, designers,
+engineers, to whom she confided her plans for embellishing Paris.
+Being herself an accomplished artist, she was able to win the respect
+and attention of these men. Her correspondence was immense and of
+every nature, political and personal. She was an incessant reader,
+or rather student, of books on the most serious questions, which
+furnished her knowledge of terms of state, precedents of history,
+ancient and modern law; she was familiar with the contents of works
+on philosophy, the drama, singing, and music, and with novels of all
+nations; her library was large and well selected.
+
+During the latter years of her life she was considered as the first
+minister of state or even as regent of the kingdom, rather than as
+mere mistress. Louis XV. looked to her for the enforcement of the laws
+and his own orders. She was forced to receive, at any time, foreign
+ambassadors and ministers; she had to meet in the Cabinet de Travail
+and give counsel to the generals who were her proteges; the clergy
+went to her and laid before her their plaints, and through her the
+financiers arranged their transactions with the state.
+
+Notwithstanding all this influence and power, the record of her last
+years is a sorrowful one. More than ever queen, she was no longer
+loved by the king, who went to Passy to continue his liaison with
+a young girl, the daughter of a lawyer. When Louis XV. as much as
+recognized a son by this woman, Mme. de Pompadour became deeply
+concerned; but the king was too much a slave to her domination to
+replace her, so she retained favor and confidence; the following
+letter shows that she enjoyed little else:
+
+"The more I advance in years, my dear brother, the more philosophical
+are my reflections. I am quite sure that you will think the same.
+Except the happiness of being with the king, who assuredly consoles me
+in everything, the rest is only a tissue of wickedness, of platitudes,
+of all the miseries to which poor human beings are liable. A fine
+matter for reflection (especially for anyone born as meditative as
+I)!..." Later on, she wrote: "Everywhere where there are human beings,
+my dear brother, you will find falseness and all the vices of which
+they are capable. To live alone would be too tiresome, thus we must
+endure them with their defects and appear not to see them."
+
+She realized that the king kept her only out of charity and for fear
+of taking up any energetic resolution. Her greatest disappointment was
+the utter failure of her political plans and aspirations, which came
+to naught by the Treaty of Paris. There was absolutely no glory left
+for her, and chagrin gradually consumed her. Her health had been
+delicate from youth; consumption was fast making inroads and
+undermining her constitution, and the numerous miscarriages of her
+early years as mistress contributed to her physical ruin. For years
+she had kept herself up by artificial means, and had hidden her loss
+of flesh and fading beauty by all sorts of dress contrivances, rouges,
+and powders. She died in 1764, at the age of forty-two.
+
+Writers differ as to the true nature of Mme. de Pompadour, some saying
+that she was bereft of all feeling, a callous, hard-hearted monster;
+others maintain that she was tender-hearted and sympathetic. However,
+the majority agree as to her possession of many of the essential
+qualifications of an able minister of state, as well as great aptitude
+for carrying on diplomatic negotiations.
+
+She was the greatest patroness of art that France ever possessed,
+giving to it the best hours of her leisure; it was her pastime, her
+consolation, her extravagance, and her ruin. All eminent artists of
+the eighteenth century were her clients. Artists were nourished, so
+to speak, by her favors. It may truthfully be said that the
+eighteenth-century art is a Pompadour product, if not a creation. The
+whole century was a sort of great relic of the favorite. Fashions and
+modes were slaves to her caprice, every new creation being dependent
+upon her approbation for its survival--the carriage, the _cheminee_,
+sofa, bed, chair, fan, and even the _etui_ and toothpick, were
+fashioned after her ideas. "She is the godmother and queen of the
+rococo." Such a eulogy, given by the De Goncourt brothers, is not
+shared by all critics. Guizot wrote: "As frivolous as she was deeply
+depraved and base-minded in her calculating easiness of virtue, she
+had more ambition than comported with her mental calibre or her force
+of character; she had taken it into her head to govern, by turns
+promoting and overthrowing the ministers, herself proffering advice
+to the king, sometimes to good purpose, but still more often with a
+levity as fatal as her obstinacy."
+
+In _The Old Regime_, Lady Jackson has given an unprejudiced estimate
+of her: "She was the most accomplished and talented woman of her time;
+distinguished, above all others, for her enlightened patronage of
+science and of the arts, also for the encouragement she gave to the
+development of improvements in various manufactures which had stood
+still or were on the decline until favored by her; a fresh impulse
+was given to progress, and a perfection attained which has never been
+surpassed and, in fact, rarely equalled. _Les Gobelins_, the carpets
+of the Savonnerie, the _porcelaine de Sevres_, were all, at her
+request, declared _Manufactures Royales_. Some of the finest specimens
+of the products of Sevres, in ornamental groups of figures, were
+modelled and painted by Mme. de Pompadour, as presents to the
+queen.... The name of Pompadour is, indeed, intimately associated with
+a whole school of art of the Louis Quinze period--art so inimitable in
+its grace and elegance that it has stood the test of time and remains
+unsurpassed. Artists and poets and men of science vied with each other
+in admiration of her talents and taste. And it was not mere
+flattery, but simply the praise due to an enlightened patroness and a
+distinguished artist."
+
+If we consider the morals of high society, we shall scarcely find one
+woman of rank who could cast a stone at Madame de Pompadour. While
+admitting her moral shortcomings, it must nevertheless be acknowledged
+that she showed an exceptional ability in maintaining, for twenty
+years, her influence over such a man as Louis XV. Such was the power
+of this woman, the daughter of a tradesman, mistress, king in all
+save title. She was, however, less powerful than her successor,--that
+successor who was less clever and less ambitious, who "never made
+the least scrupulous blush at the lowness of her origin and the
+irregularity of her life,"--Mme. du Barry.
+
+Mme. du Barry was the natural daughter of Anne Bequs, who was
+supported by M. Dumonceau, a rich banker at Paris. The child was put
+into a convent, and, after passing through different phases of life,
+she was finally placed in a house of pleasure, where she captivated
+the Comte du Barry, at whose harem she became the favorite. The count,
+who had once before tried to supply the king with a mistress, now
+planned for his favorite. The king ordered the brother of Du Barry,
+Guillaume, to hasten to Paris to marry a lady of the king's choice.
+The girl's name had been changed officially and by the clergy, and a
+dowry had been given her. Thus was it possible for the king, after
+she had become the Comtesse du Barry, to take her as a mistress. Her
+husband was sent back to Toulouse, where he was stationed, while his
+wife was lodged at Versailles, within easy access of the king's own
+chamber.
+
+
+After much intriguing and diplomacy on the part of her friends,
+especially Richelieu, she was to be presented at court. The scene is
+well described by the De Goncourt brothers, and affords a truthful
+picture of court manners and customs of the latter part of the reign
+of Louis XV.:
+
+"The great day had arrived--Paris was rushing to Versailles. The
+presentation was to take place in the evening, after worship. The hour
+was approaching. Richelieu, filling his charge as first gentleman,
+was with the king, Choiseul was on the other side. Both were waiting,
+counting the moments and watching the king. The latter, ill at ease,
+restless, agitated, looked every minute at his watch. He paced up and
+down, uttered indistinct words, was vexed at the noise at the gates
+and the avenues, the reason of which he inquired of Choiseul. 'Sire,
+the people--informed that to-day Mme. du Barry is to have the honor of
+being presented to Your Majesty--have come from all parts to witness
+her _entree_, not being able to witness the reception Your Majesty
+will give her.' The time has long since passed--Mme. du Barry does not
+appear. Choiseul (her enemy) and his friends radiate joy; Richelieu,
+in a corner of the room, feels assurance failing him. The king goes
+to the window, looks into the night--nothing. Finally, he decides,
+he opens his mouth to countermand the presentation. 'Sire, Mme. du
+Barry!' cries Richelieu, who had just recognized the carriage and the
+livery of the favorite; 'she will enter if you give the order.' Just
+then, Mme. du Barry enters behind the Comtesse de Bearn, bedecked with
+the hundred thousand francs' worth of diamonds the king had sent her,
+coifed in that superb headdress whose long scaffolding had almost made
+her miss the hour of presentation, dressed in one of those triumphant
+robes which the women of the eighteenth century called 'robes of
+combat,' armed in that toilette in which the eyes of a blind woman
+(Mme. du Deffand) see the destiny of Europe and the fate of ministers;
+and it is an apparition so beaming, so dazzling, that, in the first
+moments of surprise, the greatest enemies of the favorite cannot
+escape the charm of the woman, and renounce calumniating her beauty."
+
+According to reports, her beauty must have been of the ideal type of
+the time. All the portraits and images that Mme. du Barry has left
+of herself, in marble, engraving, or on canvas, show a _mignonne_
+perfection of body and face. Her hair was long, silky, of an ashen
+blonde, and was dressed like the hair of a child; her brows and lashes
+were brown, her nose small and finely cut. "It was a complexion which
+the century compared to a roseleaf fallen into milk. It was a
+neck which was like the neck of an antique statue...." In her were
+victorious youth, life, and a sort of the divinity of a Hebe; about
+her hovered that charm of intoxication, which made Voltaire cry out
+before one of her portraits: _L'original etait fait pour les dieux!_
+[The original was made for the gods!]
+
+In her lofty position, Mme. du Barry sought to overcome the objections
+of the titled class, to quell jealousies and petty quarrels; she did
+not usurp any power and always endeavored not to trouble or embarrass
+anyone. After some time, she succeeded in winning the favor of some of
+the ladies, and, when her influence was fairly well established, she
+began to plan the overthrow of her enemy, De Choiseul, minister of
+Louis XV. She became the favorite of artists and musicians, and
+all Europe began to talk and write about this woman whom art had
+immortalized on canvas and who was then controlling the destinies of
+France. She succeeded, under the apprenticeship of her lover, the
+Duc d'Aiguillon, who was the outspoken enemy of De Choiseul, in
+accomplishing the fall of the minister and the fortune of her friend.
+This success required but a short time for its culmination, for in
+1770 he was deprived of his office and was exiled to Chantilly.
+
+Mme. du Barry was never an implacable enemy; she was too kind-hearted
+for that; thus, when her friend D'Aiguillon insisted on depriving
+De Choiseul of his fortune, she managed to procure for the latter
+a pension of sixty-thousand livres and one million ecus in cash,
+in spite of the opposition of D'Aiguillon. After the fall of that
+minister all the princes of the blood were glad to pay her homage. She
+became almost as powerful as Mme. de Pompadour, but her influence was
+not directed in the same channels.
+
+Her life was a mere senseless dream of _femme galante_, a luxurious
+revel, a constant whirl of pleasures, and extravagance in jewelry,
+silks, gems, etc. A service in silver was no longer rich enough--she
+had one in solid gold. To house all her gems of art, rare objects,
+furniture, she caused to be constructed a temple of art, "Luciennes,"
+one of the most sumptuous, exquisite structures ever fitted out. The
+money for this was supplied by the _controleur general_, the Abbe
+Ferray, whose politics, science, duty, and aim in life consisted in
+never allowing Mme. du Barry to lack money. All discipline, morality,
+in fact everything, degenerated.
+
+She had no rancor or desire for vengeance; she never humiliated those
+whom she could destroy; she always punished by silence, yet never won
+eternal silence by letters patent; generous to a fault, giving and
+permitting everything about her to be taken, she opened her purse to
+all who were kind to her and to all who happened in some way to please
+her. Keeping the heart of Louis XV. was no easy matter, as the case of
+Mme. de Pompadour clearly showed. The majority of his friends and her
+enemies endeavored to force a new mistress upon the king; surrounded
+on all sides by candidates for her coveted position, Mme. du Barry
+managed to hold her own. When the king was prostrated by smallpox, he
+sent her away on the last day.
+
+The reign of Mme. du Barry was not one of tyranny, nor was it a
+domination in the strict sense of that word; for she was a nonentity
+politically, without ideas or plans. "Study the favor of Mme. du
+Barry: nothing that emanates from her belongs to her; she possesses
+neither an idea nor an enemy; she controls all the historical events
+of her time, without desiring them, without comprehending them....
+She serves friendships and individuals, without knowing how to serve a
+cause or a system or a party, and she is protected by the providential
+course of things, without having to worry about an effort, intrigues,
+or gratitude."
+
+Her power and influence cannot be compared with those of her
+predecessor, Mme. de Pompadour. Modes were followed, but never
+invented by her. "With her taste for the pleasures of a grisette,
+her patronage falls from the opera to the couplet, from paintings and
+statuaries to bronzes and sculptures in wood; her _clientele_ are
+no longer artists, philosophers, poets--they are the gods of lower
+domains, mimics, buffoons, dancers, comedians." She was the lowest and
+most common type of woman ever influential in France.
+
+After the death of the king, she was ordered to leave Versailles and
+live with her aunt. Later on, she was permitted to reside within ten
+leagues of Paris; all her former friends and admirers then returned,
+and she continued to live the life of old, buying everything for which
+she had a fancy and living in the most sumptuous style, never worrying
+about the payment of her debts. After a few years she was entirely
+forgotten, living at Luciennes with but a few intimate friends and her
+lover, the Duc de Brissac.
+
+At the outbreak of the Revolution, she was living at Luciennes in
+great luxury on the fortune left her by the duke. Probably she would
+have escaped the guillotine had she not been so possessed with the
+idea of retaining her wealth. Four trips to England were undertaken
+by her, and on her return she found her estates usurped by a man
+named Grieve, who, anxious to obtain possession of her riches, finally
+succeeded in procuring her arrest while her enemies were in power.
+From Sainte-Pelagie they took her to the Conciergerie, to the room
+which Marie Antoinette had occupied.
+
+Accused of being the instrument of Pitt, of being an accomplice in the
+foreign war, of the insurrection in La Vendee, of the disorders in the
+south, the jury, out one hour, brought in a verdict of guilty, fixing
+the punishment at death within twenty-four hours, on the Place de la
+Republique. Upon hearing her sentence, she broke down completely and
+confessed everything she had hidden in the garden at Luciennes. On her
+way to the scaffold, she was a most pitiable sight to behold--the only
+prominent French woman, victim of the Revolution, to die a coward. The
+last words of this once famous and popular mistress were: "Life, life,
+leave me my life! I will give all my wealth to the nation. Another
+minute, hangman! _A moi! A moi!_" and the heavy iron cut short her
+pitiful screams, thus ending the life of the last royal mistress.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+Marie Antoinette and the Revolution
+
+
+The condition of France at the end of the reign of Louis XV. was most
+deplorable--injustice, misery, bankruptcy, and instability everywhere.
+The action of the law could be overridden by the use of arbitrary
+warrants of arrest--_lettres de cachet_. The artisans of the towns
+were hampered by the system of taxation, but the peasant had the
+greatest cause for complaint; he was oppressed by the feudal dues and
+many taxes, which often amounted to sixty per cent of his earnings.
+The government was absolute, but rotten and tottering; the people,
+oppressively and unjustly governed, were just beginning to be
+conscious of their condition and to seek the cause of it, while the
+educated classes were saturated with revolutionary doctrines which
+not only destroyed their loyalty to the old institutions, but created
+constant aspirations toward new ones.
+
+Thus, when Louis XVI., a mere boy, began to reign, the whole French
+administrative body was corrupt, self-seeking, and in the hands of
+lawyers, a class that dominated almost every phase of government. In
+general, inefficiency, idleness, and dishonesty had obtained a ruling
+place in the governing body; the few honest men who had a minor
+share in the administration either fell into a sort of disheartened
+acquiescence or lost their fortunes and reputations in hopeless
+revolt.
+
+Under these conditions Louis XVI. began his reign; and although peace
+seemed to exist externally, the country was in revolution. France
+was as much under the modern "ring rule" as any country ever was--a
+condition of affairs largely due to the nature of the young
+king, whose predominant characteristics might be called a supreme
+awkwardness and an unpardonable lack of will power. He was a man who,
+during the first part of his reign, led a pure life; he possessed good
+and philanthropic intentions, but was hampered by a weak intellect and
+a stubbornness which bore little resemblance to real strength of
+will. Also, he entertained strong religious convictions, which were
+extremely detrimental to his policy and caused disagreements with his
+ministers--Turgot, on account of his philosophical principles, Necker,
+on account of his Protestantism.
+
+His wife had those qualities which he lacked, decision and strength
+of character; unfortunately, she wielded no influence over him in the
+beginning, and when she did gain it, she used it in a fatal manner,
+because she was ignorant of the needs of France. Throughout her
+career of power, she evinced headstrong wilfulness in pursuing her own
+course. Thus, totally incapable of acting for himself, Louis XVI. was
+practically at the mercy of his aunts, wife, courtiers, and ministers,
+who fitted his policy to their own desires and notions; therefore, the
+vast stream of emoluments and honors was diverted by the ministers
+and courtiers into channels of their own selection. There were formed
+parties and combinations which were constantly intriguing for or
+against each other.
+
+At the time of the accession of Louis XVI., when poverty was general
+over the kingdom, the household of the king consisted of nearly four
+thousand civilians, nine thousand military men, and relatives to the
+enormous number of two thousand, the supporting of which dependents
+cost France some forty-five million francs annually. Luckily there
+was no mistress to govern, as under Louis XV., but, in place of
+one mistress who was the dispenser of favors, there were numerous
+intriguing court women who were as corrupt and frivolous as the men.
+These split the court into factions. As the finances of the country
+sank to the lowest ebb, odium was naturally cast upon the whole court,
+without exception, by the people; hence, the wholesale slaughter of
+the nobility during the Revolution.
+
+In this period, the most critical in the history of France, the queen,
+Marie Antoinette, as the central figure, the leader of society,
+the model and example to whom all looked for advice upon morals and
+fashions, played an important role. Although not of French birth, she
+deserves to be ranked among the women influential in France, since
+she became so thoroughly imbued with French traits and characteristics
+that she forgot her native tongue. French life and spirit moulded her
+in such fashion that even the French look upon her as a French woman.
+
+Before judging this unfortunate princess who has been condemned by so
+many critics, we must take into consideration the demands that were
+made upon her. Parade was the primary requisite: she was obliged to
+keep up the splendor and attractiveness of the French monarchy;
+in this she excelled, for her manner was dignified, gracious, and
+"appropriately discriminating. It is said that she could bow to
+ten persons with one movement, giving, with her head and eyes, the
+recognition due to each one." It is said, also, that as she passed
+among the ladies of her court, she surpassed them all in the nobility
+of her countenance and the dignified grace of her carriage. All
+foreigners were enchanted with her, and to them she owes no small part
+of her posthumous popularity.
+
+She was reproached by French women for being exclusively devoted
+to the society of a select, intimate circle. Moreover, her conduct
+brought slander upon her; as her companions she chose men and women
+of bad reputation, and was constantly surrounded by dissipated young
+noblemen whom she permitted to come into her presence in costumes
+which shocked conservative people; she encouraged gambling, frequented
+the worst gambling house of the time, that of the Princesse de
+Guemenee, and visited masked balls where the worst women of the
+capital jostled the great nobles of the court; her husband seldom
+accompanied her to these pleasure resorts.
+
+During part of the reign of Marie Antoinette the country was waging
+an expensive war and was deeply in debt, but the queen did not set an
+example of economy by retrenching her expenses; although her personal
+allowance was much larger than that of the preceding queen, she was
+always in debt and lost heavily at gambling. Generally, she avoided
+interference with the government of the state, but as the wife of so
+incapable a king she was forced into an attempt at directing public
+matters. Whenever she did mingle in state affairs, it was generally
+fatal to her interests and popularity. She usually carried out her
+wishes, for the king shrank from disappointing his wife and dreaded
+domestic contentions.
+
+He permitted her to go out as she did with the Comte d'Artois, her
+brother-in-law, to masked balls, races, rides in the Bois de Boulogne,
+and on expeditions to the salon of the Princesse de Guemenee, where
+she contracted the ills of a chronically empty purse and late hours.
+When attacked by measles, to relieve her ennui--which her ladies were
+not successful in doing--she procured the consent of the king to the
+presence of four gentlemen, who waited upon her, coming at seven in
+the morning and not departing until eleven at night; and these were
+some of the most depraved and debauched among the nobility--such as De
+Besenval, the Duc de Coigny, and the Duc de Guines.
+
+While in power, she always sided with extravagance and the court,
+against economy and the nation. If we add to all these defects a vain
+and frivolous disposition, a nature fond of admiration, pleasure, and
+popularity, and lending a willing ear to all flattery, compliments,
+and counsels of her favorites, her Austrian birth, and as "little
+dignity as a Paris grisette in her escapades with the dissipated and
+arrogant Comte d'Artois," we have, in general, the causes of her wide
+unpopularity.
+
+It will be seen that as long as she was frivolous and imprudent,
+she was flattered and admired; as soon as she became absolutely
+irreproachable, she was overwhelmed with harsh judgments and
+expressions of ill will. The first period was during the first years
+of the reign of Louis XVI., while he was still all-powerful and
+popular; the second phase of her character developed during the
+trying days of the king's first fall into disfavor and his ultimate
+imprisonment and death. From this account of her career, it will be
+seen that Marie Antoinette, as dauphiness and queen, was rather the
+victim of fate and the invidious intrigues of a depraved court
+than herself an instigator and promulgator of the extravagance and
+dissipation of which she was accused.
+
+We must remember the atmosphere into which Marie Antoinette was thrust
+upon her arrival in France. One of the first to sup with her was that
+most licentious of all royal mistresses, Mme. du Barry, who asked
+for the privilege of dining with the new princess--a favor which the
+dissipated and weak king granted. Louis XV. was nothing more than
+a slave to vice and his mistresses. The king's daughters--Mmes.
+Adelaide, Victoire, and Sophie--were pious but narrow-minded women,
+resolutely hostile to Mme. du Barry and intriguing against her. The
+Comtes de Provence and d'Artois were both pleasure-loving princes of
+doubtful character; their sisters--Mmes. Clotilde and Elisabeth--had
+no importance. The family was divided against itself, each member
+being jealous of the others. The dauphin, being of a retiring
+disposition and of a close and self-contained nature, did little to
+add to the happiness of the young princess. Thus, she was literally
+forced to depend upon her own resources for pleasure and amusement and
+was at the mercy of the court, which was never more divided than in
+about 1770--the time of her appearance.
+
+At that time there were two parties--the Choiseul, or Austrian,
+party, and those who opposed the policy of Choiseul, especially in
+the expulsion of the Jesuits; the latter were called the party of the
+_devots_ and were led by Chancellor Maupeau and the Duc d'Aiguillon.
+This faction, with the mistress--Mme. du Barry--as the motive power,
+soon broke up the power of Choiseul. The young and innocent foreign
+princess, unschooled in intrigue and politics, could not escape both
+political parties; upon her entrance into the French court, she was
+immediately classed with one or the other of these rival factions
+and thus made enemies by whatever turn she took, and was caught in a
+network of intrigues from which extrication was almost impossible.
+
+Here, in this whirl of social excesses, her habits were formed; hers
+being a lively, alert, active nature, fond of pleasure and somewhat
+inclined toward raillery, she soon became so absorbed in the
+many distractions of court life that little time was left her for
+indulgence in reflection of a serious nature. Her manner of life at
+this time in part explains her subsequent career of heedlessness,
+excessive extravagance, and gayety.
+
+At first her aunts--Mmes. Adelaide and Sophie--succeeded in partially
+estranging her from Louis XV., who had taken a strong fancy to his
+granddaughter; but this influence was soon overcome--then these aunts
+turned against her. Her popularity, however, increased. Innumerable
+instances might be cited to show her kindness to the poor, to her
+servants, to anyone in need--a quality which made her popular with the
+masses. In time almost everyone at court was apparently enslaved by
+her attractions and endeavored to please the dauphiness--this was
+about 1774, when she was at the height of her popularity.
+
+However, there developed a striking contrast between the dauphiness
+and the queen; Burke called the former "the morning star, full of
+life and splendor and joy." In fact, she was a mere girl, childlike,
+passing a gay and innocent life over a road mined with ambushes and
+intrigues which were intended to bring ruin upon her and destined
+eventually to accomplish their purpose. By being always prompt in her
+charities, having inherited her mother's devotion to the poor, she
+won golden opinions on all sides; and the reputation thus gained was
+augmented by her animated, graceful manner and her youthful beauty.
+
+Little accustomed to the magnificence that surrounded her, she soon
+wearied of it, craving simpler manners and the greater freedom of
+private intercourse. When, as queen, she indulged these desires, she
+brought upon herself the abuse and vilification of her enemies. While
+dauphiness, her actions could not cause the nation's reproach or
+arouse public resentment; as queen, however, her behavior was subject
+to the strictest rules of etiquette, and she was responsible for
+the morals and general tone of her court. This responsibility Marie
+Antoinette failed to realize until it was too late.
+
+Upon the accession of Louis XVI., a clean sweep was made of the
+licentious and discredited agents of Mme. du Barry, and a new ministry
+was created. The former mistress, with her lover, the Duc d'Aiguillon,
+was banished, although Mme. Adelaide succeeded in having Maurepas,
+uncle of the Duc d'Aiguillon, made minister. Marie Antoinette had
+little interest in the appointment after she failed to gain the honor
+for her favorite, De Choiseul, who had negotiated her marriage.
+
+The queen then proceeded to carry out her long-cherished wishes for
+society dinners at which she could preside. Her every act, however,
+was governed by inflexible laws of etiquette, some of which she most
+impatiently suffered, but many of which she impatiently put aside.
+With this manner of entertaining begins her reign as queen of taste
+and fashion, for Louis XVI. left to his wife the responsibility of
+organizing all entertainments, and her aspiration was to make the
+court of France the most splendid in the world. From that time on, all
+her movements, her apparel, her manners, to the minutest detail, were
+imitated by the court ladies. This custom, of course, led to reckless
+extravagance among the nobility, for whenever Marie Antoinette
+appeared in a new gown, which was almost daily, the ladies of the
+nobility must perforce copy it.
+
+Tidings of these extravagances of the queen and her court in
+time reached the empress-mother in Vienna. Marie Therese severely
+reproached her daughter, writing: "My daughter, my dear daughter, the
+first queen--is she to grow like this? The idea is insupportable to
+me." Yet, "to speak the exact truth," said her counsellor, Mercy, when
+writing to the empress-mother, "there is less to complain of in the
+evil which exists than in the lack of all the good which might exist."
+It is chronicled to her credit that all her expenditure was not upon
+herself alone, but that she was equally lavish when she attempted
+charity.
+
+Her first political act, the removal of Turgot, was disastrous. She
+thought she was humoring public opinion, which was strongly against
+the minister on account of his many reforms, but her primary reason
+was rather one of personal vengeance. Turgot had been openly hostile
+to her friend and favorite, the Duc de Guines. She was then in the
+midst of her period of dissipation; "dazzled by the glory of the
+throne, intoxicated by public approval," she overstepped the bounds
+of royal propriety, neglecting etiquette and forgetting that she was
+secretly hated by the people because of her origin; her greatest error
+was in forgetting that she was Queen of France and no longer the mere
+dauphiness.
+
+Under the escort of her brother-in-law, the Comte d'Artois, she was
+constantly occupied with pleasures and had time for little else. The
+king, retiring every night at eleven and rising at five, had all the
+doors locked; so the queen, who returned early in the morning, was
+compelled to enter by the back door and pass through the servants'
+apartments. Such behavior gave plentiful material to M. de Provence,
+the king's brother, who remained at home and composed, for the
+_Mercure de France_, all sorts of stories, from so-called trustworthy
+information, on the king, on society, and especially on the doings of
+the queen.
+
+Marie Antoinette's fondness for the chase and the English racing fad,
+for gambling, billiards, and her _petits soupers_ after the riding and
+racing, gave ample opportunity to the gossipmongers and enemies. In
+spite of the vigorous remonstrances of her mother, the empress, she
+persisted in her wild career of dissipation and extravagance, and drew
+upon herself more and more the disrespect of the people, especially in
+appearing at places frequented by the disreputable of both sexes, by
+entering into all noisy and vulgar amusements, by her disregard and
+disdain of all the conventionalities of the court. She increased her
+unpopularity by reviving the sport of sleighing; for this purpose
+she had gorgeous sleighs constructed at a time when the population of
+France was in misery. Such proceedings caused libels, epigrams, and
+satirical chansonnettes to flow thick and fast from her enemies. Her
+one idea was to seek congenial pleasures: she appeared to be wholly
+oblivious to the disapproval of public opinion.
+
+The slanderous tongues of her husband's aunts, the "jealousies and
+bitter backbiting of her own intimate circle of friends," the infamous
+accusations brought against her by her sisters-in-law, the attacks of
+the Comte de Provence, and the indifference of the king himself, all
+helped to increase her unpopularity.
+
+Among her personal friends was the Princesse de Lamballe, whose
+influence was preponderant for several years; she was not a
+conspicuously wise woman, but one of spotless character. Her
+ambitions, personal and for her relatives, often caused much trouble,
+for she became the mouthpiece of her allies and her clients, for whom
+she "solicited recommendations with as much pertinacity as if she had
+been the most inveterate place hunter on her own account." Her favors
+were too much in one direction to suit the queen, for, much attached
+to the memory of her husband, the princess naturally sympathized with
+the Orleans faction. As superintendent of the household of the queen,
+replacing the Comtesse de Noailles, she gave rise to much scandal.
+Her salary, through intrigues, had been raised to fifty thousand ecus,
+while her privileges were enormous; for instance, no lady of the queen
+could execute an order given her without first obtaining the consent
+of the superintendent. The displeasure and vexation which this
+restriction caused among the court ladies may be imagined; complaints
+became so frequent that the queen tired of them, and her affection for
+her friend was thus cooled.
+
+She sought other friends, among whom Mme. de Polignac was the favorite
+and almost supplanted the Princesse de Lamballe in the regard of the
+queen. To her she presented a large grant of money, the tabouret of
+a duchess, the post of governess to the children of France; and her
+friends received the appointments of ambassadors, and nominations to
+inferior offices. She was not by nature an intriguing woman, but was
+soon surrounded by a set of young men and women who made use of
+her favor and took advantage of her influence; the result was the
+formation of a regular Polignac set, almost all questionable persons,
+but an exclusive circle, permitting no division of favor, and undoing
+all who endeavored to rival them. This coterie of favorites may
+be said to have caused Marie Antoinette as much unpopularity and
+contributed as much to her ruin, and even to that of royalty, as did
+any other cause originating at court. Mme. de Lamballe was no match
+for her rival, so she retired, a move which increased the influence
+of Mme. de Polignac, to whose house the whole court flocked. The queen
+followed her wherever she went, made her husband duke, and permitted
+her to sit in her presence.
+
+By spending so much of her time at the salons of Mme. de Polignac
+and the Princesse de Guemenee, the queen excited the displeasure
+and enmity of many of the court and the people; at those places, De
+Besenval, De Ligny, De Lauzun,--men of the most licentious habits and
+expert spendthrifts,--seemed to enjoy her intimate friendship, a state
+of affairs which caused many scandalous stories and helped to alienate
+some of the greatest houses of France. This injudicious display of
+preference for her own circle of friends also fostered a general
+distrust and dislike among the people. The first families of France
+preferred to absent themselves from her weekly balls at Versailles,
+since attendance would probably result in their being ignored by the
+queen, who permitted herself to be so engrossed by a bevy of favorites
+and her own amusements as scarcely to notice other guests.
+
+Her eulogists find excuse for all this in her lightness of heart and
+gay spirits, as well as in the manner of her rearing, having been
+brought up in the court of Louis XV., where she saw shameless vice
+tolerated and even condoned. Although she preserved her virtue in the
+midst of all this dissipation, she became callous to the shortcomings
+of her friends and her own finer perceptions became blunted. Thus,
+in the most critical years of her reign, her nobler nature suffered
+deterioration, which resulted fatally.
+
+Despite many warnings, she could not or would not do without those
+friends. She excused anything in those who could make themselves
+useful to her amusement: everyone who catered to her taste received
+her favor. M. Rocheterie, in his admirable work, _The Life of Marie
+Antoinette_, gives as the source of her great love of pleasure her
+very strongly affectionate disposition,--the need of showering upon
+someone the overflowing of an ardent nature,--together with the desire
+for activity so natural in a princess of nineteen. As a place in
+which to vent all these emotions, these ebullitions of affections and
+amusements, the king presented her with the chateau "Little Trianon,"
+where she might enjoy herself as she liked, away from the intrigues of
+court.
+
+Marie Antoinette has become better known as the queen of "Little
+Trianon" than as a queen of Versailles. At the former place she
+gave full license to her creative bent. Her palace, as well as her
+environments, she fashioned according to her own ideas, which were
+not French and only made her stand out the more conspicuously as a
+foreigner. From this sort of fairy creation arose the distinctively
+Marie Antoinette art and style; she caused artists to exhaust their
+fertile brains in devising the most curious and magnificent, the
+newest and most fanciful creations, quite regardless of cost--and
+this while her people were starving and crying for bread! The angry
+murmurings of the populace did not reach the ears of the gay queen,
+who, had she been conscious of them, might have allowed her bright
+eyes to become dim for a time, but would have soon forgotten the
+passing cloud.
+
+There was constant festivity about the queen and her companions, but
+no etiquette; there was no household, only friends--the Polignacs,
+Mme. Elisabeth, Monsieur, the Comte d'Artois, and, occasionally, the
+king. To be sure, the amusements were innocent--open-air balls, rides,
+lawn fetes, all made particularly attractive by the affability of
+the young queen, who showed each guest some particular attention; all
+departed enchanted with the place and its delights and, especially,
+with the graciousness of the royal hostess. There all artists and
+authors of France were encouraged and patronized--with the exception
+of Voltaire; the queen refused to patronize a man whose view upon
+morality had caused so much trouble.
+
+Music and the drama received especial protection from her. The triumph
+of Gluck's _Iphigenie en Aulide_, in 1774, was the first victory of
+Marie Antoinette over the former mistress and the Piccini party. This
+was the second musical quarrel in France, the first having occurred
+in 1754, between the lovers of French and Italian music, with Mme. de
+Pompadour as protectress. After Gluck had monopolized the French opera
+for eight years, the Italian, Piccini, was brought from Italy in
+1776. Quinault's _Roland_ was arranged for him by Marmontel and was
+presented in 1778, unsuccessfully; Gluck presented his _Iphigenie en
+Aulide_, and no opera ever received such general approbation. "The
+scene was all uproar and confusion, demoniacal enthusiasm; women threw
+their gloves, fans, lace kerchiefs, at the actors; men stamped and
+yelled; the enthusiasm of the public reached actual frenzy. All did
+honor to the composer and to the queen."
+
+Marie Antoinette, however, also gave Piccini her protection. Gluck,
+armed with German theories and supporting French music, maintained for
+dramatic interest, the subordination of music to poetry, the union
+or close relation of song and recitative; whereas, the Italian opera
+represented by Piccini had no dramatic unity, no great ensembles,
+nothing but short airs, detached, without connection--no substance,
+but mere ornamentation. Gluck proved, also, that tragedy could be
+introduced in opera, while Piccini maintained that opera could embrace
+only the fable--the marvellous and fairylike. This musical quarrel
+became a veritable national issue, every salon, the Academy, and all
+clubs being partisans of one or the other theory; it did much to mould
+the later French and German music, and much credit is due the queen
+for the support given and the intelligence displayed in so important
+an issue.
+
+All singers, actors, writers, geniuses in all things, were sure of
+welcome and protection from Marie Antoinette; but she permitted
+her passion for the theatre to carry her to extremes unbecoming her
+position, for she consorted with comedians, played their parts, and
+associated with them as though they were her equals. Such conduct
+as this, and her exclusiveness in court circles, encouraged calumny.
+Versailles was deserted by the best families, and all the pomp
+and traditions of the French monarchs were abandoned. The king, in
+sanctioning these amusements at the "Little Trianon," lost the respect
+and esteem of the nobility, but the queen was held responsible for all
+evil,--for the deficit in the treasury, and the increase in taxes;
+to such an extent was she blamed, that the tide of public popularity
+turned and she was regarded with suspicion, envy, and even hatred.
+
+In the spring of 1777 the queen's brother, the Emperor Joseph II. of
+Austria, arrived in Paris for a visit to his sister and the court of
+France. The relations between him and Marie Antoinette became quite
+intimate; the emperor, always disposed to be critical, did not
+hesitate to warn his sister of the dangers of her situation, pointing
+out to her her weakness in thus being led on by her love of pleasure,
+and the deplorable consequences which this weakness would infallibly
+entail in the future. The queen acknowledged the justness of the
+emperor's reasoning, and, though often deeply offended by his
+frankness and severity, she determined upon reform. This resolution
+was, to some extent, influenced by the hope of pregnancy; so, when
+her expectations in that direction proved to be without foundation, so
+keen was the disappointment thus occasioned, that, in order to forget
+it, she plunged into dissipation to such an extent that it soon
+developed into a veritable passion. Bitterly disappointed, vexed
+with a husband whose coldness constantly irritated her ardent nature,
+fretful and nervous, there naturally developed a morbid state of mind
+which explains the impetuosity with which she attempted to escape from
+herself.
+
+In December, 1778, a daughter was born to the queen, and she welcomed
+her with these words: "Poor little one, you are not desired, but you
+will be none the less dear to me! A son would have belonged to the
+state--you will belong to me." After this event the queen gave herself
+up to thoughts and pursuits of a more serious nature. In 1779 the
+dauphin was born, and from that period Marie Antoinette considered
+herself no longer a foreigner.
+
+After the death of Maurepas, minister and counsellor to the king,
+the queen became more influential in court matters. She relieved the
+indolent monarch of much responsibility, but only to hand it over to
+her favorites. The period from 1781 to 1785 was the most brilliant of
+the court of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, one of dissipation and
+extravagance, the rich _bourgeoisie_ vying with the nobility in their
+luxurious style of living and in lavish expenditure. "The finest silks
+that Lyons could weave, the most beautiful laces that Alencon could
+produce, the most gorgeous equipages, the most expensive furniture,
+inlaid and carved, the tapestry of Beauvais and the porcelain of
+Sevres--all were in the greatest demand." Necker was replaced by
+incompetent ministers, the treasury was depleted, and the poor became
+more and more restless and threatening. Once more, and with increased
+vehemence, was heard the cry: _A bas l'Autrichienne!_
+
+During the American war of the Revolution, Marie Antoinette was always
+favorable to the Colonial cause, protecting La Fayette and encouraging
+all volunteers of the nobility, who embarked for America in great
+numbers. She presented Washington with a full-length portrait of
+herself, loudly and publicly proclaiming her sympathy for things
+American. She assured Rochambeau of her good will, and procured for La
+Fayette a high command in the _corps d'armee_ which was to be sent to
+America. When Necker and other ministers were negotiating for
+peace, from 1781 to 1785, she persisted in asserting that American
+independence should be acknowledged; and when it was declared, she
+rejoiced as at no political event in her own country.
+
+Her political adventures were few; in fact, she disliked politics and
+desired to keep aloof from the intrigues of the ministers. She may
+have been instrumental in the downfall of Necker--at least, she
+secured the appointment, as minister of finance, of the worthless
+Calonne, who, it will be remembered, brought about the ruin of
+France in a short period. In time, however, the queen recognized his
+worthlessness and would have nothing to do with him, thus making in
+him another implacable enemy.
+
+Events were fast diminishing the popularity of the queen. When, after
+the long-disputed question of presenting the _Marriage of Figaro_, she
+herself undertook to play in _The Barber of Seville_ in her theatre
+at the Trianon, she overstepped the bounds of propriety. Then followed
+the affair of the diamond necklace, in which the worst, most cunning,
+and most notorious rogues abused the name of the queen. That was the
+great adventure of the eighteenth century. Boehmer, the court jeweler,
+had, in a number of years, procured a collection of stones for an
+incomparable necklace. This was intended for Mme. du Barry, but
+Boehmer offered it to the queen, who refused to purchase it, and he
+considered himself ruined. It may be well to add that the queen had
+previously purchased a pair of diamond earrings which had been ordered
+by Louis XV. for his mistress; for those ornaments she paid almost
+half her annual pin money, amounting to nine hundred thousand francs.
+The jeweler, therefore, had good reason to hope that she would relieve
+him of the necklace.
+
+An adventuress, a Mme. de La Motte, acquainted at court and also with
+the Prince Louis de Rohan, who had incurred the displeasure of the
+queen, informed the cardinal that Marie Antoinette was willing to
+again extend to him her favor. She counterfeited notes, and even went
+so far as to appoint a meeting at midnight in the park at Versailles.
+The supposed queen who appeared was no other than an English girl,
+who dropped a rose with the words: "You know what that means." The
+cardinal was informed that the queen desired to buy the necklace, but
+that it was to be kept secret--it was to be purchased for her by a
+great noble, who was to remain unknown. All necessary papers were
+signed, and the necklace turned over to the Prince de Rohan, who, in
+turn, intrusted it to Mme. de La Motte to be given to the queen; but
+the agent was not long in having it taken apart, and soon her husband
+was selling diamonds in great quantities to English jewelers.
+
+In time, as no payments were received and no favors were shown by the
+queen, an investigation followed. The result was a trial which lasted
+nine months; the cardinal was declared not guilty, the signature
+of the queen false, Mme. de La Motte was sentenced to be whipped,
+branded, and imprisoned for life, and her husband was condemned to the
+galleys. Nevertheless, much censure fell to the share of the queen. It
+was the beginning of the end of her reign as a favorite whose faults
+could be condoned. She was beginning to reap the fruits of her former
+dissipations. In about 1787, when she least deserved it, she became
+the butt of calumny, intrigues, and pamphlets.
+
+During these years she was the most devoted of mothers; she personally
+looked after her four children, watched by their bedsides when they
+were ill, shutting herself up with them in the chateau so that they
+would not communicate their disease to the children who played in the
+park. In 1785 the king purchased Saint-Cloud and presented it to
+the queen, together with six millions in her own right, to enjoy and
+dispose of as she pleased. That act added the last straw to the burden
+of resentment of the overwrought public; from that time she was known
+as "Madame Deficit." Also she was accused of having sent her brother,
+Joseph II., one hundred million livres in three years. She was hissed
+at the opera. In 1788 there were many who refused to dance with the
+queen. In the preceding year a caricature was openly sold, showing
+Louis XVI. and his queen seated at a sumptuous table, while a starving
+crowd surrounded them; it bore the legend: "The king drinks, the queen
+eats, while the people cry!" Calonne, minister of finance, an intimate
+friend of the Polignacs, but in disfavor with the queen, also made
+common cause with the enemies, in songs and perfidious insinuations.
+Upon his fall, in 1787, the queen's position became even worse.
+
+The last period of the life of the queen, La Rocheterie calls the
+militant period--it was one in which the joy of living was no more;
+trouble, sorrows upon sorrows, and anxieties replaced the former
+care-free, happy radiance of her youth. At the reunion of the
+States-General, while the country at large was full of confidence and
+the king was still a hero, the queen was the one dark spot; calumny
+had done its work--the whole country seemed to be saturated with an
+implacable hatred and prejudice against her whom they considered
+the source of all evil. Throughout the ceremonies attending the
+States-General, the queen was received with the same ominous silence;
+no one lifted his voice to cheer her, but the Duc d'Orleans was always
+applauded, to her humiliation.
+
+Whatever may have been the faults and excesses of her youth, their
+period was over and in their place arose all the noble sentiments so
+long dormant. When the king was about to go to Paris as the prisoner
+of the infuriated mob, La Fayette asked the queen: "Madame, what is
+your personal intention?" "I know the fate which awaits me, but
+my duty is to die at the feet of the king and in the arms of my
+children," replied the queen. During the following days of anxiety she
+showed wonderful courage and graciousness, "winning much popularity
+by her serene dignity, the incomparable charm which pervaded her whole
+person, and her affability."
+
+Upon the urgent request of the queen the Polignac set departed,
+and Mme. de Lamballe endeavored to do the honors for the queen, by
+receptions three times a week, given to make friends in the Assembly.
+At those functions all conditions of people assembled, and instead
+of the witty, brilliant conversations of the old salon there were
+politics, conspiracies, plots; instead of the gay and laughing faces
+of the old times there were the worn and anxious faces of weary,
+discouraged men and women. There was, indeed, a sad contrast between
+the gay, frivolous, haughty queen of the early days, and this captive
+queen--submissive, dignified, "majestic in her bearing, heroic, and
+reconciled to her awful fate."
+
+Her period of imprisonment, the cruelty, neglect, inadequate food and
+garments, her torture and indescribable sufferings, the insults of
+the crowd and the newspapers, her heroic death, all belong to history.
+"The first crime of the Revolution was the death of the king, but
+the most frightful was the death of the queen." Napoleon said: "The
+queen's death was a crime worse than regicide." "A crime absolutely
+unjustifiable," adds La Rocheterie, "since it had no pretext whatever
+to offer as an excuse; a crime eminently impolitic, since it struck
+down a foreign princess, the most sacred of hostages; a crime beyond
+measure, since the victim was a woman who possessed honors without
+power."
+
+Because Marie Antoinette played a romantic role in French history, it
+is quite natural to find conflicting and contradictory opinions among
+her biographers. The most conflicting may be summed up in these
+words: the queen's influence upon the Revolution was great--her
+extravagances, her haughty bearing, her scorn of the etiquette of
+royalty, her enemies, her prejudices, the arrests which she caused,
+etc. Then her pernicious influence upon the king, after the breaking
+out of the Revolution--she caused his hesitancy, which led to such
+disastrous results, and his plan of annihilating the States Assembly;
+the gathering of the foreign troops and his many contradictory
+and uncertain commands were all laid at her door, making of her an
+important and guilty party to the Revolution. Another estimate is more
+humane and, probably, is the result of cooler reflection, yet is not
+always accepted by Frenchmen or the world at large. It represents her
+as neither saint nor sinner, but as a pure, fascinating woman, always
+chaste, though somewhat rash and frivolous. Proud and energetic, if
+inconsiderate in her political actions and somewhat too impulsive in
+the selection of friends upon whom to bestow her favors, she is yet
+worthy of the title of queen by the very dignity of her bearing;
+always a true woman, seductive and tender of heart, she became a
+martyr "through the extremity of her trials and her triumphant death."
+
+Although history makes Marie Antoinette a central figure during the
+reign of Louis XVI. and the period of the Revolution, yet her personal
+influence was practically limited to the domain of the social world of
+customs and manners; her political influence issued mainly from or was
+due to the concatenation of conditions and circumstances, the results
+of her friends' doings, while her social triumphs were products of
+her own activity. The two women--her intimate friends--who during
+this period were of greatest prominence, who owed their elevation
+and standing entirely to the queen, were women of whom little has
+survived. In her time, Mme. de Polignac was an influential woman,
+wielding tremendous power, contributing largely to the shaping and
+climaxing of France's fate; yet this influence was centred in reality
+in the Polignac set, which was composed of the most important, daring,
+and consummate intriguers that the court of France had ever seen.
+She escaped the guillotine, and by doing so escaped the attention of
+posterity.
+
+Mme. de Lamballe, who wrote nothing, did nothing, effected nothing,
+is better known to the world at large, is more respected and honored,
+than is Mme. de Polignac or even the great salon leaders such as Mme.
+de Genlis or Mlle. de Lespinasse. She owes this prominence to her
+undying devotion to her queen, to her marvellous beauty, and to her
+tragic death on the guillotine. She was not even bright or witty,
+the essentials of greatness among French women--not one _bon mot_ has
+survived her; but she may well be placed by the side of her queen
+for one sublime virtue, too rare in those days,--chastity. She was
+Princess of Sardinia; upon the request of the Duke of Penthievre to
+Louis XV. to select a wife for his son, the Prince of Lamballe, she
+was chosen. A year after the marriage the prince died; and although
+the marriage had not been a happy one, because of the dissolute life
+of the prince, his wife forgave him, and "sorrowed for him as though
+he deserved it."
+
+When in 1768 the queen died, two parties immediately formed, the
+object of both of them being to provide Louis XV. with a wife: one may
+be called the reform party, striving to keep the old king in the paths
+of decency; while the other was composed of the typical eighteenth
+century intriguers, endeavoring to revive the "grand old times." The
+candidate of the former was Mme. de Lamballe, that of the latter, the
+dissolute Duchesse du Barry. This state of affairs was made possible
+by the disagreement of the political and social schemes of the court
+and ministry. Soon after, in 1770, the king negotiated the marriage
+of Marie Antoinette and the dauphin, and from that time began the
+friendship of the future queen and the Princesse de Lamballe. Entering
+the unfamiliar circle of this highly debauched court, the young
+dauphiness sought a sympathetic friend, and found her in the princess.
+No figure in that society was more disinterested and unselfishly
+devoted. In all the queen's undertakings, fetes, and other amusements,
+she was inseparable from the princess, who was indeed a rare exception
+to the majority of the women of that time.
+
+The friendship of these two women was uninterrupted, save for a period
+extending from 1778 to 1785, when Mme. de Polignac and her set of
+intriguers succeeded in estranging them and usurping all the favors of
+the queen. When the outside world was accrediting to Marie Antoinette
+every popular misfortune, when she lost by death both the dauphin
+and the Princess Beatrice, when fate was against her, when the future
+promised nothing but evil, she found no stauncher friend, better
+consoler, more ardent admirer, than her old companion. Learning of the
+removal of the royal family to the Tuileries, she rejoined the queen.
+In 1791, with the escape of the royal fugitives, the princess left
+for England, to seek the protection of the English government for her
+royal friends.
+
+Mr. Dobson says she was scarcely the _discrete et insinuante et
+touchante Lamballe_, with a marvellous sang-froid, hardly the astute
+diplomatist, that De Lescure makes her. "She was rather the quiet,
+imposing Lamballe of old, interested in her friends and what she
+could do for them, but never shrewd and diplomatic." In November she
+returned to France, to meet her queen and to suffer death for her
+sake,--and for this unswerving devotion she has a place in history.
+She stands out also as the one normal woman in the crowds of
+impetuous, shallow, petty, and, in many cases, pitifully debauched
+women of the time. Not majestic greatness, but a direct, unaffected
+sweetness and consistent goodness entitle her to rank among the great
+women of France.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+Women of the Revolution and the Empire
+
+
+Many women of the revolutionary period have no claim for mention other
+than a last glorious moment on the guillotine--"ennobled and endeared
+by the self-possession and dignity with which they faced death, their
+whole life seems to have been lived for that one moment." The society
+which had brought on and stirred up the Revolution was enervated and
+febrile. Paris was one large kennel of libellers and pamphleteers and
+intriguers. The salon frequenters were trained conversationalists and
+brilliant beauties who danced and drank, discoursed and intrigued.
+It was a superficial elegance, with virtue only assumed. The art of
+pleasing had been developed to perfection, but, instead of the actual
+accomplishments of the old regime, there was merely the outward
+appearance--luxury, dress, and magnificence; the bearing and language
+were of the ambitious common people. "The great women are those who,
+the day before, were taken from the cellar or garret of the salon."
+
+During the Directorate, luxury and libertinism reigned almost as
+absolutely as during the monarchy. Barras was supreme. He had his
+mistress, or _maitresse-en-titre_, in the beautiful Mme. Tallien,
+the queen of beauty of the salon of _la mode_. Ease and dissolute
+enjoyment were the aims of Barras, and in these his mistress was his
+equal. They gave the most sumptuous dinners, prepared by the famous
+chefs of the late aristocratic kitchens, while the people were
+starving or living on black bread. She impudently arrayed herself in
+the crown diamonds and appeared at the reception given to Napoleon.
+
+The salons under the Empire are said to have preserved French
+politeness, courtesy, and the usages of _la bonne compagnie_, but
+intolerance and tyranny reigned there; the spirit of intrigue only was
+obeyed. From the beginning of the Revolution to the Empire, it may be
+said that the streets of Paris from one end to the other were a wild
+turmoil of people in fever heat--ready for any crime or cruelty,
+anxious for anything promising excitement. Where formerly the elegant
+lovers of the nobility were wont to promenade, the rabid populace held
+undisputed possession.
+
+These were years, about 1780 to 1800, during which women shared the
+same fate with men; and, consigned to the same prisons, ever resigned
+and ready to die for principle, they knew how to die nobly. It was
+truly an age of the martyrdom of woman--an age in which she lived,
+through almost superhuman conditions, at the side of man. She was
+all-powerful, triumphant as never before; not, however, through her
+intellectual superiority as in the previous age, but through her
+courage. There was not one powerful woman standing out alone,
+but groups of them, hosts of them. It was during the Directorate
+especially that woman controlled almost every phase of activity.
+
+The woman who embodied all the heterogeneous vices of the past
+nobility and the rising plebs was Mme. Tallien, the goddess of vice
+and of the vulgar display of wealth. Her caprices were scrupulously
+followed, while about her jealousy and slanders were thick. Then
+immorality had no veil, but was low, brutish, and open to everyone.
+With the accession of Napoleon to absolute power, there was a fusion
+of the element just described with the remnant of the old regime.
+Josephine soon formed a select and congenial social circle, excluding
+Mme. Tallien and the Directorate adherents. Evidences of saddening
+memories of the past and a general gloom were visible everywhere in
+this circle. The disappointment of the nobility on returning from
+their exile was somewhat lessened by the very select bi-weekly
+reunions in the salon of Talleyrand, and by the brilliant suppers of
+the old regime, which were revived at the Hotel d'Anjou.
+
+The salon of Mme. de Stael was a political debating club rather than
+a purely social reunion. She being an ardent Republican, it was in
+her salon that the Royalist plot to bring back the Bourbons was
+overthrown. In a short time there were a number of brilliant salons,
+each one showing a nature as distinct as those of the eighteenth
+century. Thus, Joseph Bonaparte received the distinguished
+governmentals and the intriguing women of society at the Chateau de
+Mortfoulaine; at Lucien Bonaparte's hotel youth and beauty assembled;
+at Mme. de Permon's salon there were music and conversation, tea,
+lemonade, and biscuits, twice a week. It remains but to characterize
+these different ages of French social and political evolution by the
+great women who, each one of her age, are the representative types.
+
+The woman who, during the Revolution, not only added her name to the
+long list of martyrs, but who also made history and contributed to the
+very nature of those days of terror and uncertainty, was Mme. Roland,
+whom critics both extol and condemn--the fate of all historical
+characters. It would be difficult to estimate this remarkable person
+and her work without some details of her life.
+
+When a mere girl she showed signs of a tempestuous future; she
+was seductive, but impulsive, with an inborn love for the common
+people--which is not always credited to her--and for democracy. These
+qualities were quickened during her experience at Versailles, for
+while there for a few days' visit she saw the pitiless social world in
+all its orgies, revelries of luxury, and wanton extravagances.
+There, also, she contracted that deep-seated hatred for the queen and
+royalty.
+
+There was, indeed, a long list of suitors for the hand of the
+impulsive maiden; but owing to her views as to a husband and her
+restless, unsettled state of mind, she could not decide upon any one
+of them. To her mother, when urged to accept one, she said: "I should
+not like a husband to order me about, for he would teach me only to
+resist him; but neither do I wish to rule my husband. Either I am
+much mistaken, or those creatures, six feet high, with beard on their
+chins, seldom fail to make us feel that they are stronger; now, if the
+good man should suddenly bethink himself to remind me of his strength
+he would provoke me, and if he submitted to me he would make me
+feel ashamed of my power." For such a woman marriage was certainly
+a difficult problem. Finally, Roland de la Platieres came within her
+circle; and although somewhat adverse to him at first, after a number
+of his visits she wrote: "I have been much charmed by the solidity of
+his judgment and his cultured and interesting conversation." Just such
+a man appealed to her nature and was in harmony with her views. After
+months of monotonous life in the convent to which she had retired, she
+at last consented to become the wife of Roland, not from expectations
+of any fortune, but purely from a sense of devoting herself to the
+happiness of an honorable man, to making his life sweeter.
+
+Roland, scrupulously conscientious, painstaking, and observing, had
+won the position of inspector of manufactures, which took him away on
+foreign travels part of the time. He had acquired a thorough knowledge
+of manufacturing and the principles of political economy. The first
+years of their life were spent in each other's society exclusively,
+as he was insanely jealous of her; she rarely left his side, and
+they studied the same works, copied and revised his manuscripts, and
+corrected his proofs. In this she was indispensable to him. But her
+activity did not stop with literary work; she managed her husband's
+household, and for miles around her home the peasants soon learned
+to know her through her charitable deeds. She was the village doctor,
+often going for miles to attend the poor in distress. With her own
+hands she prepared dainty dishes with which to tempt her husband's
+appetite. Thus, her best years were spent upon things for which much
+less ability would have sufficed. She watched with breathless
+interest the installation of Necker and the dismissal of Turgot, the
+convocation of the notables, the struggles for financial recovery,
+and, finally, the calling of a States-General, which had not been
+in session since 1614. During the first stormy years, 1789-1790, she
+wrote burning missives to her friend Bosc, at Paris, which appeared
+anonymously in the _Patriote Francais_, edited by Brissot, the future
+Girondist leader. Soon came the commission of Roland as the first
+citizen of the city of Lyons, which had a debt of forty million
+francs, to acquaint the National Assembly with its affairs.
+
+When, in 1791, Mme. Roland arrived at Paris--for she accompanied her
+husband--she had already become an ardent Republican. She immediately
+threw herself into the whirlwind of popular enthusiasm. Her house
+became the centre of an advanced political group, which met there four
+times a week to discuss state questions. There Danton, Robespierre,
+Petion, Condorcet, Buzot, and others were seen. She ably aided her
+husband in all his work as commissioner to the National Assembly. She
+was indefatigable in penning stirring letters and petitions to the
+Jacobin societies in the different departments. A staunch friend
+of Robespierre, she did much to protect him in his first efforts
+in public. On returning home, after her husband had completed his
+mission, she was no longer the same quiet, contented, submissive
+woman; she longed for activity in the midst of excitement.
+
+With the meeting of the Legislative Assembly, in 1791, the group of
+men sent up from the Gironde immediately became the leaders, and when
+Mme. Roland returned to Paris she became the centre of this circle,
+exhorting and stimulating, advising and ordering. Through her friend
+Brissot, who was all-powerful in the Assembly, about February,
+1792, as leader of the Girondists, who were looking for men not yet
+practically involved in politics, but qualified by experience for
+political life, her husband was made minister of the interior, and in
+March, 1792, he and his wife entered upon their duties. She was a
+keen reader of human nature, at first glance giving her husband a
+penetrating and generally truthful judgment of men. Being able to
+comprehend the temperaments of the ministers, she managed them with
+inimitable tact. Although all the Girondist ministers were supposed
+friends, she readily saw how difficult it would be for a small
+group of men with the same principles to act in concert. Seeing the
+political machine in motion at close range, she lost some of her
+enthusiasm for revolutionary leaders; above all, she recognized the
+need of a great leader. As wife of the minister, installed in the
+ministerial residence with no other woman present, she gave two
+dinners weekly to her husband's colleagues, to the members of the
+Assembly, and to political friends.
+
+Her husband, the French Quaker of the Revolution, in all his
+simplicity of dress and honesty, was being constantly duped by the
+apparent good nature and sincerity of the king, against whom his wife
+was constantly warning him. It was she who, convinced of the king's
+duplicity and the need of a safeguard for the country, originated the
+plan of a federate camp of twenty thousand men to protect Paris when
+war had been declared against Austria. It was she who wrote a letter
+to the king in the name of the council, but sent in Roland's own name,
+imploring him not to arouse the mistrust of the nation by constantly
+betraying his suspicion of it, but to show his love by adopting
+measures for the welfare and safety of the country. The effect of this
+letter, which became historical, was the fall of the ministers. After
+their recall, her husband became more and more powerful. The political
+circulars which were published by his paper, _The Sentinel_, were
+composed by her. Then came the horrible massacres and executions by
+the hundreds, which inspired Mme. Roland with hatred for Danton, a
+feeling she communicated to the whole Girondist party. She desired
+above everything to see punished the perpetrators of the September
+massacres. In this plan the Girondists failed. Robespierre, Danton,
+and Marat were victorious, and Mme. Roland and her party fell.
+
+When all parties and the whole populace vied with each other in
+welcoming back the victorious General Dumouriez, there seemed to be
+a possibility of a reconciliation between Danton and Mme. Roland, for
+when the general went to dine with her he presented her with a bouquet
+of magnificent oleanders. This dinner, on October 14th, auguring good
+fortune to all, was the last success of Mme. Roland. She had been
+pushed to the very front of the Revolution. She cooeperated in
+composing and promulgating the numerous writings of her husband
+by which public opinion was to be instructed. But she retained her
+implacable hatred for Danton, who, when her husband, ready to resign,
+was pressed to remain in office, cried out in the convention: "Why not
+invite Mme. Roland to the ministry, too! everyone knows that Roland
+is not alone in the office!" At this period her husband made the
+fatal mistake of appropriating a chest of important state papers and
+examining them himself instead of calling together a commission. As
+is known, the papers turned out to be fatal to Louis XVI. Libels and
+denunciations were pronounced against Roland, but his wife, called
+before the convention, not only succeeded in turning aside all
+accusations, but was voted the honors of the sitting.
+
+At the time of the trial of the king, the power and influence of
+the Girondists were waning; then the Rolands became the butt of many
+violent and unreasonable outbursts. With the resignation of Roland on
+January 22, 1792, the day of the execution of the king, the fate of
+the Girondists was sealed. This time the minister was not asked to
+reconsider; in fact, his exposure of the pilfering then going on among
+the officials made him one of the most unpopular men in Paris. Upon
+their return to private life, Mme. Roland was accused of forming the
+plot to destroy the republic. When an armed force arrived one morning
+at half-past five o'clock to arrest her husband, she resisted them,
+herself going to the convention to expose the iniquity of such a
+proceeding. Failing in this, she returned to her husband, to find him
+safe with a friend. Being again arrested, she met the ordeal with her
+accustomed courage; and when the officers offered to pull down the
+blinds of the carriage, to shield her from the gaze of the unfriendly
+public, she said: "No, gentlemen! innocence, however oppressed, should
+not assume the attitude of guilt. I fear the eyes of no one, and do
+not wish to escape even those of my enemies." "You have much more
+character than many men," they replied; "you can calmly await
+justice," "Justice!" she cried; "if it existed, I should not be
+in your power! I would go to the scaffold as calmly as if sent by
+iniquitous men. I fear only guilt, and despise injustice and death!"
+
+She has been deeply criticised for her letters written to her friend
+Buzot while she was in prison; yet it should be remembered that there
+was not the slightest chance of their meeting again, and, besides,
+the letters reveal the terrible struggle through which she had passed.
+While in prison, her beauty, grace, and fearlessness won and humanized
+nearly all who came under her spell. She was once unexpectedly
+set at liberty, but only to be sentenced to the lowest of
+prisons--Sainte-Pelagie. There, in the space of about one month,
+her memoirs, now among the French classics, were written. At the
+Conciergerie, where the lowest criminals and the filthiest paupers
+were crowded into cells with the highest of the nobility, and where
+the cowardly Mme. du Barry spent her last hours, Mme. Roland, by her
+quiet dignity and patient serenity, commanded silence and respect, and
+calmness and peace replaced angry and pitiful wrangling. The prisoners
+clung to her, crying and kissing her hand, while she spoke words of
+advice and consolation to the doomed women, who "looked upon her as a
+beneficent divinity." Her conduct under these circumstances alone is
+sufficient to keep alive her memory. In the last days, she clung to
+and upheld most passionately her principles of liberty and moderation,
+and in her conversation with Beugnot it was evident that she had been
+the real inspiration in the Girondist party for all that was best and
+most uplifting.
+
+The charge against her when before the bar of judgment of
+Fouquier-Tinville, the terrible prosecutor, consisted in her relation
+to the Girondists who had been condemned to death as traitors to the
+republic. She met her death heroically, as became a woman who had
+lived bravely. At the very last moment of her life, she offered
+consolation to fellow victims. Her death was that of the greatest
+heroine of the Revolution, the climax of a life the one ambition of
+which had been to save her country and to shed her blood for it. As
+she rode through the city in her pure white raiment, serenely radiant
+in her own innocence, she was the embodiment of all that was highest
+and purest in the Revolution--one of the best and greatest women known
+to French history. She stands out as a representative of the French
+Republic.
+
+There are a number of traits of Mme. Roland which should be considered
+before giving a final estimate of her character, of her role in French
+history, and of her right to be ranked among the most illustrious
+women of France. Critics in general seem to show her a marked
+hostility; such men as Caro assert that she had no modesty, that she
+lacked sentiment, delicacy, and reserve. M. Saint-Amand said that she
+reflected the vices and virtues of her age, summing up the passions
+and illusions, being intellectually and morally the disciple of
+Rousseau, but socially personifying the third estate, which in the
+beginning asked for nothing, but later demanded all. Politics made
+her cruel at times, although by nature she was good and sensible. He
+declared that with her acquaintance with Buzot began her career of
+love and ambition. In love, she believed herself a patriot, but all
+the various phases of her public career were simply the results of her
+emotions. Thus, for example, in order to see Buzot, she persuaded
+her husband to return to Paris to seek his fortune and make the
+realization of her dreams possible. She desired to play a role for
+which her origin had not destined her, which made her actions appear
+theatrical and affected. It is evident that she hated both the king
+and the queen, and at the council for the Girondist ministry demanded
+the death of the royal couple. And yet, Saint-Amand cites her as the
+most beautiful of that group of martyrs who lost their lives in the
+first heat of the Revolution--as the genius among them by her
+force, purity, and grace--the brilliant and austere muse in all the
+saintliness of martyrdom.
+
+The two maxims which Mme. Roland followed throughout her career had
+much to do with her fall: security is the tomb of liberty; indulgence
+toward men in authority is the means of pushing them to despotism.
+These maxims as her motto or impulse, united with the spirit of push,
+energy, and at times rashness and impropriety, naturally led her to
+her ruin in those days of revolutionary ideas. She was a woman of
+powerful passion controlled by reason, and with frankness, devotion,
+courage, and fidelity as forces impelling her to activity. But there
+was one great defect which was at the bottom of her misfortunes,--a
+too great ambition, which often led her into perilous paths, even to
+the scaffold, which, in its turn, covered her errors.
+
+She is said to have married M. Roland more as a theory than as
+a husband, for her ideas of marriage were such as to make pure,
+disinterested love impossible. Her husband was in many respects her
+intellectual superior, but she excelled him in versatility. Being her
+senior by twenty years, when he grew old and infirm he depended upon
+her for a great deal, all of which contributed to her restlessness
+and unhappiness. Then there developed in her that terrible struggle
+between loyalty to her husband and passion for Buzot, in which reason
+conquered. This devotion to duty was indeed rare in those days, when
+passion was supreme and pure love was almost unknown. Mr. Dobson says
+that this one trait by which she gave real expression of virtue is
+profoundly a product of her mental self. Her instinct would have led
+her to self-abandonment, so common in that day, but her "man by the
+head" self was stronger than her "woman by the heart" self. These two
+sides of her character, fostered by incessant reading, incited her
+fearful and unrelenting hatreds as well as her passion, "masculine
+enough to be mistrusted and feminine enough to be admired." These two
+qualities made her a power and an attraction. Her better side will
+continue to shine clearer as the horror of those days is revealed.
+Whatever may be the effects of her ambitious nature and of her
+unfortunate passion for Buzot, by the very virtue of her intellect and
+reasoning she will remain the one great woman of the Revolution who
+willingly and conscientiously sacrificed her life for her country.
+
+A type perhaps more universally known in her relation to the
+Revolution than is Mme. Roland, though no better understood, was
+Charlotte Corday. Possessed of a most intense patriotism and an
+unusual emotional nature, she represented better than any other woman
+of her age the peculiar French trait--namely, the emotional perfectly
+combined with the mathematical. She was unique; her compatriots
+practised the art of studying themselves, in order to be attractive,
+and thus accomplished their ends, while her ambition was not to
+please merely, but to be of some real, practical value to her troubled
+country. She stands out, however, as the product of the end of the
+eighteenth century, a natural result of the reading of philosophy
+and political pamphlets. Quite naturally, she entertained such
+philosophical sentiments as this: "No one will lose in losing me,
+and the country may be better off for the sacrifice. Death comes only
+once, and let us use it to the good of the country or the greatest
+number of people." Thus, her philosophy led her to a complete
+detachment from her individual self, and fostered the idea of dying
+for her country.
+
+Her decision to rid France of Marat was arrived at by degrees of
+silent brooding over the evils which beset her native land; at last
+she felt herself called to some great act which would necessitate the
+loss of her life. "The time brought forth desperation, intense warmth
+of feeling, concentrated upon some purpose or object;" the reasoning
+self seemed to be stifled by the intensity of the emotion. Yet,
+reason was to conquer in her. When the Girondists returned to Caen
+and described Robespierre and Marat in the darkest colors, she at once
+felt moved to put forth all her efforts to rid France of that evil
+blot--Marat. She was beautiful, strong, and graceful, presenting a
+most striking appearance. Loved by all, she felt love and devotion
+only for her country. Desperate and determined, she set out to fulfil
+her mission. She was a mere expression of the conservative element
+which acts only when driven by sheer necessity. Her reason impressed
+her with her duty and circumstances; the time acted upon her mind.
+"Easy, calm, resigned, she looked upon the angry masses of people who
+cursed her," confident that she had done her country a service, and
+proud that she had been the fortunate one to render it. This was her
+glory, and for this she will be remembered in history.
+
+Possibly the rarest phenomenon in the history of the illustrious women
+of France is Mme. Recamier, who, by force of her beauty and social
+fascination, and without intellectual gifts or even wit, won for
+herself the position of queen of French society, which she held for
+nearly half a century. The very name of Recamier has come to evoke a
+vision of beauty, a beauty so well known to every lover of art who
+has visited the Luxembourg and gazed upon the figure "so flexible
+and elegant, with head well poised, brilliant complexion, little rosy
+mouth with pearly teeth, black curling hair, soft expressive eyes, and
+a bearing indicative of indolence and pride, yet with a face beaming
+with good nature and sympathy." Her beauty has been considered
+perfect, but a recent writer has proved this to be an error.
+M.J. Turquan, in a new volume on Mme. Recamier, is everything but
+sympathetic to the woman at whom criticism has rarely been pointed.
+"Quite a contrast to her extraordinary beauty of face," he declares,
+"were her hands, with big fingers square at the end and having flat
+nails. The same may be said of her feet, which were not only big, but
+were without the slightest trace of _finesse_ in their lines." But
+though Turquan has raised numerous points in her disfavor, they
+are not at all likely to detract from her unrivalled reputation for
+beauty.
+
+Critics have made of her a sort of enigmatic figure, supernatural
+and having only the form of the human. Thus, in Lamartine we find the
+following description: "The young girl was, they say, a _sous-entendu_
+of nature: she could be a wife, she could not be a mother. These are
+the two mysteries we must respect, but which we must know to have been
+the secret of the entire life of Mme. Recamier--a mournful and eternal
+enigma which will never have its words divined,... All her looks
+produced an intoxication, but brought hope to no heart. The divine
+statue had not descended from its pedestal for anyone, as though such
+a performance would have been too divine for a mortal." Her beauty was
+so marked, so singular, that wherever she appeared--at the ball, the
+theatre--it caused a sensation; all turned to look at her and admire
+in subdued astonishment. Her form was said to be marvellously
+elegant and supple, her neck of an exquisite perfection, her mouth
+"deliciously small and pink, her teeth veritable pearls set in
+coral, her arms splendidly moulded, her eyes full of sweetness
+and admiration, her nose most attractive in its regularity, her
+physiognomy candid and spiritual, her air indolent and haughty, and
+her attitude reserved. Before this ensemble, you remained in ecstasy."
+All this beauty was particularly well set off by an exquisite white
+dress adorned with pearls--a style she affected the year around.
+
+But her beauty alone could hardly have contributed to the marvellous
+success of Mme. Recamier, as some critics assert. Guizot, for
+instance, suspects her nature to have been less superficial than
+other writers might lead one to suppose. He said: "This passionate
+admiration, this constant affection, this insatiable taste for society
+and conversation, won her a wide friendship. All who approached and
+knew her--foreigners and Frenchmen, princes and the middle classes,
+saints and worldlings, philosophers and artists, adversaries as
+well as partisans--all she inspired with the ideas and causes she
+espoused." Her qualities outside of her beauty were tact, generosity,
+and elevation of soul, combined with an amiable grace which was
+unlimited, however superficial it may have been. Knowing how to
+maintain, in her salon, harmony and even cordial relations between men
+of the most varied temperaments and political ideas, it was possible
+for her to remain all her life an intelligent and warm-hearted bond
+between the elite minds and their diverse sentiments, which she
+tactfully tempered. Though ever faithful to one cause, she admitted
+men and women of all parties to her salon. She was moderate and
+just in the midst of the most arduous struggles, tolerant toward her
+adversaries, generous toward the conquered, sympathetic to all, and
+remarkably successful in conciliating all political, literary, and
+philosophical opinions as well as the passions which she aroused in
+her worshippers. To these qualities, as much as to her beauty, were
+due the harmony of her life, the unity of her character--which were
+never troubled by the turmoils of politics or the emotions of love.
+She was not wife, mother, or lover; "she never belonged to anyone in
+soul or sense." Always mistress of her imagination as well as of
+her heart, she permitted herself to be charmed but never carried
+away--receiving from all, but giving nothing in return. Her life
+was brilliant, but there was lurking in the background the demon
+of sadness and lassitude and the terrible disease of the eighteenth
+century,--ennui.
+
+Two splendid portraits of Mme. Recamier are left to us: one by her
+passionate but unsuccessful lover, Benjamin Constant, picturing her
+as the personification of attractiveness; the other by M. Lenormant,
+showing that she desired constant admiration: "She lacked the
+affections which bring veritable happiness and the true dignity of
+woman. Her barren heart, desirous of tenderness and devotion, sought
+recompense for this need of living, in the homage of passionate
+admiration, the language of which pleases the ears." Mme. Recamier,
+while still a child, seemed to realize the power of her beauty, and
+even before her marriage in 1793 she would often say, when demanded
+in marriage: "Mon Dieu! how beautiful I must be already!" A mere girl
+when married, being only sixteen years of age, she felt no love for
+her husband, who was her senior by twenty-five years. Soon after the
+terrible times of "the Reign of Terror" she found herself one of the
+most beautiful women in Paris, and her husband one of the wealthiest
+of bankers. The three rival women of the times were Mme. Recamier,
+Mme. Tallien, and Josephine. The terrible days of the guillotine were
+succeeded by an uninterrupted reign of pleasure, "when a fever of
+amusement possessed everyone, and the desire for distraction of all
+kinds seemed to have been pushed to its limits." M. Turquan states
+that in the reign of dissolute extravagance, immorality, and gorgeous
+splendor, Mme. Recamier formed a striking contrast by her simplicity.
+Her first triumph was at the church Saint-Roche, the most fashionable
+of Paris, where she was selected to raise a purse for charity. On one
+occasion the collection amounted to twenty thousand francs, all due to
+the beauty of the woman passing the plate. She was soon invited by her
+friend Barras to all the balls and fetes under the Directorate.
+
+In 1798 M. Recamier bought the house formerly tenanted by Necker, and
+later established himself in a chateau at Clichy, where he received
+his friends, among whom was Lucien Bonaparte, who attempted the
+ruin of the beautiful hostess, but without success. Napoleon himself
+attempted in vain to win her to his court as maid of honor and as an
+ornament, her refusal incurring his anger, especially as she was the
+height of fashion and courted by all the great men of the age. Through
+her preference for the Royalists--persisting in her line of conduct
+in spite of her friend Fouche--she finally incurred the enmity of
+the emperor. Even the Princess Caroline endeavored to obtain Mme.
+Recamier's friendship for Napoleon, "but, although the princess gave
+her _loge_ twice to the favorite, and upon each occasion the emperor
+went to the theatre expressly to gaze upon her, she remained firm in
+her refusal, which was one of the causes of the downfall of her
+banker husband, whom Napoleon might have saved had his wife been the
+emperor's friend." Napoleon certainly resented her refusal, for when
+requested to save Recamier's bank he replied: "I am not in love with
+Mme. Recamier!" Thus, because his wife preferred the aristocracy to
+the favors of Napoleon, the banker lost his fortune.
+
+She, however, bore her misfortunes with great reserve, immediately
+selling her jewels and her hotel; after which they both retired to
+small apartments, where they were even more honored and had greater
+social prestige than ever. She at once made her salon the centre of
+hostility against the emperor, who, according to Turquan, did not
+banish her, but her friend Mme. de Stael, with whom she passed
+over into Switzerland. Here began her romance with Prince August
+of Prussia, who became so enamored of her that he asked her hand in
+marriage. Encouraged by Mme. de Stael, she even went so far as to ask
+her husband for a divorce, that she might wed the royal aspirant. Her
+husband generously consented to this, but at the same time set forth
+to her the peculiar position which she would occupy, an argument that
+opened her eyes to her ingratitude, and she refused the prince.
+
+Upon the fall of Napoleon, Mme. Recamier returned to Paris and, her
+husband's fortune being restored, gathered about her all the great
+nobles of the ancient regime. But fortune was unkind to her husband
+for the second time, and she withdrew to the Abbaye-au-Bois, where she
+occupied a small apartment on the third floor. Here her distinguished
+friends followed her--such as Chateaubriand and the Duc de
+Montmorency. Between her and the famous author of _Le Genie du
+Christianisme_ there sprang up a friendship which lasted thirty years.
+During this time it is said that he visited her at a certain hour
+each day, the people in the neighborhood setting their clocks by his
+appearance. When he was absent on missions, he wrote her of every
+act of his life. Both, weary of the dissipations of society and
+its flatteries, sought a pure and lofty friendship, spiritual and
+affectionate, with no improper intimacy. There was mutual admiration
+and mutual respect. Even Chateaubriand's wife, who was an invalid and
+with whom he spent every evening, encouraged his friendship with Mme.
+Recamier. When, through the fall of Charles X., Chateaubriand lost his
+power, the friendship did not cease. M. Turquan insists that he did
+not really care seriously for Mme. Recamier, that his visits were the
+outgrowth of mere habit. But it is to be seen that throughout his book
+Turquan has little sympathy for his subject, whom he pictures as
+a beautiful, heartless, intriguing woman with immense hands, flat,
+square fingers, and large feet.
+
+The influence possessed by Mme. Recamier was most remarkable; for
+with the new statesmen, Thiers, Guizot, Mignet, De Tocqueville,
+Sainte-Beuve, as well as the nobles and princes, she was on most
+cordial terms, and was received in any salon which she chose to visit.
+Her unbounded sympathy, tact, and common sense made her friendship
+and counsel much in demand by great men. One trait, however, her
+exclusiveness, caused much discomfort in her life, such as bringing
+upon her the ill will of Napoleon.
+
+In her later years her physical beauty gradually developed into a
+moral beauty. She was never a passionate woman, but rather passively
+affectionate; purely unselfish, her one desire always was to make
+people love her and to be happy. Her friendship with Chateaubriand in
+the later days was possibly the most ideal and noble in the history of
+French women. He never failed to make his appearance in the afternoon
+at the _abbaye_, driven in a carriage to her threshold, where he was
+placed in an armchair and wheeled to a corner by her fireplace. On one
+of those visits, he asked her to marry him--he being seventy-nine, she
+seventy-one--and bear his illustrious name. "Why should we marry at
+our age?" Mme. Recamier replied. "There is no impropriety in my taking
+care of you. If solitude is painful to you, I am ready to live in the
+same house with you. The world will do justice to the purity of our
+friendship. Years and blindness give me this right. Let us change
+nothing in so perfect an affection." Her charm never deserted her, and
+she continued to the very last to receive the greatest men and women
+of the day. Still the reigning beauty and the queen of French society,
+she died at the age of seventy-two, of cholera.
+
+There is a wide difference between Mme. Recamier and Josephine, the
+two women of the Napoleonic era who exerted so powerful an influence
+upon the social and political fortunes of France. At the time of
+Napoleon's first success, the former was only twenty-one, with
+Madonna-like charms and attractiveness; the latter, thirty-five, but
+with exquisite taste in dress and skill in beautifying. Possessed of
+unstudied natural grace and elegance, and always attired in perfect
+harmony with her beauty of face and form, she could easily stand a
+comparison with the other beauties of the day, all of whom studied her
+air and manner and marked the aristocratic ease and poise of her real
+_noblesse_ of the old regime.
+
+"Josephine had a faded and brown complexion, which she remedied with
+rouge and powder; her small mouth concealed her bad teeth; her elegant
+figure and graceful movements, refined expression, gentle voice and
+dignity, all dexterously expressed with an air of coquetry, made her
+delightful." The happiest part of the life of Napoleon and Josephine
+was during their stay in Italy, when he was absolutely faithful
+to her. As soon as Napoleon left for Egypt, Talleyrand secured the
+erasure of many noble names from the list of the proscribed exiles and
+soon gathered about him a large number of Royalists, who immediately
+began to pay court to Josephine. Napoleon had enjoined her to keep
+her salon according to the means he provided and to entertain all
+influential people. To this she was equal; and all men of elevated
+rank, the most distinguished artists, men of letters, orators, and
+musicians, found her salon an enjoyable retreat. No greater galaxy of
+talent and genius ever assembled under the old regime than was found
+there,--David, Lebrun, Lesueur, Gretry, Cherubini, Mehul, J. Chenier,
+Hoffman, Ducis, Desaugiers, Legouve, and others.
+
+But her life was not without its difficulties. She was always annoyed
+by the Bonaparte family, who were jealous of her influence over
+Bonaparte. Exceedingly extravagant, in fact a spendthrift, she was
+always in need of money. Her virtues, however, easily offset these
+defects. Josephine never offended anyone, never argued politics;
+she made friends in all classes, thus conciliating Republicans and
+aristocrats; therefore, her greatest influence was as a mediator
+between two classes of society, by which she, more than any other
+woman, unconsciously contributed to the forming of a new social
+France. Napoleon was wise enough to recognize such diplomacy, and
+encouraged her to intrigue like an experienced diplomat. She was the
+most efficient aid and means to his future plans, and M. Saint-Amand
+says that without her he would possibly never have become emperor.
+When he returned from Egypt and found her away,--she had gone to meet
+him, but missed him,--his suspicions were aroused as to her fidelity,
+as she had been accused of many misdeeds. When the reconciliation
+finally took place, after a day of sobbing and pleading, she put
+to work all her tact and knowledge of Parisian society to help her
+husband to the _coup d'etat_.
+
+She was always of great service to Napoleon in his relations with the
+men of whom he wished to make use; fascinating them and drawing them
+over to him, she charmed such persons as Barras, Gohier, Fouche,
+Moreau, Talleyrand, Sieyes, and others. By her skill she kept hidden
+Napoleon's plans until all was ripe for them. She was in the secret
+of the 18th Brumaire; "nothing was concealed from her. In every
+conference at which she was present, her discretion, gentleness,
+grace, and the ready ingenuity of her delicate and cool intelligence
+were of great service." During the Directorate she allayed jealousies
+and appeased the differences between Republicans and Royalists. As
+wife of the First Consul, she conciliated the _emigres_. At that time
+she was probably the most important figure in France. The _emigres_
+would call at her salon in the morning so as to avoid meeting her
+husband, with whom they refused to associate. Her task was not easy,
+but she knew so well how to say a kind word to all, and her tact was
+so great that when she became empress the duties and requirements
+of that office were natural to her. She won the Republicans by her
+friendship with Fouche, the representative of the revolutionary
+element--the aristocracy, by her dignity and refinement. Her whole
+appearance had a peculiar charm.
+
+In 1803 the conditions began to be reversed. In 1796 Josephine had
+worried Napoleon on account of her inconstancy; she was then young
+and beautiful, while he was penniless and ailing. In 1803 he was
+thirty-four and she forty--he in his prime, wealthy and popular,
+she faded and powerless, no longer able to give cause for suspicion.
+However, nothing could make Napoleon reject her, because she was
+useful to him. "Her kindness was a weapon against her enemies, a charm
+for her friends, and the source of her power over her husband." "I
+gained battles, Josephine gained me hearts," are the well-known words
+of Napoleon. As empress she had every wish gratified, but she
+realized that a woman of her age could not continue indefinitely her
+fascination over a man as capricious as Napoleon. In the brilliant
+court of Fontainebleau she held the highest place, and no one could
+suspect the anxieties that tormented her, so cool and happy did she
+appear.
+
+Josephine did many things that later on gradually helped reconcile
+Napoleon to a divorce: her pride, her aristocratic tendencies,
+extravagance and lavishness; her objection to the marriage of Hortense
+to General Duroc on the grounds of humble birth; her religious
+tendencies; her difficulty in keeping secrets, which led to highly
+tragic scenes between her and Bonaparte; the encouragement she gave
+to the jealousies and hatred of her brothers and sisters-in-law,
+who maliciously slandered her at every opportunity; and finally, her
+barrenness.
+
+Her career after her divorce was honorable, and to-day Josephine is
+still held in the highest esteem in France and in the world at large.
+Her greatness is not in having been the wife of a great emperor, but
+in knowing how to adapt herself to the conditions in France into which
+she was suddenly thrust. As a conciliator and a mediator between two
+almost hopelessly irreconcilable classes of society, she deserves a
+prominent place among great French women.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Women of the Nineteenth Century
+
+
+Among the unusually large number of prominent French women which the
+nineteenth century produced, possibly not more than a half-dozen
+names will survive,--Mme. de Stael, George Sand, Rosa Bonheur, Sarah
+Bernhardt, Mme. Lebrun, and Rachel. This circumstance is, possibly,
+largely due to the character of the century: its activity, its varied
+accomplishments, its wide progress along so many lines, its social
+development, its absolute freedom and tolerance--all of which tended
+to open a field for women more extensive than in any preceding
+century.
+
+The salon, in its old-time glory, became a thing of the past; and
+the passing of this institution lessened, to a large extent, the
+possibility of great influence on the part of women. In short, the
+mode of life became, in the nineteenth century, unfavorable to the
+absolute power exercised by woman in former times. She was now on a
+level with man, enjoying more privileges and being looked upon more as
+the equal and possible rival of man. It became necessary for woman to
+make and establish her own position, whereas, under the old regime,
+her power and position were established by custom, which regarded her
+vocation as entirely distinct from that of man. The result was a host
+of prominent and active women, but few really great ones. Undoubtedly
+by far the most important and influential was Madame de Stael, but her
+influence and work are so intimately associated with her life that
+any account of her which aims at giving a true estimate of her
+significance must necessarily involve much biography.
+
+Her mother, the Mme. Necker of salon fame, endeavored to bring up her
+daughter as the _chef d'oeuvre_ of natural art,--pious, modest in her
+conversation, dignified in her behavior, without pride or frivolity,
+but with wide knowledge. In this ambition she partly succeeded. At
+the age of eleven the young girl was present at receptions, where
+she listened to discussions by such men as Grimm, Buffon, Suard,
+and others. Her parents took her to the theatre, and she would
+subsequently compose short stories on what she had heard and seen.
+Rousseau became her ideal, but she enjoyed all literature, showing an
+insatiable desire for knowledge. From her early youth to her death,
+her conversation was ever the result of her own impulse; consequently,
+it was uncontrolled and lacked the seriousness imparted by deep
+reflection.
+
+Interested in all things except Nature, which seemed mournful to her,
+while solitude horrified her, society was her delight. At the age of
+twenty she wrote: "A woman must have nothing to herself and must find
+all power in that which she loves." Her masculine ideal was a man
+of society, of success, a hero of the Academy, a superior genius,
+animated more by the desire to please than to be useful. During these
+early years she wrote a great deal, her work being mostly in the form
+of sentimental utterances, but very little has survived her.
+
+When she reached marriageable age, many ambitions of her parents were
+frustrated by her independent will. Pitt, Mirabeau, Bonaparte, were
+considered, but destiny had in store for her a Swedish ambassador,
+Stael-Holstein, a man of good family, but with little money and plenty
+of debts, who had been looking out for a comfortable dowry. In 1786,
+at the time when Marie Antoinette was at the height of her popularity,
+this girl of twenty years was married to a man seventeen years her
+senior, who had no affection for her and whom she could not love.
+
+At Paris she immediately opened a salon, which soon eclipsed, both in
+beauty and wit, that of her mother; there her eloquence, enthusiasm,
+and conversational gifts captivated all, but her imprudent language,
+the recklessness of her conduct, her scorn of all etiquette, her
+outspoken preferences, frightened away women and stunned men. Her
+sympathy for her friends, Talleyrand, Narbonne, De Montmorency,
+together with the approaching Revolution, drew her into politics. When
+her father was called by the nation to the control of its finances,
+his daughter shared his glories.
+
+Her salon was the centre of the elite and of all literary and
+political discussions; but as the majority of its frequenters were
+partisans of the English constitution and expressed their views
+openly and freely, her enemies became numerous. When Narbonne was made
+minister of war, a great triumph for her and her party, the eloquence
+of his reports was attributed to her, and when he fell into disgrace
+she rescued him. However, the atmosphere of Paris was too unfriendly,
+so she left in 1792 for her home at Coppet, which became an asylum
+for all the proscribed. When she visited England, she began a
+thorough study of its mode of life, its customs, and its parliamentary
+institutions. Upon her return to Coppet she wrote _Reflexions sur le
+Proces de la Reine_, to excite the commiseration of the judges. After
+the death of her mother in 1794, she devoted her energies to the
+education of her two boys.
+
+After the violence of her love for Benjamin Constant, who drew
+her back to politics, was somewhat cooled, she became an ardent
+Republican, writing her treatise _Reflexions sur la Paix adressees
+a M. Pitt et aux Anglais_, which facilitated her return in 1795 to
+Paris, where she found her husband reinstalled as ambassador. Her
+hotel in the Rue de Bac was reopened, and she proceeded to form a
+salon from the debris of society floating about in Paris. It was an
+assembly of queer characters--elements of the old and new regime, but
+not at all reconciled, converts of the Jacobin party returning for the
+first time into society, surrounded by the women of the old regime,
+using all imaginable efforts and flattery to obtain the _rentree_ of
+a brother, a son, or a lover; it was composed of the most moderate
+Revolutionists, of former Constitutionalists, of exiles of the
+Monarchy, whom she endeavored to bring over to the Republican cause.
+
+Through the influence of Mme. de Stael, the decree of banishment was
+repealed by the convention, thus opening Paris to Talleyrand. In 1795
+appeared her _Reflexions sur la Paix Interieure_; the aim of that
+work being to organize the French Republic on the plan of the United
+States; it strongly opposed the restoration of the Monarchy. The
+Comite du Salut Publique accused her of double play, of favoring
+intrigues, and, seeing the plots of the Royalists, she adopted a new
+plan in her salon; politics being too dangerous, she decided to devote
+herself more to literature. In her book _Les Passions_ she endeavored
+to crush her calumniators; she wrote: "Condemned to celebrity, without
+being able to be known I find need of making myself known by my
+writings."
+
+It was not safe for her to return to Paris until 1797, when her friend
+Talleyrand was made minister of foreign affairs. Her efforts to charm
+Napoleon led only to estrangement, although he appointed her friend
+Benjamin Constant to the tribunate; but when he publicly announced the
+advent of the tyrant Napoleon, she was accused of inciting her friends
+against the government, and was again banished to Coppet, where she
+wrote the celebrated work _De la Litterature Consideree sous ses
+Rapports avec les Institutions Sociales_, a singular mixture of
+satirical allusions to Napoleon's government and cabals against
+his power; in that work she announced, also, her belief in the
+regeneration of French literature by the influence of foreign
+literature, and endeavored to show the relations which exist between
+political institutions and literature. Thus, she was the first
+to bring the message of a general cosmopolitan relationship of
+literatures and literary ideas.
+
+In 1802 she returned to Paris and began to show, on every possible
+occasion, a morbid hatred for Napoleon. When her father published his
+work _Dernieres Vues de Politique et de Finance_, expressing a desire
+to write against the tyranny of one, after having fought so long that
+of the multitude, the emperor immediately accused Mme. de Stael of
+instilling these ideas into her father. Her salon and forty of her
+friends were put into the interdict.
+
+After the death of her husband in 1802, she was free to marry Benjamin
+Constant; and after refusing him, she wrote her novel _Delphine_ to
+give vent to her feelings. The two famous lines found in almost every
+work on Mme. de Stael may be quoted here, as they well express her
+ideas on marriage: "A man must know how to brave an opinion, and a
+woman must submit to it." This qualification Benjamin Constant lacked,
+and at that time she was unable to give the submission.
+
+Her travels in Germany, Russia, and Italy were one great succession of
+triumphs; by her brilliancy, her wonderful gift of conversation, and
+her quickness of comprehension, she everywhere baffled and astounded
+those with whom she conversed. Schiller declared that when she left
+he felt as though he were just convalescing after a long spell of
+illness. One day she abruptly asked the staid old philosopher Fichte:
+"M. Fichte, can you give me, in a short time, an _apercu_ of your
+system of philosophy, and tell me what you mean by your ego? I find it
+very obscure." He began by translating his thoughts into French, very
+deliberately. After talking for some ten minutes, in the midst of a
+deep argument she interrupted him, crying out: "Enough, M. Fichte,
+quite enough! I understand you perfectly; I have seen your system
+in illustration--it is an adventure of Baron Muenchhausen." The
+philosopher assumed a tragic attitude, and a spell of silence fell
+upon the audience.
+
+The result of her visit to Italy was her novel _Corinne_, in which the
+problems of the destiny of women of genius--the relative joys of love
+and glory--are discussed. This work remained for a whole generation
+the standard of love and ideals, and at the same time revealed Italy
+to the French, After a second visit to Germany, she began to labor
+seriously on her work on that country, in 1810 going _incognito_ to
+Paris to have it printed. Ten thousand copies, ready for sale, were
+destroyed before reaching the public. This work opened the German
+world to the French; it applied, to a great nation, the doctrine of
+progress, defending the independence and originality of nations, while
+endeavoring to show that the future lay in the reciprocal respect
+of the rights of people, declaring that nations are not at all the
+arbitrary work of men or the fatal work of circumstances, and that the
+submission of one people to another is contrary to nature. She wished
+to make "poor and noble Germany" conscious of its intellectual
+riches, and to prove that Europe could obtain peace only through
+the liberation of that country. The censors accused her of lack
+of patriotism in provoking the Germans to independence, and of
+questionable taste in praising their literature; consequently, the
+book was denounced, all the copies obtainable were destroyed, and a
+vigorous search for the manuscript was undertaken. After this episode,
+her friends were not permitted to visit her at Coppet.
+
+In 1811 she was secretly married to a young Italian officer, Albert de
+Rocca, a handsome man of twenty-three--she was then forty-five. In him
+she realized the conditions which she described in _Delphine_, namely,
+a man who braved an opinion and prejudices; and she was ready to
+submit herself to him, Coppet became the centre for endless pleasures
+and fetes; Mme. de Stael began to write comedies and to forget Paris
+entirely. This blissful happiness was suddenly checked by the emperor,
+who determined to show his displeasure and also to give evidence
+of his power by banishing Schlegel and exiling Mme. Recamier and De
+Montmorency, who continued to visit Mme. de Stael. Fear for the safety
+of her husband and children influenced her to leave for Russia, where
+the czar ordered all Russians to honor her as the enemy of Napoleon.
+Indeed, she was everywhere received like a visiting queen.
+
+In the autumn of 1816 she returned to Paris, and spent a number of
+months very happily in her old style--in the society of the salon.
+Though devoured by insomnia, enervated by the use of opium, and
+besieged by fear of death, she accepted all invitations, and kept
+open house herself, receiving in the morning, at dinner, and in the
+evening; and though at night she paced the floor for hours or
+tossed about on her bed until morning, she was yet fresh for all the
+pleasures of the next day. But this mode of existence was undermining
+her health.
+
+She endured this constant strain until one evening in February,
+1817, when, at a ball at the Duke of Decazes's, in the midst of her
+pleasure, she was stricken with paralysis. At the Rue des Mathurins,
+she had all her friends come and dine with her. Chateaubriand, who
+was one of the party, entered her room upon one occasion and found her
+suffering intensely, but able to raise herself and say: "Bonjour, my
+dear Francis! I am suffering, but that does not hinder me from loving
+you." She lingered until July, when there ended a life which not only
+influenced but even modified politics and the institutions of nations,
+which exercised, by writings, an incalculable influence upon French
+literature, opening paths which previously had not been trod.
+
+The most important of her works is _De l'Allemagne_, in writing which
+her only desire was to make Germany known to the French, to explain
+it by comparison with France and to make her people admire it, and
+to open new paths to poetry. According to her, Germany possessed no
+classic prose, because the Germans attributed less importance to style
+than did the French. German poetry, however, had a distinct charm,
+being all sentiment and poetry of the soul, touching and penetrating;
+whereas French poetry was all _esprit_, eloquence, reason, raillery.
+
+In her treatise on the drama, she was the first in French literature
+to use the term "romantic" and to define it; but she had not invented
+the word, Wieland having used it to designate the country in which the
+ancient Roman literature flourished. Her definition was: "The classic
+word is sometimes taken as a synonym of perfection. I use it in
+another acceptance by considering classic poetry that of the ancients
+and romantic poetry that which holds in some way to the chivalresque
+traditions. The literature of the ancients is a transplanted
+literature with us; but romantic or chivalresque literature is
+indigenous. An imitation of works coming from a political, social,
+and religious midst different from ours means a literature which is
+no longer in relation with us, which has never been popular, and
+which will become less so every day. On the contrary, the romantic
+literature is the only one which is susceptible of being perfected,
+because it bears its roots from our soil and is, consequently, the
+only one which can be revived and increased. It expresses our religion
+and recalls our history." This opinion alone was enough to create a
+revolt among her contemporaries. Almost all other interpretations of
+_Faust_ were based on her conception.
+
+At the time of its publication, her book was considered to have been
+written in a political spirit, but her motive was far from that; it
+was the action of a generous heart, a book as true and loyal to
+the French as was ever a book written by a Frenchman. In her work
+_Considerations sur la Revolution Francaise_ she expressed the most
+advanced ideas on politics and government. The Revolution freed France
+and made it prosper; "every absolute monarch enslaves his country, and
+freedom reigns not in politics nor in the arts and sciences. Local and
+provincial liberties have formed nations, but royalty has deformed the
+nation by turning it to profit." Mme. de Stael found nothing to admire
+in Louis XIV., and to Richelieu she attributed the destruction of
+the originality of the French character, of its loyalty, candor,
+and independence. In that work she advocated education, which she
+considered a duty of the government to the people. "Schools must be
+established for the education of the poor, universities for the study
+of all languages, literatures, and sciences;" these ideas took root
+after her death.
+
+Mme. de Stael was a finished writer; because of its force, openness,
+and seriousness, her style might be termed a masculine one; she wrote
+to persuade and, as a rule, succeeded. Her grave defect seemed to be
+in her inspirations, which were always superior to her ideas, and in
+her sentiments, which she invariably turned to passions.
+
+Few French writers have exercised such a great influence in so many
+directions, and it became specially marked after her death; while
+living, the gossip against her salon prevented her opinions from being
+accepted or taking root. Her political influence was great at her
+time and lasted some twenty years. Directly influenced by her were
+Narbonne, De Montmorency, Benjamin Constant, and the Duc Victor de
+Broglie, her son-in-law. By her and her father, the Globe, the orators
+of the Academy and the tribune, and the politicians of the day, were
+inspired. The greatest was Guizot, who interpreted and preached in the
+spirit of Mme. de Stael. In history her influence was equally felt,
+especially in Guizot's _Essays on the History of France_, and in his
+_History of Civilization_, wherein civilization was considered as the
+constant progress in justice, in society, and in the state. To her
+Guizot owed his idea of _Amour dans le Mariage_. _The Historical
+Essays on England_, by Remusat, an ardent admirer of hers, was largely
+influenced by her _Considerations_, while Tocqueville's _Ancien
+Regime_ contains many of her ideas.
+
+Literature owes even more to her works, which encouraged the study of
+foreign literatures; almost all translations were due to her works.
+Michelet, Quinet, Nodier, Victor Hugo, so much influenced by German
+literature, owe their knowledge of it mainly to her. Too much credit
+may be given her when it is stated that all Mignons, Marguerites,
+Mephistopheles, etc., proceeded indirectly from her work, as well as
+nearly all descriptions of travels. Lamartine undoubtedly used her _De
+l'Allemagne_ and her _Des Passions_ freely. The heroine of _Jocelyn_
+is called but a daughter of _Delphine_, and the same author's terrible
+invective against Napoleon was inspired by her.
+
+Mme. de Stael had an indestructible faith in human reason, liberty,
+and justice; she believed in human perfection and in the hope of
+progress. "From Rousseau, she received that passionate tenderness,
+that confidence in the inherent goodness of man. Believing in an
+intimate communion of man with God, her religion was spirit and
+sentiment which had no need of pomp or symbols, of an intermediary
+between God and man." She was not so much a great writer as she was a
+great thinker, or rather a discoverer of new thoughts. By instituting
+a new criticism and by opening new literatures to the French, she
+succeeded in emancipating art from fixed rules and in facilitating the
+sudden growth of romanticism in France.
+
+In her life, her great desire was to spread happiness and to obtain
+it, to love and to be loved in return. In politics it was always the
+sentiment of justice which appealed to her, in literature it was the
+ideal. Sincerity was manifested in everything she said and did. Pity
+for the misery of her fellow beings, the sentiment of the dignity of
+man and his right to independence, of his future grandeur founded
+on his moral elevation, the cult of justice, and the love of
+liberty--such were the prevailing thoughts of her life and works.
+
+Mme. de Stael's chief influence will always remain in the domain of
+literature; she was the first French writer to introduce and exercise
+a European or cosmopolitan influence by uniting the literatures of the
+north and the south and clearly defining the distinction between them.
+By the expression of her idea that French literature had decayed on
+account of the exclusive social spirit, and that its only means of
+regeneration lay in the study and absorption of new models, she
+cut French taste loose from traditions and freed literature from
+superannuated conventionalities. Also, by her idea that a common
+civilization must be fostered, a union of the eastern and western
+ideals, and that literature must be the common expression thereof,
+whose object must be the amelioration of humanity, morally and
+religiously, she gave to the world at large ideas which are only now
+being fully appreciated and nearing realization. In her novels she
+vigorously protested against the lot of woman in modern society,
+against her obligation to submit everything to opinion, against the
+innumerable obstacles in the way of her development--thus heralding
+George Sand and the general movement toward woman's emancipation.
+France has never had a more forceful, energetic, influential,
+cosmopolitan, and at the same time moral, writer than Mme. de Stael.
+
+The events in the life of George Sand had comparatively little
+influence upon her works, which were mainly the expression of her
+nature. As a young girl, she was strongly influenced by her mother, an
+amiable but rather frivolous woman, and by her grandmother, a serious,
+cold, ceremonious old lady. Calm and well balanced, and possessing an
+ardent imagination, she followed her own inclinations when, as a girl
+of sixteen, she was married to a man for whom she had no love. After
+living an indifferent sort of life with her husband for ten years,
+they separated; and she, with her children, went to Paris to find
+work.
+
+After a number of unsuccessful efforts of a literary nature, she
+wrote _Indiana_, which immediately made her success. Her articles were
+sought by the journals, and from about 1830 her life was that of the
+average artist and writer of the time. Her relations with Chopin and
+Alfred de Musset are too well known to require repetition. After 1850
+she retired to her home, the Chateau de Nohant, where she enjoyed the
+companionship of her son, her daughter-in-law, and her grandchildren;
+she died there in 1876.
+
+To appreciate her works, it is more important to study her nature than
+her career. This has been admirably done by the Comte d'Haussonville.
+George Sand is said to have possessed a dual nature, which seemed
+to contradict itself, but which explains her works--a dreamy and
+meditative, and a lively, frolicsome nature; the first might throw
+light upon her religious crisis, the second, upon her social side.
+The combination of these two phases caused the numerous conflicts
+of opinions and doctrines, extending her knowledge and inciting her
+curiosity; the not infrequent result was an intellectual and moral
+bewilderment and the deepest melancholy, from which she with great
+difficulty freed herself. Because of these peculiarities she was
+constantly agitated, her strongly reflective nature keeping her awake
+to all important questions of the day.
+
+Her intellectual development may be traced in her works, which, from
+1830 to 1840, were personal, lyrical, spontaneous--a direct flow from
+inspiration, issuing from a common source of emotions and personal
+sorrows, being the expressions of her habitual reflections, of her
+moral agitations, of her real and imaginary sufferings. These first
+works were a protest against the tyranny of marriage, and expressed
+her conception of a woman in love--a love profound and naive, exalted
+and sincere, passionate and chaste: such is pictured in _Indiana_. In
+_Valentine_ she portrays the impious and unfortunate marriage that the
+sacrilegious conventions of the world have imposed, and the
+results issuing therefrom. In all of these early works are seen an
+inventiveness, a lively _allure_, an exquisite style, a freshness
+and brilliancy, _finesse_ and grace; but they show an undisciplined
+talent, giving vent to feelings that her unbounded enthusiasm would
+not allow to be checked--there is emotion, but no system.
+
+In her second period, from about 1840 to 1848, her reflection and
+emotion combined produced a system and theories. The higher problems
+took stronger hold on her as she matured; philosophy and religious
+science in their deeper phases excited her emotive faculties,
+which threw out a mere echo of what she had heard and studied.
+Her inspiration thus came from without, throwing out those endless
+declamatory outbursts which we meet in _Consuelo_ and in _Comtesse de
+Rudolstadt_. These theory-novels were soon followed by novels dealing
+with social problems, now and then relieved by delightful idyllics
+such as _La Mare au Diable_ and _Francois le Champi_. This third
+tendency M. d'Haussonville considers the least successful.
+
+After 1850 there appeared from her pen a series of historical novels,
+especially fine in the portrayal of characters, variety of situations,
+movement, and intrigues; these are free from all social theories;
+in these, reverting to her first tendencies, she is at her best in
+elegance and clearness, in analysis of characters. Thus does the work
+of George Sand change from a personal lyricism, in which the emotions,
+held in check during a solitary and dreamy youth, burst forth in
+brilliant and passionate fiction, to a theoretical, systematic novel,
+finally reverting to the first efforts, but tempered by experience and
+age.
+
+M. d'Haussonville says that in the strict sense of the word George
+Sand had no doctrines, but possessed a powerful imagination that
+manifested itself at various periods of her life. Whatever the
+principles might have been at first, they were made concrete under
+a sentiment with her, for her heart was her first inspiration,
+her teacher in all things. The ideas are thus analyzed through her
+sentiments under a threefold inspiration,--love, passion for humanity,
+sentiment for Nature.
+
+According to other novels, love is the unique affair of life; without
+love we do not really live, before love enters life we do not live,
+and after we cease to love there is no object in life. This love comes
+directly from God, of whom George Sand had ideas peculiar to herself.
+The majority of her characters have a sort of mystic, exalted love,
+looking upon it as a sacred right, making of themselves great priests
+rather than genuine human lovers. This love, issuing from God, is
+sacred; therefore, the yielding to it is a pious act; he who resists
+commits sacrilege, while he who blames others for it is impious; for
+love legitimizes itself by itself. Such a theory naturally led her
+to a sensual ideality, and her heroes rose to the highest phase of
+fatalism and voluptuousness; this impelled her to protest against the
+social laws. Jacques says:
+
+"I do not doubt at all that marriage will be abolished if humankind
+makes any progress toward justice and reason; a bond more human and
+none the less sacred will replace this one and will take care of
+the children which may issue from a man and woman, without ever
+interfering with the liberty of either. But men are too coarse and
+women are too cowardly to ask for a law more noble than the iron
+law which binds them--beings without conscience--and virtue must be
+burdened with heavy chains."
+
+Yet, in none of her books did George Sand ever submit any theories as
+to how such children would be cared for; apparently, such a difficulty
+never troubled her, since almost all of the children of her books die
+of some disease, while to one--Jacques--she gives the advice to take
+his own life, so that his wife may be free to love elsewhere.
+
+Her social theories are marked by an exaltation of sentiment, a
+weakness, an incoherency in conception, caused by her ardent love for
+theories and ideas, but which, in her passionate sentiment and her
+loyal enthusiasm, she always confounds and confuses. From early youth
+she manifested an immense goodness, a profound tenderness, and a deep
+compassion for human misery. She rarely became angry, even though she
+suffered cruelly. Her own law of life and her message to the world
+was--be good. The only strong element within her, she said, was the
+need of loving, which manifested itself under the form of tenderness
+and emotion, devotion and religious ecstasy; and when this faith was
+shaken, doubt and social disturbances overwhelmed her.
+
+Throughout life her consolation was Nature. "It was half of her genius
+and the surest of her inspirations." No other French novelist has
+been able to "express in words the lights and shades, harmonies and
+contrasts, the magic of sounds, the symphonies of color, the depth
+and distances of the woods, the infinite movement of the sea and the
+sky--the interior soul of Nature, that vibrates in everything and
+everybody." With Lamartine and Michelet, she has best reflected and
+expressed the dreams and hopes and loves of the first half of the
+nineteenth century.
+
+George Sand saw Nature, lived in her, sympathized with her, and loved
+her as did few other French writers; therefore, she showed more memory
+than pure imagination in her work, for she always found Nature more
+beautiful in actuality than she could picture her mentally, while
+other great writers, like Lamartine, saw her less beautiful in reality
+than in their imagination; hence, they were disappointed in Nature,
+while for George Sand she was the truest friend. The world will always
+be interested in her descriptions of Nature, because with Nature she
+always associated something of human life--a thought or a sentiment;
+her landscapes belonged to her characters--there is always a soul
+living in them, for, to George Sand, man and Nature were inseparable.
+
+Thus, every novel of this authoress consists of a situation and a
+landscape, the poetic union of which nothing can mar. "Man associated
+with Nature and Nature with man is a great law of art; no painter has
+practised it with instinct more delicate or sure." Because Nature,
+in her early youth, was her inspiration, guide, even her God, she
+returned to her later in life. M. Jules Lemaitre wrote that her works
+will remain eternally beautiful, because they teach us how to love
+Nature as divine and good, and to find in that love peace and solace.
+There are many parts of her work which show as detailed, accurate, and
+realistic descriptions as those by Balzac. She constantly employed two
+elements--the fanciful and the realistic.
+
+George Sand never studied or knew how to compose a work, how to
+preserve the unity of the subject or the unity in tone in characters;
+hence, there was nothing calculated or premeditated--everything was
+spontaneous. No preparation of plan did she ever think of--a mode of
+procedure which naturally resulted in a negligent style and caused
+the composition to drag. Her inspiration seemed to go so far, then
+she resorted to her imagination, to the chimerical, forcing events
+and characters. "There are many defects in the style--such as
+the sentimental part, the romanesque in the violent expression of
+sentiments or invention of situations, the exaggerated improbabilities
+of events, the excessive declamation; but how many compensating
+qualities are there to offset these defects!"
+
+Her method of writing was very simple. It was the love of writing
+that impelled her, almost without premeditation, to put into words
+her dreams, meditations, and chimeras under concrete and living forms.
+Yet, by the largeness of her sympathy and the ardor of her passions,
+by the abundant inventions of stories, and by the harmonious
+word-flow, she deserves to be ranked among the greatest writers
+of France. Her career, taken as a whole, is one of prodigious
+fecundity--a literary life that has "enchanted by its fictions or
+troubled by its dreams" four or five generations. Never diminishing in
+quality or inspiration, there are surprises in every new work.
+
+No doubt George Sand has, for a generation or more, been somewhat
+forgotten, but what great writer has not shared the same fate? When
+the materialistic age has passed away, many famous writers of the
+past will be resurrected, and with them George Sand; for her novels,
+although written to please and entertain, discuss questions of
+religion, philosophy, morality, problems of the heart, conscience, and
+education,--and this is done in such a dramatic way that one feels all
+to be true. More than that, her characters are all capable of carrying
+out, to the end, a common moral and general theme with eloquence
+seldom found in novels.
+
+An interesting comparison might be made between Mme. de Stael and
+George Sand, the two greatest women writers of France. Both wrote
+from their experience of life, and fought passionately against the
+prejudices and restrictions of social conventions; both were ideal
+natures and were severely tried in the school of life, profiting
+by their experiences; both possessed highly sensitive natures, and
+suffered much; both were keenly enthusiastic and sympathetic, with
+pardonable weaknesses; both lived through tragic wars; both evinced
+a dislike for the commonplace and strove for greater freedom, but for
+different publics, after unhappy marriages, both rose up as accusers
+against the prevalent system of marrying young girls. But Mme. de
+Stael was a virtuoso in conversation, a salon queen, and her happiness
+was to be found in society alone; while George Sand found her
+happiness in communion with Nature. This explains the two natures,
+their sufferings, their joys, their writings.
+
+The greatest punishment ever inflicted upon Mme. de Stael was her
+exile, for it deprived her of her social life, a fact of which the
+emperor was well aware. Her entire literary effort was directed to
+describing her social life and the relation of society to life. "She
+belongs to the moralists and to the writers who wrote of society and
+man--social psychologists." Not poetic or artistic by nature, but
+with an exceptional power of observation, she shows on every side the
+influence of a pedagogical, literary, and social training; she was the
+product of an artificial culture.
+
+George Sand, on the contrary, was a product of Nature, reared in free
+intercourse and unrestrained relation with her genius and Nature. A
+powerful passion and a mighty fantasy made of her a poetess and an
+artist. These two qualities were manifested in her intense and deep
+feeling for the beauty of Nature, in her power of invention, in a
+harmonious equilibrium between idealism and realism. Her fantasy
+overbalanced her reason, impeding its development and thus relegating
+it to a secondary role. "She is possibly the only French writer
+who possessed no _esprit_ (in the sense that it is used in French
+society)--that playful, epigrammatic, querulous wit of conversation."
+
+She never enjoyed communion with others for any length of time, or the
+companionship of anyone for a long period; the companions of which she
+never tired were the fields and woods, birds and dogs; therefore, she
+enjoyed those people most who were nearer her ideals, the peasants and
+workmen, and these she best describes. Thus, her whole creation is
+one of instinct rather than of reason, as it was with Mme. de Stael.
+George Sand was a genius, a master-product of Nature, while Mme. de
+Stael was a talent, a consummate work of the art of modern culture;
+she reflects, while George Sand creates from impulse; the latter was
+a true poetess, communing with Nature, while the banker's daughter was
+an observing thinker, communicating with society--but both were great
+writers.
+
+Intimately associated with George Sand is Rosa Bonheur, in all
+of whose canvases we find the same aim, the same spirit, the same
+message, that are found in so many of the novels of George Sand.
+They were two women who have contributed, through different branches,
+masterworks that will be enjoyed and appreciated at all times.
+"It would be difficult not to speak of _La Mare au Diable_ and the
+_Meunier d'Angibault_ when recalling the fields where Rosa Bonheur
+speeds the plow or places the oxen lowering their patient heads under
+the yoke."
+
+In the evening, at home, while other members of the family were
+at work, one member read aloud to the rest; and George Sand was
+a favorite author with the Bonheur group of artists. It was while
+reading _La Mare au Diable_ that Rosa conceived the idea of the work
+which by some critics is pronounced her masterpiece, _Plowing in
+Nivernais_. The artist's deep sympathy was aroused by her love of
+Nature, which no contemporary novelist expressed or appreciated as
+did George Sand. In all her works, and throughout the long life of the
+artist, there is absolutely nothing unhealthy or immoral to be found.
+The novelist had theories which were inspired by her passion, and
+these became unhealthy at times; she belongs first of all to France,
+while Rosa Bonheur belongs first of all to the world, her message
+reaching the young and old of every clime and every people. The
+novelist is to be associated with the artist by virtue of her
+exquisite, simple, and wholesome peasant stories.
+
+The entire Bonheur family were artists, and all were moral and
+genuinely sympathetic. As a young girl, Rosa manifested an intense
+love for Nature, sunshine, and the woods; always independent in
+manners, she used to caricature her teachers; and while walking
+out into the country, she would draw, with charcoal or in sand, any
+objects that met her eye. Her father was not long in detecting her
+talent. She was wedded to her art from the very beginning, showing no
+taste for or interest in any other subject. As soon as her father gave
+permission to follow art as a profession, she devoted all her energy
+to advancing herself in what she felt to be her life's work. For four
+years the young girl could be seen every day at the Louvre, copying
+the great masters and receiving principally from them her ideas of
+coloring and harmony, while from her father she learned her technique.
+After she had mastered these two principles, she decided to specialize
+in pastoral nature.
+
+From that time her whole life was given up to the study of Nature and
+animals. Not able to study those near by, she procured a fine Beauvais
+sheep, which served as her model for two years. From the very first
+her work showed accuracy, purity, and an intuitive perception of
+Nature, and these qualities soon placed her among the foremost artists
+of the time. Her struggle for reputation and glory was not a long and
+arduous one, for after 1845 her fame was established--she was then but
+twenty-three years old; and after 1849, having exhibited some thirty
+pictures, her reputation had become European.
+
+In order to be able to study her models with greater ease and freedom
+from the annoyance and coarse incivilities of the workmen at the
+slaughter houses, farmyards, and markets that she was in the habit of
+visiting, she adopted the garb of man.
+
+Her honors in life were many, though always unsought. The Empress
+Eugenie, while regent during the absence of Napoleon III., went
+in person to her chateau and put around her neck the ribbon of the
+decoration of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, then for the
+first time bestowed upon woman for merit other than bravery and
+charity. The Emperor Maximilian of Mexico conferred upon her the
+decoration of San Carlos; the King of Belgium created her a chevalier
+of his order, the first honor won by a woman; the King of Spain made
+her a Commander of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic; and
+President Carnot created her an Officer of the Legion of Honor.
+
+With qualities such as she possessed, Rosa Bonheur could not fail
+to attain immortality. Her success was due in no small degree to the
+scientific instruction which she received when a mere child; having
+been taught, from the very first, how to paint directly from a model,
+she supplemented this training by a period of four years of copying
+great masters. In the latter period she studied Paul Potter's work
+rather slavishly, but was individual enough to combine only the best
+in him with the best in herself; this gave her an originality such as
+possibly no other animal painter ever possessed---not even Landseer,
+who is said to be "stronger in telling the story than in the manner of
+telling it."
+
+Rosa Bonheur was too independent and original to follow any particular
+school or master, for her only inspiration and guide were her models,
+always living near by and upon intimate terms with her. Thus, in all
+her paintings, we instinctively feel that she painted from conviction,
+from her own observation, nothing being added for mere artistic
+effect. To some extent her pictures impress one as a perfect French
+poem in which there is no superfluous word, in which no word could
+be changed without destroying the effect of the whole; thus, in her
+paintings there is not a superfluous brush stroke; everything is
+necessary to the telling of the story; but she excels the perfect
+poem, for, in French literature, it seldom has a message distinct
+from its technique, while her pictures breathe the very essence
+of sympathy, love, and life. We feel that she thoroughly knew her
+subjects as a connoisseur; but her animals do not impress one as the
+production of an artist who knew them as do horse traders and cattle
+dealers, who know their stock from the purely physical standpoint; the
+animals of this artist are from the brush of one who was familiar with
+their habits, who loved them, had lived with and studied them--who
+knew and appreciated their higher qualities. Rosa Bonheur most
+harmoniously united two essential elements in art--a scientific as
+well as sympathetic conception of her subject. Possibly this is the
+reason that her pictures appeal to animal lovers throughout the world.
+
+As was stated, she was independent, hence kept aloof from the
+corruptions of contemporary French art and its technique lovers,
+always pursuing an even tenor in her art and never permitting one of
+her pictures to leave her studio in a crude or unfinished state. In
+all her long career she kept her original sketches, never parting with
+one, in spite of the most tempting offers; and this explains the fact
+that the work of her later years exhibits the freshness and other
+qualities of that of her youth. Thus, her art has gained by her
+experience, even though her best work was done between about 1848 and
+1860, and is especially marked by its excellence in composition,
+the anatomy, the breadth of touch, the harmony of coloring, and the
+action, although it is said to lack the spontaneity, the originality,
+and the highly imaginative quality which are at their best in _The
+Horse Fair_; the same qualities seem to have been possessed by many of
+her contemporaries, such as Troyon.
+
+Notwithstanding these apparent defects, Rosa Bonheur stands for
+something higher in art than do most of her contemporaries. She was
+not influenced by the skilled and often corrupt technicians; she
+perfected her technique by study of the old masters and learned her
+art from Nature; wisely keeping free from the ornamental, gorgeous,
+and highly imaginative and exaggerated historical Romantic school, in
+French art she stands out almost alone with Millet. Whatever may
+be said of the more virile and masculine art of other great animal
+painters, Rosa Bonheur, by her truthfulness, her science, her close
+association and intimate communion with her animal world, by the glad
+and healthy vigor which her paintings breathe, has taught the world
+the great lesson that there are intelligence, will, love, and even
+soul, in animals.
+
+Her art and life inspired respect and admiration; we have nothing to
+regret, nothing to conceal; we desire to love her for her animals, and
+we must esteem her for her grand devotion to her art and family, for
+her purity and charity, for her kindness to and love for those in the
+lower walks of life, for her goodness and honesty. An illustration of
+the last quality may be taken from her dealings with art collectors.
+After having offered her _Horse Fair_, which she desired should remain
+in France, to her own town for twelve thousand francs, she sold it for
+forty thousand francs to Mr. Gambert, but with the condition which she
+thus expressed: "I am grateful for your giving me such a noble
+price, but I do not like to feel that I have taken advantage of your
+liberality. Let us see how we can combine matters. You will not be
+able to have an engraving made from so large a canvas; suppose I
+paint you a small one of the same subject, of which I will make you a
+present." Naturally, the gift was accepted, and the smaller canvas now
+hangs in the National Gallery of London.
+
+In all her dealings she showed this kindness and uprightness, sympathy
+and honesty. Although numberless orders were constantly coming to
+her, she never let them hurry her in her work. She was, possibly, the
+highest and noblest type--certainly among great French women--of that
+strong and solid virtue which constitutes the backbone and the very
+essence of French national strength. The reputation of Rosa Bonheur
+has never been blemished by the least touch of petty jealousy, hatred,
+envy, vanity, or pride--and, among all great French women, she is one
+of the few of whom this may be said. She won for herself and her noble
+art the genuine and lasting sympathy of the world at large.
+
+The only woman artist in France deserving a place beside Rosa Bonheur
+belongs properly under the reign of Louis XVI., although she lived
+almost to the middle of the nineteenth century. At the age of twenty,
+Mme. Lebrun was already famous as the leading portrait painter; this
+was during the most popular period of Marie Antoinette--1775 to 1785.
+In 1775, but a young girl, admitted to all the sessions of the Academy
+as recognition of her portraits of La Bruyere and Cardinal Fleury, she
+made her life unhappy and gave her art a serious blow by consenting
+to marry the then great art critic and collector of art, Lebrun. His
+passion for gambling and women ruined her fortune and almost ended her
+career as an artist. Her own conduct was not irreproachable.
+
+Mme. Lebrun will be remembered principally as the great painter of
+Marie Antoinette, who posed for her more than twenty times. The most
+prominent people of Europe eagerly sought her work, while socially she
+was welcomed everywhere. Her famous suppers and entertainments in
+her modestly furnished hotel, at which Garat sang, Gretry played
+the piano, and Viotti and Prince Henry of Prussia assisted, were the
+events of the day. Her reputation as a painter of the great ladies and
+gentlemen of nobility, and her entertainments, naturally associated
+her with the nobility; hence, she shared their unpopularity at the
+outbreak of the Revolution and left France.
+
+It is doubtful whether any artist--certainly no French artist--ever
+received more attention and honors, or was made a member of so many
+art academies, than Mme. Lebrun. It would be difficult to make any
+comparison between her and Rosa Bonheur, their respective spheres of
+art being so different. Only the future will speak as to the relative
+positions of each in French art.
+
+In the domain of the dramatic art of the nineteenth century, two
+women have made their names well known throughout Europe and
+America,--Rachel, and Sarah Bernhardt, both tragediennes and both
+daughters of Israel. While Rachel was, without question, the greatest
+tragedienne that France ever produced, excelling Bernhardt in deep
+tragic force, she yet lacked many qualities which our contemporary
+possesses in a high degree. She had constantly to contend with a cruel
+fate and a wicked, grasping nature, which brought her to an early
+grave. The wretched slave of her greedy and rapacious father and
+managers, who cared for her only in so far as she enriched them by her
+genius and popularity, hers was a miserable existence, which detracted
+from her acting, checked her development, and finally undermined her
+health.
+
+After her critical period of apprenticeship was successfully passed
+and she was free to govern herself, she rose to be queen of the French
+stage--a position which she held for eighteen years, during which she
+was worshipped and petted by the whole world. As a social leader,
+she was received and made much of by the great ladies of the Faubourg
+Saint-Germain. Her taste in dress was exquisite in its simplicity,
+being in perfect harmony with the reserved, retiring, and amiable
+actress herself.
+
+Possibly no actress, singer, or other public woman ever received such
+homage and general recognition. With all her great qualities as an
+actress, vigor, grandeur, wild, savage energy, superb articulation,
+irreproachable diction, and a marvellous sense of situations, she
+lacked the one quality which we miss in Sarah Bernhardt also--a true
+tenderness and compassion. As a tragedienne she can be compared to
+Talma only. Her greed for money soon ended her brilliant career;
+unlike her sister in art, she amassed a fortune, leaving over one
+million five hundred thousand francs.
+
+Compared with Bernhardt, Rachel is said to have been the greater in
+pure tragedy, but she did not possess as many arts of fascination.
+There are many points of similarity between the two actresses: Rachel
+was at times artificial, wanting in tenderness and depth, while at
+times she was superhuman in her passion and emotion, and often
+put more into her role than was intended; and the acting of Sarah
+Bernhardt has the same characteristics. Rachel, however, was much more
+subject to moods and fits of inspiration than is Bernhardt--especially
+was she incapable of acting at her best on evenings of her first
+appearance in a new role. Her critical power was very weak in
+comparison with her intellectual power, the reverse being true of her
+modern rival. Rachel's greatest inspiration was _Phedre_, and in
+this role Bernhardt "is weak, unequal. We see all the viciousness
+in _Phedre_ and none of her grandeur. She breaks herself to pieces
+against the huge difficulties of the conception and does not succeed
+in moving us.... Rachel was the mouthpiece of the gods; no longer a
+free agent, she poured forth every epithet of adoration that Aphrodite
+could suggest, clambering up higher and higher in the intensity of her
+emotions, whilst her audience hung breathless, riveted on every word,
+and dared to burst forth in thunders of applause only after she had
+vanished from their sight."
+
+Both of these artists were children of the lower class, and struggled
+with a fate which required grit, tenacity, and determination to
+win success. The artist of to-day is no social leader--"never the
+companion of man, but his slave or his despot." It is entirely her
+physical charms and the outward or artificial requisites of her art
+that make her what she is. According to Mr. Lynch, her tragedy "is but
+one of disorder, fury, and folly--passions not deep, but unbridled and
+hysterical in their intensest display. Her _forte_ lies in the ornate
+and elaborate exhibition of roles," for which she creates the most
+capricious and fantastic garbs. She is a great manager,--omitting the
+financial part,--quite a writer, somewhat of a painter and sculptor,
+throwing her money away, except to her creditors, adored by some
+and execrated by others. Her care of her physical self and her utter
+disregard for money have undoubtedly contributed to her long and
+brilliant career; rest and idleness are her most cruel punishments.
+All nervous energy, never happy, restless, she is a true _fin de
+siecle_ product.
+
+Among the large number of women who wielded influence in the
+nineteenth century, either through their salons or through their
+works, Mme. Guizot was one of the most important as the author of
+treatises on education and as a moralist. As an intimate friend of
+Suard, she was placed, as a contributor, on the _Publiciste_, and for
+ten years wrote articles on morality, society, and literature which
+showed a varied talent, much depth, and justness. Fond of polemics,
+she never failed to attack men like La Harpe, De Bonald, etc., thus
+making herself felt as an influence to be reckoned with in matters
+literary and moral.
+
+As Mme. Guizot, she naturally had a powerful influence upon her
+husband, shaping his thoughts and theories, for she immediately
+espoused his principles and interests. In 1821, at the age of
+forty-eight, she began her literary work again, after a period of
+rest, writing novels in which the maternal love and the ardent and
+pious sentiments of a woman married late in life are reflected. In
+her theories of education she showed a highly practical spirit.
+Sainte-Beuve said that, next to Mme. de Stael, "she was the woman
+endowed with the most sagacity and intelligence; the sentiment that
+she inspires is that of respect and esteem--and these terms can only
+do her justice."
+
+Mme. de Duras, in her salon, represented the Restoration, "by
+a composite of aristocracy and affability, of brilliant wit and
+seriousness, semi-liberal and somewhat progressive." Her credit lies
+in the fact that, by her keen wit, she kept in harmony a heterogeneous
+mixture of social life. She wrote a number of novels, which are,
+for the most part, "a mere delicate and discreet expression of her
+interior life."
+
+Mme. Ackermann, German in her entire makeup, was, among French female
+writers, one of the deepest thinkers of the nineteenth century. A
+true mystic, she was, from early youth, filled with ardent, dreamy
+vagaries, to which she gave expression in verse--poems which reflect
+a pessimism which is rather the expression of her life's experiences,
+and of twenty-four years of solitude after two years of happy wedded
+state, than an actual depression and a discouraging philosophy of
+life. Her poetry shows a vigor, depth, precision of form, and strength
+of expression seldom found in poetry of French women.
+
+One of the most conspicuous figures in the latter half of the
+nineteenth century is Mme. Adam,--Juliette Lamber,--an unusual woman
+in every respect. In 1879 she founded the _Nouvelle Revue_, on the
+plan of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, for which she wrote political
+and literary articles which showed much talent. In politics she is a
+Republican and something of a socialist, a somewhat sensational--but
+modestly sensational--figure. She has been called "a necessary
+continuator of George Sand." Her salon was the great centre for
+all Republicans and one of the most brilliant and important of this
+century. In literature her name is connected with the movement called
+neo-Hellenism, the aim of which seems to have been to inspire a love
+and sympathy for the art, religion, and literature of ancient and
+modern Greece. In her works she shows a deep insight into Greek
+life and art. Her name will always be connected with the Republican
+movement in France; as a salon leader, _femme de lettres_, journalist,
+and female politician, no woman is better known in France in the
+nineteenth century.
+
+A woman who might be called the rival of Mme. Adam, but whose
+activity occurred much earlier in the century, was Mme. Emile de
+Girardin,--Delphine Gay,--who ruled, at least for a short time, the
+social and literary world of Paris at her hotel in the Rue Chaillot.
+Her very early precocity, combined with her rare beauty, made her
+famous. In 1836, after having written a number of poems which showed
+a weak sentimentality and a quite mannered emotion, she founded the
+_Courrier Francais_, for which she wrote articles on the questions of
+the day--effusions which were written upon the spur of the moment and
+were very unreliable. Her dramas were hardly successful, although they
+were played by the great Rachel. Her present claim to fame is based
+upon the brilliancy of her salon.
+
+The future will possibly remember Mme. Alphonse Daudet more as the
+wife of the great Daudet than as a writer, although, according to
+M. Jules Lemaitre, she possessed the gift of _ecriture artiste_ to
+a remarkable degree. According to him, sureness and exactness and a
+striking truth of impressions are her characteristics as a writer. She
+exercised a most wholesome power over Alphonse Daudet, taking him away
+from bad influences, giving him a home, dignity, and happiness, and
+saving him from brutality and pessimism; she was his guardian and
+censor; she preserved his grace and noble sentiments. The nature of
+her relations to him should ensure the preservation of her name to
+posterity.
+
+We are accustomed to give Gyp--Sybille Gabrielle Marie Antoinette de
+Riquetti de Mirabeau, Comtesse de Martel de Janville--little credit
+for seriousness or morality, associating her with the average
+brilliant, flippant novelists, who write because they possess the
+knack of writing in a brilliant style. Her object is to show that man,
+in a civilized state in society, is vain, coarse, and ridiculous. She
+paints Parisian society to demonstrate that the apparently fortunate
+ones of the world are not to be envied, that they are miserable in
+their so-called joys and ridiculous in their pleasures and their
+elegance. She has described the most _risque_ situations and the most
+delightful women, but she gives us to understand that the latter are
+not to be loved. The vanity of the social world might be called her
+text.
+
+Mme. Blanc--Therese de Solms--is known to us to-day as the first
+woman to reveal English and American authors and habits to her
+contemporaries. By advocating American customs she has done much
+to ameliorate the condition of French girls, by giving them a freer
+intercourse with young men and permitting them to see more of the
+world before entering upon married life.
+
+Mme. Greville, who died recently, deserves a place among the prominent
+women writers of France. No _femme de lettres_ ever received more
+honors, prizes, and decorations than she; a number of her writings
+were crowned by the Academy. A member of the Societe des Gens de
+Lettres, with all her literary work she was a domestic woman, keeping
+aloof from all feminist movements. Her husband, Professor Durand, to
+show his esteem and admiration for her, adopted her name--a wise act,
+for it may preserve his name with that of his talented wife.
+
+Many other names might be cited, but, as the list of prominent women
+is practically without end, owing to the indefiniteness of the term
+"prominent," we shall close with these names, which have become
+familiar in both continents.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Women of Modern France, by Hugo P.  Thieme
+
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