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<pre>

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: ISO-8859-1

*** 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






</pre>

    <div class="trans-note">
        Transcriber's Note: The Table of Contents was added by the Transcriber.
    </div>
<hr class="full" />
<h2>WOMAN</h2>

<h3>In all ages and in all countries</h3>


<h1>WOMEN OF MODERN FRANCE</h1>

<h4>by</h4>

<h4>HUGO P. THIEME, Ph.D.</h4>

<h4>Of the University of Michigan</h4>


<h4>THE RITTENHOUSE PRESS<br />
PHILADELPHIA</h4>



<hr />

<center>Copyrighted at Washington and entered at Stationer's Hall, London,</center>

<center>1907&ndash;1908</center>

<center>and printed by arrangement with George Barrie's Sons.</center>


<center>PRINTED IN U.S.A.</center>

<hr />

<h3>Contents</h3>

<table width="80%" align="center" summary="Contents">
<tr><td></td><td>PREFACE</td><td class="page"> <a href="#pagevii">vii</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;I.
</td><td>Woman in politics</td><td class="page"><a href="#page1">1</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;II.
</td><td>Woman in Family Life, Education, and Letters</td><td class="page"><a href="#page31">31</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;III.
</td><td>The Seventeenth Century: Woman at Her Best</td><td class="page"><a href="#page69">69</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;IV.
</td><td>Woman in Society and Literature</td><td class="page"><a href="#page97">97</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;V.
</td><td>Mistresses and Wives of Louis XIV</td><td class="page"><a href="#page131">131</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;VI.
</td><td>Mme. de Sévigné, Mme. de La Fayette, Mme. Dacier, Mme. de Caylus</td><td class="page"><a href="#page165">165</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;VII.
</td><td>Woman in Religion</td><td class="page"><a href="#page197">197</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;VIII.
</td><td>Salon Leaders: Mme. de Tencin, Mme. Geoffrin, Mme. du Deffand, Mlle. de Lespinasse,
Mme. du Châtelet</td><td class="page"><a href="#page221">221</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;IX.
</td><td>Salon Leaders&mdash;(Continued):
Mme. Necker, Mme. d'Epinay, Mme. de Genlis: Minor Salons
</td><td class="page"><a href="#page249">249</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;X.
</td><td>Social Classes</td><td class="page"><a href="#page277">277</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;XI.
</td><td>Royal Mistresses</td><td class="page"><a href="#page305">305</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;XII.
</td><td>Marie Antoinette and the Revolution</td><td class="page"><a href="#page329">329</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;XIII.
</td><td>Women of the Revolution and the Empire</td><td class="page"><a href="#page355">355</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="chap">Chapter&nbsp;XIV.
</td><td>Women of the Nineteenth Century</td><td class="page"><a href="#page381">381</a></td></tr>
</table>

<hr />
<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevii" id="pagevii"></a>[pg vii]</span>

<h3>PREFACE</h3>


<p>Among the Latin races, the French race differs essentially
in one characteristic which has been the key to the
success of French women&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="pageviii" id="pageviii"></a>[pg viii]</span>
qualities have not always been in accordance with the standard of other races.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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, <i>finesse</i>, 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&mdash;she is made responsible for breaking
treaties, for activity in all intrigues, participating in and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="pageix" id="pageix"></a>[pg ix]</span>
inciting to civil and foreign wars, encouraging and sanctioning
assassinations and massacres, championing the Machiavelian
policy and practising it at every opportunity.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p class="author sc">Hugo Paul Thieme.</p>

<p><i>University of Michigan.</i></p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page1" id="page1"></a>[pg 1]</span>




<h2>Chapter I</h2>

<h2>Woman in politics</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span>


<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Queen-consorts, in the sixteenth as in the following
centuries, exercised but little influence; they were, as a
rule, gentle and obedient wives&mdash;even Catherine, domineering
as she afterward showed herself to be, betraying
no signs of that trait until she became regent.</p>

<p>The literary women and women of spirit and wit furthered
all intellectual and social development; but it was
the mistresses&mdash;those great women of political schemes
and moral degeneracy&mdash;who were vested with the actual
importance, and it must in justice to them be said that
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" id="page4"></a>[pg 4]</span>
they not infrequently encouraged art, letters, and mental expansion.</p>

<p>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'Angoulême,
the bright star of her time; and her whose name
comes instantly to mind when we speak of the Lady of
Angoulême&mdash;Marguerite de Navarre, representing both the
good and the doubtful, the broadest sense of that untranslatable
term <i>femme d'esprit</i>.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Anne may be said to belong to the transition period&mdash;that
period in which the condition of slavery and obscurity
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span>
belles in the coterie of Marguerite d'Angoulême, 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.</p>

<p>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, Françoise
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Upon the return of Charles, she immediately began plotting
against him, including in her hatred Françoise 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.</p>

<p>This love of Louise for Charles of Bourbon is said to
have owed most of its ardor to her hope of coming into
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span>
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&mdash;at
one and the same time&mdash;her passion and her cupidity.</p>

<p>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 <i>distingué</i> 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.</p>

<p>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'Alençon; 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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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. Renée de France (a union to
which Charles would have consented gladly), the queen-mother
managed to induce Francis I. to refuse his consent.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;the beautiful Françoise
de Foix whom the king had made Countess of Châteaubriant.</p>

<p>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&mdash;with a sort of gay triumph&mdash;she
was rather fond of showing, they pronounced her "the
most charming of learned ladies and the most learned of the charming."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span>

<p>The plot worked; Francis was fascinated, falling an
easy prey to the wiles of the wanton Anne. The former
mistress, Françoise 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.</p>

<p>The duty assigned to the new mistress was that of
keeping Francis busy with fêtes 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;his mother&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>After the death of Louise, the lot of managing the king
and directing his policy fell to the share of his mistress,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;the Duchesse d'Etampes&mdash;and
causing, by their intrigues, dissensions between father and son.</p>

<p>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 Crépy 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.</p>

<p>The death of Francis I. occurred in 1547; with his reign
ends the first period of woman's activity&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span>
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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span>
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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Having (through one of her favorites) gained control of
the royal treasury, Diana appropriated everything&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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 régime which is the guardian of life&mdash;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&mdash;fascinated
by her mythological pomp&mdash;she seems no more a
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span>
woman but a goddess. Thus he styles her in verses of burning tenderness:</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"'Hélas, mon Dieu! combien je regrette</p>
<p>Le temps que j'ai perdu en ma jeunesse!</p>
<p>Combien de fois je me suis souhaité</p>
<p>Avoir Diane pour ma seule maîtresse.</p>
<p>Mais je craignais qu'elle, qui est déesse,</p>
<p>Ne se voulût abaisser jusque là.'"</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>[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.]</p>

<p>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&mdash;a good mother looking after her family. However,
she was not idle; without taking part in the intrigues,
she was studying them&mdash;planning her future tactics; in
all relations she was diplomatic, her conversation ever
displaying exquisite tact.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 château of Chenonceaux, which
was so much coveted by Catherine. The latter attempted
to make Diana pay for the château, 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.</p>

<p>The death of Diana of Poitiers was that common to all
women of her position. She died in 1566, forgotten by
the world&mdash;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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span>

<p>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.&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;she realized that she could trust no one.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>The Machiavellian policy was Catherine's guide; bitter
experience had robbed her of all faith in humanity&mdash;she
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 <i>French
Women of the Valois Court</i>, presents one of the strongest
pictures drawn of Catherine. We shall follow him in the
greater part of this sketch.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;the attire&mdash;of royalty, remaining exactly on
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span>
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&mdash;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&mdash;painting, bookmaking, printing, binding, sculpture.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;brutal, gross, immoral, elegant, polished, and
<i>mondain</i>,&mdash;but she was also its leader.</p>

<p>Greatness of soul, real moral force, strict virtue, are not
attributes of the sixteenth-century woman&mdash;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,&mdash;will, intelligence, inflexible perseverance,
tenacity of purpose, unscrupulousness, cruelty;
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>It is not generally known that her mother was a French
woman&mdash;a Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne, daughter
of Jean, Count of Boulogne, and Catherine of Bourbon,
daughter of the Count of Vendôme; thus, her gentler nature
was a French product. Her mother and father both
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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, <i>The Prince</i>,
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.</p>

<p>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. Brantôme 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span>
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.</p>

<p>Brantôme 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 <i>ménage à trois</i> (household of three)
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span>
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&mdash;taking it all around&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 Compiègne 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span>
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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>She is next found attempting the assassination of the
Duke of Condé, 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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span>
she became regent (1560). She was then all-powerful
and in a position to exercise her long dormant talents.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;Jeanne d'Albret, her bitter enemy.</p>

<p>After the death of Charles IX., Henry III. was the sole
survivor of the four sons of Catherine. Although her
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span>
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 reënter 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.</p>

<p>Catherine de' Medici may rightfully be called the initiator
and organizer of social and court etiquette and courtesy&mdash;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 <i>lever</i> 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;frequently for mere pastime&mdash;she would
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span>
have them undressed and slapped vigorously with the back
of the hand. Françoise of Rohan, cousin of Jeanne d'Albret,
wrote the following poem:</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"Plus j'ai de toi souvent esté battue,</p>
<p>Plus mon amour s'efforce et s'évertue</p>
<p>De regretter ceste main qui me bat;</p>
<p>Car ce mal-là m'estait plaisant esbat.</p>
<p>Or, adieu done la main dont la rigueur</p>
<p>Je préferais à tout bien et honneur."</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>[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.]</p>

<p>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&mdash;a spectre, not a woman&mdash;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&mdash;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&mdash;this
is the real character of Catherine de' Medici." The
following burlesque poetry was composed for her:</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"La reine qui ci-git fut un diable et un ange,</p>
<p>Toute pleine de blâme et pleine de louange,</p>
<p>Elle soutint l'Etat, et l'Etat mit à bas;</p>
<p>Elle fit maints accords et pas moins de débats;</p>
<p>Elle enfanta trois rois et trois guerres civiles,</p>
<p>Fit bâtir des châteaux et ruiner des villes,</p>
<p>Fit bien de bonnes lois et de mauvais édits.</p>
<p>Souhaite-lui, passant, enfer et paradis."</p>
  </div>  </div>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span>

<p>[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.]</p>

<p>With the reign of Henry IV.&mdash;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&mdash;begins
a period of revelling, debauch, and the most depraved
immorality. Three mistresses in turn controlled him&mdash;morally, not politically.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 <i>chevaleresque</i> period. The beautiful Gabrielle
d'Estrées, Duchesse de Beaufort, was called his mate after
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span>
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span>




<h2>Chapter II</h2>

<h2>Woman in Family Life, Education, and Letters</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span>


<p>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.</p>

<p>The little information which history gives concerning
them is confined mainly to their matrimonial alliances.
To them, marriage represented nothing more than a contract&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;wives of Francis I.; lacking the power to act
politically, both passed uneventful and virtuous lives in comparative obscurity.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34"></a>[pg 34]</span>
The wife of Charles IX.&mdash;Elizabeth of Austria, daughter
of Maximilian II.&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Louise de Vaudemont, wife of Henry III, was a French
woman by birth and blood. After the death of the Princess
of Condé, whom he passionately loved and desired to
marry, Henry conceived an intense affection for Louise,
daughter of Nicholas of Lorraine, Count of Vaudemont&mdash;a
young lady of education and culture&mdash;"a character of exquisite
sweetness lends distinction to her beauty and her
piety; her thorough Christian modesty and humility are
reflected in her countenance." Brantôme 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,&mdash;was never found loosened
or undone,&mdash;even though the king liked and sometimes
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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. "<i>Billets
doux</i> were written in blood and ferocity reigned even in pleasure."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span>
was, with her, an enduring sorrow; even that, however,
did not alter her calmness and benign resignation.</p>

<p>Louise de Vaudemont was indeed a bright star in a
heaven of darkness&mdash;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&mdash;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&mdash;an ideal queen and woman.</p>

<p>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 Vendôme, 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&mdash;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&mdash;Coligny,
La Rochefoucauld, Rohan, La Noue&mdash;submitted their plans of campaign to her."</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;the
future Henry IV.&mdash;among the children of the people,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span>
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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>The political and religious troubles of Jeanne d'Albret
began when Pope Paul IV. invested Philip II. of Spain
with the sovereignty of Navarre&mdash;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 Condé she
remained the champion of the Huguenots, defying her
enemies and scorning the court of France.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span>
her beauty, intelligence, and strength of mind; thus, her
arrival at Paris created a sensation.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;that, probably, being
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span>
but the first act toward the awful catastrophe she was planning.</p>

<p>"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&mdash;above all&mdash;he have her brought
up in Béarn, 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'Aubigné wrote of her: "A princess with nothing of a
woman but sex&mdash;with a soul full of everything manly,
a mind fit to cope with affairs of moment, and a heart invincible in adversity."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span>
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.</p>

<p>Peace and quiet never appeared upon the countenance
of Catherine de' Medici&mdash;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&mdash;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&mdash;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&mdash;is
it not the symbol and living image of its time?"</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span>
upon the last quality, overlooking her principal rôle&mdash;that of social leader.</p>

<p>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 Clèves. 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.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span>
Henry III., when he escaped to his own Béarn people;
for this, Marguerite was held responsible and kept under guard.</p>

<p>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'Estrées,
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>When her husband became King of France, he refused
to liberate her until she should renounce her rank; to this
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span>
condition she refused to accede until after the death of
her rival, the mistress of Henry&mdash;Gabrielle d'Estrées,
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.</p>

<p>When, after nearly twenty years of captivity, Marguerite
returned to Paris (1605), she gained the favor of
everybody&mdash;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&mdash;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&mdash;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."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" id="page44"></a>[pg 44]</span>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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 fêtes, 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span>
her friends the most brilliant repartees. She received
people of distinction without ceremony.</p>

<p>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&mdash;well organized according to modern etiquette&mdash;where
the highest aristocracy, men of letters, magistrates,
artists, and men of genius met on equal terms and in
familiar and social intercourse; Montaigne, Brantôme, 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, <i>par excellence</i>, 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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Religion, which in the sixteenth century was so badly
understood, and practised even worse&mdash;obscured and
falsified by fanaticism, disfigured and exaggerated by passion
and hatred&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span>
'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.</p>

<p>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'Angoulême, 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:</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"Such boon is mine&mdash;to feel the amity</p>
<p>That God hath putten in our trinity</p>
<p>Wherein to make a third, I, all unfitted</p>
<p>To be that number's shadow, am admitted."</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>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."
Brantôme 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span>
greatness, loving and conversing with the most learned
folks of her brother's kingdom, who honored her so greatly
that they called her their Mæcenas." Tenderness, particularly
for her brother, seemed to develop in her as a passion.</p>

<p>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'Angoulême
stood at the head of the movement.</p>

<p>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&mdash;poets, artists, scholars&mdash;who
soon gathered about the French court received
immediate recognition from the king's sister, who had
studied all languages, was gay, brilliant, and æsthetic.
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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49"></a>[pg 49]</span>
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.</p>

<p>In Marguerite d'Angoulême 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.</p>

<p>Various are the names by which she is known: daughter
of Charles of Orléans, Count of Angoulême, Duchesse
d'Alençon through her first marriage, and Queen of Navarre
through her second, she was called Marguerite d'Angoulême,
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.</p>

<p>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 Alençon; 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id="page50"></a>[pg 50]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 fêted 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span>
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&mdash;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,&mdash;father, brother, husband,&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52"></a>[pg 52]</span>
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&mdash;Francis I. was saved.</p>

<p>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'Alençon." 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. Brantôme 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."</p>

<p>Although she failed in her attempts to free the king,
she succeeded, by arranging the marriage, in completely
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span>
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.</p>

<p>All historians agree that Marguerite d'Angoulême 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&mdash;in short,&mdash;in humanity; in her is not found the
chaotic vagueness which so often breaks out in license and
licentiousness, cruelty, and barbarism."</p>

<p>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:</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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, <i>Miroir de l'âme pécheresse</i>,
in which she failed to mention purgatory or the saints,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Marguerite d'Angoulême 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 Sévigné. In
all her letters we find the same tenderness, gentleness,
passion, inexhaustible emotion, sympathy, and compassion
that distinguished her actions.</p>

<p>In her <i>Contes</i> (the <i>Heptameron</i>) <i>de la Reine de Navarre</i>
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:</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span>
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&mdash;whether goodness, beauty or
kindness&mdash;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&mdash;the
most beautiful that his eye can see&mdash;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.'"</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span>
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&mdash;examples
of which are found so frequently in the writings of Luther&mdash;were very common.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>She expressed the most modern ideas on the rights of
woman, particularly on her relative rights in the married state:</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span>
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."</p>

<p>Désiré Nisard says that Marguerite d'Angoulême 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&mdash;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 Sévigné) can equal them in precision,
purity of language, sincerity and frankness of expression,
passion and religious fervor.</p>

<p>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&mdash;all have frequently been misinterpreted.</p>

<p>The greatest poets and men of letters of the sixteenth
century were encouraged financially and morally or protected
by Marguerite d'Angoulême&mdash;Rabelais, Marot, Pelletier,
Bonaventure-Desperiers, Mellin de Saint-Gelais,
Lefèvre d'Etaples, Amyot, Calvin, Berquin. Charles de
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;too great eagerness
to absorb and digest and appropriate all that was unfolded
before her. She imitated the <i>Decameron</i> and drew
up for herself a <i>Heptameron</i>; her poetry showed much skill
and great ease, but little originality. Her extreme facility,
her wonderfully active mind, her power of <i>causerie</i>, 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'Angoulême.</p>

<p>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&mdash;a form
of versatility which included exceptional tact and enabled
the possessor to appreciate and sympathize with all forms
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span>
of activity, to deal with all classes, to manage and be managed in turn.</p>

<p>The writings of Marguerite are quite numerous, consisting
of six moralities or comedies, a farce, epistles, elegies,
philosophical poems, and the <i>Heptameron</i>, her principal
work&mdash;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 <i>fabliaux</i>, of Rabelais,
and of the delicate preciosity of the seventeenth
century. Love is the principal theme discussed&mdash;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&mdash;always tending to virtue.</p>

<p>Thoroughly to appreciate Marguerite d'Angoulême'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.</p>

<p>Of the other literary women of the sixteenth century,
mention may be made of two who have left little or no
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span>
work of importance, but who are interesting on account of
the peculiar form of their activity.</p>

<p>Mlle. de Gournay, <i>fille d'alliance</i> 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<i>féministe</i>, she&mdash;like her sisters of to-day&mdash;cultivated cats.
The story runs as follows:</p>

<p>"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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span>
and said to Bois-Robert: 'We must do something for Mlle.
de Gournay. I give her two hundred écus 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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span>
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.</p>

<p>In Louise Labé&mdash;<i>La Belle Cordière</i>&mdash;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 Labé endeavored to do what Ronsard and the
Pléiade 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&mdash;<i>La Belle Cordière</i>.</p>

<p>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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span>
Such were the women of the sixteenth century; in no
epoch in French history have women played a greater
rôle; 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."</p>

<p>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 (Brantôme 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&mdash;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&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span>
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
<i>créateur par excellence</i>; and in this, woman's part was,
above all, political, her social, moral, and literary influence
being less marked.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span>





<h2>Chapter III</h2>

<h2>The Seventeenth Century: Woman at Her Best</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span>


<p>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.</p>

<p>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 rôle 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72"></a>[pg 72]</span>
of the nobility before, during and after the ministry of
Richelieu, must be studied.</p>

<p>The great houses of Carolingian origin were those of
Alençon, Bourgogne, Bourbon, Vendôme, 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, Créqui, 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>In the seventeenth century, woman's influence was
of a nature vastly superior to that exerted by her in the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span>
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 <i>savoir-vivre</i>
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 <i>honnête homme</i> of Louis XIV. and the
<i>homme du monde</i> of Louis XV. The seventeenth century
type of man is midway between that of the sixteenth and
eighteenth&mdash;more polished and less gross than the former,
yet lacking the knowledge and culture of the latter.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span>
of rank with no money or power and of power and money without rank.</p>

<p>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 fêtes, in society, at the table, became experts
in the affairs of the government&mdash;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.</p>

<p>French aristocracy really had no object, no <i>raison d'être</i>,
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span>
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.</p>

<p>The seventeenth was, <i>par excellence</i>, the century which
can boast of that incomparable society the cult of which was
the highest in all things&mdash;art, religion, philosophy, poetry,
politics, war, and beauty. From the convent of the Carmelites
to the Hôtel de Rambouillet, from the Place Royale
to the various châteaux 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 Guémené,
Mme. de Châtillon, Mme. de Longueville, Marie de Gonzague,
Henriette de la Vallière, Mme. de Montespan, Mme.
de Maintenon, without enumerating such great writers and
leaders of salons as Mme. de Rambouillet, Mlle. de Scudéry,
Mme. de Lambert, Mme. de Sévigné, 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.</p>

<p>The various movements of which woman was the head
may be divided into two periods, and each period into two
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span>
parts. The political women may well be grouped about
Marie de' Medici,&mdash;whose career will not be given separate
treatment, inasmuch as there was no drop of French blood
in her veins,&mdash;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&mdash;the
mistress&mdash;and Mme. de Maintenon&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;the
queen and Concini, her minister&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>After the king's death, Anne of Austria, as queen-regent,
with Mazarin, directed the destinies of France.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;Anne of Austria&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span>
English monarch himself, an invitation to remain; during
the time, she gave birth to a child.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 Châteauneuf. 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span>
rulers of England and Spain as well as the Duke of Lorraine
and others hostile to the cardinal.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Richelieu, anxious for the support of the Duke of Lorraine
in his war against Spain and Austria, needed the
coöperation 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 man&oelig;uvres 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.</p>

<p>Mme. de Chevreuse soon formed about her a circle of
émigrés&mdash;Marie de' Medici, Duc La Vallette, Soubèse,
La Vieuville, and many others. This coterie was in open
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 <i>Le Diable</i>. The queen-regent, however,
recalled her, and set at liberty her friend, Châteauneuf,
who had been imprisoned for ten years.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span>

<p>After securing the release of her friend Châteauneuf,
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 émigrés 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 Châteauneuf as
<i>Chancelier des ordres du roi</i> 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&mdash;the restoration to the Duke of Vendôme of the
government of Brittany and the placing of Châteauneuf
in the ministry&mdash;upon the success of which depended her own influence and power.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span>
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 Angoulême;
determining to escape, after many hardships, she successfully
reached Liège; from there, as head of all foreign intrigues
against France, she continued to thwart Mazarin's foreign policy.</p>

<p>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 <i>mariage de conscience</i>. 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 Orléans and the Prince of Condé,
would unite the best part of the nobility.</p>

<p>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 Orléans. The contracts were signed
and all was in readiness when Mazarin was exiled, and
the following Frondists came into power: the Duke of
Orléans at court, Condé and Turenne at the head of the
army, Châteauneuf in the Cabinet, Molé 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id="page85"></a>[pg 85]</span>
appreciate the fact that she was a greater force with than against him.</p>

<p>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, Châteauneuf, 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" id="page86"></a>[pg 86]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 reëstablished
herself in the affection, admiration, and respect of her associates.</p>

<p>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 <i>dame d'atours</i>, she was forced either to close her
eyes to all scenes between the cardinal and Anne or to
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 Hôtel 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;one of conquest and one of penitence and pious devotion.</p>

<p>Born in a prison at Vincennes during the captivity of her
father, the great Henry of Bourbon, Prince of Condé, she
in time developed remarkable personal charms. Her early
days were spent at the convent of the Carmelites and at
the Hôtel de Rambouillet, her mind&mdash;in these opposite
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id="page88"></a>[pg 88]</span>
worlds of religion and society&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Upon making her social début, she immediately became
one of the leaders about whom all the gallants gathered.
She formed a fast friendship with Mme. de Sablé, Mme. de
Rambouillet, Mme. de Bouteville, and Mlle. du Vigean.
Her beauty, which was quite phenomenal, soon became
the subject of poetry. Voltaire wrote:</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"De perles, d'astres et de fleurs,</p>
<p>Bourbon, le ciel fit tes couleurs,</p>
<p>Et mit dedans tout ce mélange</p>
<p class="i2">L'esprit d'un ange!</p>
<p>L'on jugerait par la blancheur</p>
<p>De Bourbon, et par sa fraicheur,</p>
<p>Qu'elle a prit naissance des lis."</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>[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.]</p>

<p>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 <i>précieuses</i>, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span>
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 Hôtel 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>The house of Condé 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&mdash;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 Condé would
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90"></a>[pg 90]</span>
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 hôtel 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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span>
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 Condé and Mme. de Longueville
with their friends; the result was the death of Coligny.
Mme. de Longueville was a true <i>précieuse</i> and hardly loved
Coligny, but allowed him and any other to serve and adore
her in a respectable way&mdash;a principle followed by the
better women of the age, such as Mme. de Rambouillet and Mme. de Sablé.</p>

<p>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 <i>esprit</i> 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."</p>

<p>After her twenty-fifth year, Mme. de Longueville became
more and more imbued with the general spirit of the
seventeenth century: coquetry and <i>bel esprit</i> 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 Condé 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span>
her withdrawal to Münster for one year; there she ruled
as queen of the Congress. On the death of her father,
the Prince of Condé, 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.</p>

<p>In the meantime, everything was being done by the
Importants to win over the house of Condé 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&mdash;that of
the Duc d'Enghien and the Prince de Conti, her brothers.</p>

<p>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&mdash;the tenderness for her brother.</p>

<p>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 Condé through the
action of Mme. de Longueville in passing with her husband
over to the party of the Importants, she being the first of
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 Orléans
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 Condé. The alliances, however,
were declared off, and Mme. de Chevreuse went over to
the cardinal and the queen; Condé's fall and Mazarin's
success followed, being the result, mainly, of the determination
of Mme. de Chevreuse to avenge herself upon
Condé for having consented to the breaking of the marriage contracts.</p>

<p>Mme. de Longueville did all in her power to continue the
conflict that Condé 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.</p>

<p>"Her politics," says Sainte-Beuve, "considered in the
<i>ensemble</i>, are nothing more than a desire to please, to
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span>
shine&mdash;a capricious love. Her character lacked consistency
and self-will, her mind was keen, ready, subtle, ingenious, but not reasonable."</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97"></a>[pg 97]</span>




<h2>Chapter IV</h2>

<h2>Woman in Society and Literature</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span>


<p>At the beginning of the seventeenth century, after the
death of Henry IV., there were three classes in France,&mdash;the
nobility, clergy, and third estate,&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 coördination 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 <i>précieuses</i> and the movement that of <i>préciosité</i>.</p>

<p>The extent to which the <i>précieuses</i> 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span>
Corneille, etc., were studied and their poetic licenses introduced
into spoken language. These follies, pictured by
Molière, naturally afforded much amusement in cultured
circles where every event of the day was discussed, from
the vital affairs of the government to the æsthetic interests
of art and literature.</p>

<p>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
Molière, Pascal, Boileau; the other, light, affected, gallant,
superficial, was composed of the innumerable unimportant writers of the day.</p>

<p>The salon movement must not be confounded with two
other social movements or forces&mdash;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 Brégis, 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 <i>décolleté</i>,
filled his mouth with wine and squirted the liquid into
the bosom of the unfortunate girl; the Prince of Condé,
indulging in customary brutishness, ate dung and had the
ladies follow his example; these are fair illustrations of
social <i>elegances</i>.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span>
she adored, and be agreeable to her friends. Her amusements
were most original&mdash;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&mdash;am I all swollen&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span>
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
<i>honnête homme</i> 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.</p>

<p>The woman who inaugurated the movement toward
purity of morals, decency of language, polish of manners,
and courtesy to woman, was Mme. de Rambouillet. Cathérine
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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" id="page104"></a>[pg 104]</span>
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.</p>

<p>The highest ambition of the <i>habitué</i> 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 Scudéry, in her
novel <i>Cyrus</i>, leaves a fine portrait of her:</p>

<p>"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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span>
and purity. The intellect of Cléomire (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 <i>belles connaissances</i> 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 <i>la bienséance</i>
(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 Cléomire
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 Phénicie 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&mdash;who has not been charmed likewise by
her beauty, <i>esprit</i>, sweetness, and generosity."</p>

<p>Mlle. de Scudéry describes the salon of Mme. de Rambouillet in the following:</p>

<p>"Cléomire (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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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 Scudéry, Mlle. du Vigean;
Mmes. de Longueville, de la Vergne, de La Fayette, de
Sablé, de Hautefort, de Sévigné, de la Suze, Marie de Gonzague,
Duchesse d'Aiguillon, Mmes. des Houlières, Cornuel,
Aubry, and their respective husbands; the great
literary men: Rotrou, Scarron, Saint-Evremond, Malherbe,
Racan, Chapelain, Voiture, Conrart, Benserade, Pellisson,
Segrais, Vaugelas, Ménage, Tallemant des Réaux, 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.</p>

<p>Julie, Duchess of Montausier, and Angélique, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span>
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 <i>guirlande</i>
which was illustrated by Robert and to which nineteen
authors contributed. After her marriage to the duke, the
Hôtel 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.</p>

<p>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 <i>préciosité</i>&mdash;the direction
and aim she gave to it being gradually abandoned.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108"></a>[pg 108]</span>
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&mdash;sometimes as a nymph, sometimes as a goddess.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>When about to build the Hôtel 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 hôtel 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 Hôtel de Rambouillet.</p>

<p>Legouvé 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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span>
the profound and deep-seated grossness of Versailles and Marly."</p>

<p>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'Angoulême had
begun in the first part of the sixteenth&mdash;an intellectual,
social, and moral reform.</p>

<p>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 abbés, and
some of them, such as Du Buisson and Testu, became famous.</p>

<p>Among the most noted of these salons was that of the
celebrated beauty, Ninon de Lenclos, she who called
the <i>précieuses</i> 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 hôtel that Molière first read his <i>Tartuffe</i> before
Condé, La Fontaine, Boileau, Lulli, Racine, and Chapelle,
and it was there that he received the principal ideas for his drama.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span>
arrival of the first, a heated discussion arose between
Count d'Estrées and Abbé 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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Among her friends she counted the greatest men and
women of the day and her salon was the foyer of <i>savoir-vivre</i>,
of letters and art. At the age of sixty she met the
Great Condé, 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: <i>Elle eut
l'estime de Lenclos</i> [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 <i>La mère
spirituelle de Voltaire</i> [the spiritual mother of Voltaire].</p>

<p>The generality of women had their lovers; even the
famous Mlle. de Scudéry, in spite of her homeliness&mdash;she
was a dark, large-boned, and lean sort of old maid&mdash;had
admirers galore; among the latter was Pellisson who was
said to be so ugly "that he really abused the privilege&mdash;which
man enjoys&mdash;of being homely."</p>

<p>The hôtel of the famous poet Scarron&mdash;Hôtel de l'Impécuniosité&mdash;received
almost all the frequenters of Ninon's
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span>
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 <i>broutilles rabelaisiennes</i>
[Rabelaisian tidbits].</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>The most famous of the men's salons was the Temple,
constructed in 1667 by Jacques de Souvré and conducted
from 1681 to 1720 by Phillipe de Vendôme and his intendant,
Abbé de Chaulieu. These reunions, especially under
the latter, were veritable midnight <i>convivia</i>; 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.</p>

<p>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
<i>préciosité</i>. Of these the salon of Mlle. de Scudéry
has been called the salon of the <i>bourgeoisie</i>, because the
majority of its frequenters belonged to the third estate,
which was rapidly acquiring power and influence.</p>

<p>Mlle. de Scudéry, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>An interesting anecdote is told in connection with the
travels and coöperation of Mlle. de Scudéry 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, <i>L'Auberge ou
les Brigands sans le Savoir</i>.</p>

<p>At the Hôtel de Rambouillet where Mlle. de Scudéry
was received early, she won everyone by her modesty,
simplicity, <i>esprit</i>, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span>
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 Condé and Madame de Longueville;
to them she dedicated the ten volumes, successively,
of her novel, <i>Cyrus</i>; the last volume was published after
Mme. de Longueville's retirement and partial disgrace.</p>

<p>After the brilliant society of the Hôtel 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 Scudéry became independent and established
the custom of receiving her friends on Saturday; these
receptions became famous under the name of <i>Samedi</i>, 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 Scudéry 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.</p>

<p>Mlle. de Scudéry, 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&mdash;a pure, platonic
love, in which her lover must be her all, her confidant,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span>
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:</p>

<p>"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 Scudéry)&mdash;who desired it thus&mdash;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."</p>

<p>Mlle. de Scudéry 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 <i>savante</i>, and she was far from resembling
the false <i>précieuses</i> to whom she was likened by her
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span>
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:</p>

<p>"What they did in the salon of Mlle. de Scudéry 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, <i>loteries d'esprit</i>, sonnet-enigmas, <i>bouts-rimés</i>
(rhymes given to be formed into verse), <i>vers-échos</i>, 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&mdash;they rather made it; in
art and literature as in toilets, smallness follows the fashion,
pretension exaggerates it, taste makes a compact with it."</p>

<p>A specimen of the <i>énigme-sonnets</i> may be of interest, to
show in what intellectual playfulness and trivialities these wits indulged:</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"Souvent, quoique léger, je lasse qui me porte.</p>
<p>Un mot de ma façon vaut un ample discours.</p>
<p>J'ai sous Louis le Grand commencé d'avoir cours,</p>
<p>Mince, long, plat, étroit, d'une étoffe peu forte.</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Les doigts les moins savants me taillent de la sorte;</p>
<p>Sous mille noms divers je parais tous les jours;</p>
<p>Aux valets étourdis je suis d'un grand secours.</p>
<p>Le Louvre ne voit point ma figure à sa porte.</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Une grossière main vient la plupart du temps</p>
<p>Me prendre de la main des plus honnêtes gens.</p>
<p>Civil, officieux, je suis né pour la ville.</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Dans le plus rude hiver j'ai le dos toujours nu:</p>
<p>Et, quoique fort commode, à peine m'a-t-on vu,</p>
<p>Qu'ausitôt négligé, je deviens inutile."</p>
  </div>  </div>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span>

<p>[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,&mdash;slight,
long, flat, narrow, of a very slight material.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>A coarse hand most of the time receives me from the
hand of the nicest people. Civil, officious, I am born for the city.</p>

<p>In the coldest weather, my back is always bare; and,
although quite convenient, scarcely have they seen me,
when I am neglected and useless.&mdash;Visiting card.]</p>

<p>A more interesting one and one that caused no little amusement is the following:</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"Je suis niais et fin, honnête et malhonnête,</p>
<p>Moins sincère à la cour qu'en un simple taudis.</p>
<p>Je fais d'un air plaisant trembler les plus hardis,</p>
<p>Le fort me laisse aller, le sage m'arrête.</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"A personne sans moi l'on ne fait jamais fête:</p>
<p>J'embellis quelquefois, quelquefois, j'enlaidis.</p>
<p>Je dédaigne tantôt, tantôt j'applaudis;</p>
<p>Pour m'avoir en partage, il faut n'être pas bête.</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Plus mon trône est petit, plus il a de beauté.</p>
<p>Je l'agrandis pourtant d'un et d'autre côté,</p>
<p>Faisant voir bien souvent des défauts dont on jase.</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Je quitte mon éclat quand je suis sans témoins,</p>
<p>Et je me puis vanter enfin d'être la chose</p>
<p>Qui contente le plus et qui coûte le moins."</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>[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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span>

<p>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.</p>

<p>The smaller my throne, the greater my beauty; I enlarge
it, however, on both sides, often showing defects which are made sport of.</p>

<p>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.&mdash;A smile.]</p>

<p>Critics often reproach Mlle. de Scudéry for having portrayed
herself&mdash;as Sapho&mdash;in a flattering light in her novel
<i>Cyrus</i>; 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 Scudéry in the following:</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118"></a>[pg 118]</span>
<i>savante</i> 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 <i>femme savante</i>. The best women of the world when
they are together in a large number rarely say anything
that is worth anything and are more ennuyé 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."</p>

<p>Mlle. de Scudéry 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 <i>savoir-vivre</i>, 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 élite, and its adherents are scattered through every
age and every country. Mlle. de Scudéry was a perfect
representative of that type, but healthy and normal rather
than morbidly æsthetic.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span>
of the Hôtel de Condé, Mme. de Sablé, and Mlle. de Luxembourg,
so the type of the salon of Mlle. de Scudéry gave
rise to a number of literary salons among the <i>bourgeoisie</i>.
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.</p>

<p>As a writer, Mlle. de Scudéry 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.</p>

<p>With Mlle. de Scudéry "we have substance, real character
painting, true psychological penetration, and realism
in observation," while previously the novel, under such
men as Gomberville and La Calprenède, 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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Charming as well as accomplished, Mlle. de Scudéry
was as intelligent, witty, and intellectual a woman as
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span>
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.</p>

<p>The influence of the seventeenth century salon was of
a threefold nature&mdash;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.</p>

<p><i>Préciosité</i> 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span>
process of expurgating, refining, drilling, and disciplining.
If <i>préciosité</i> influenced politics, it was by developing diplomacy,
for, from the time that this spirit began to spread,
French diplomacy became world-renowned.</p>

<p>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
<i>précieuses</i>, on the contrary, exacted respect, honor, and a
place beside man, as rights that belonged to them.</p>

<p>As the outcome of their desire to think, feel, and act
with greater delicacy, women introduced propriety in expression,
finesse in analysis, keenness of <i>esprit</i>, 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, <i>préciosité</i> 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.</p>

<p>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, <i>esprit</i>, 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).</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span>

<p>The purpose of the French Academy itself was not different
from that of the <i>précieuses</i>. 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
<i>préciosité</i> 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 Hôtel 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&mdash;a mode of living that gave rise to a new
standard of politeness, which was freer and looser than
that of <i>préciosité</i>.</p>

<p>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&mdash;Mme. de Montespan replaced Mlle. de La Vallière,
and she was in turn replaced by Mme. de Maintenon.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span>
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.</p>

<p>In the beginning of the eighteenth century, with Mme.
de Lambert as its leader, there was a renascence of the
<i>préciosité</i> of the Hôtel 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.</p>

<p>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. Brunetière 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. Brunetière 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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id="page124"></a>[pg 124]</span>

<p>After the death of Louis XIV., society passed under the
rule of the regent, the Duke of Orléans&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>At first she lived in the Hôtel de Lambert (in the
Ile Saint-Louis), renowned for its splendidly sculptured
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125"></a>[pg 125]</span>
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 élite of all classes were entertained until
the death of her husband (1686), when the hôtel was
closed; it was not reopened until 1710.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>One remarkable characteristic of her company was the
age of her intimate associates&mdash;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 Hôtel de Rambouillet.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126"></a>[pg 126]</span>
there. Fontenelle says: "It was, with very few exceptions,
the only house which had been preserved from the
epidemic of gambling&mdash;the only house where persons congregated
simply for the sake of talking sensibly and with
<i>esprit</i>. 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.</p>

<p>During this time she found leisure to write two treatises
of practical morality, <i>Avis d'une mère à son fils</i>, and <i>Avis
d'une mère à sa fille</i>, 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.</p>

<p>"Above all these duties&mdash;civil and human (says the
mother to her son)&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127"></a>[pg 127]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;"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."</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"Try to find resources within yourself&mdash;this is a revenue
of certain pleasures. Do not believe that your only
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" id="page128"></a>[pg 128]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;"It is not always faults that undo
us; it is the manner of conducting ourselves after having committed them."</p>

<p>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
Molière, 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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129"></a>[pg 129]</span>
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.</p>

<p>Mme. de Lambert has, possibly, exercised more influence
upon men&mdash;and especially upon the Forty Immortals
of her time&mdash;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."</p>

<p>Her salon was called a <i>bureau d'esprit</i>, 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&mdash;Fontenelle frequented
several, Hénault became the leader of that of Mme. du Deffand.</p>

<p>The finest résumé 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 <i>préciosité</i> 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!"</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" id="page130"></a>[pg 130]</span>

<p>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 <i>esprit</i> and wit
were the essentials demanded. It retained the dignity,
discipline, refinement, and sentiments of morality of the
Hôtel de Rambouillet; it showed, also, the first signs of
pure intellectuality. The salons to follow, will exhibit
decidedly different characteristics.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131"></a>[pg 131]</span>




<h2>Chapter V</h2>

<h2>Mistresses and Wives of Louis XIV</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133"></a>[pg 133]</span>


<p>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.</p>

<p>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'Aubigné: "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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span>
for the pleasures and intoxications of youth. I find, in
looking back at my life, that since the age of twenty-two&mdash;which
was the beginning of my fortune&mdash;I have not
had a moment free from sufferings which have constantly increased."</p>

<p>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&mdash;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"&mdash;a true
picture of every mistress.</p>

<p>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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id="page135"></a>[pg 135]</span>
When, during a terrible storm, the remains of the glorious
Mme. de Pompadour were being taken to Paris, the king,
seeing the funeral cortége from his window, remarked:
"The Marquise will not have fine weather for her journey."</p>

<p>Each one of these powerful mistresses represents a
complete epoch of society, morals, and customs. Mme.
de Montespan&mdash;that woman whose very look meant fortune
or disfavor&mdash;with all her wit and wealth, her magnificence
and pomp and superb beauty&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>In this period the queens of France were of little importance,
being too timid and modest to assert their rights&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 tête-à-tête
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."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span>

<p>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&mdash;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 Condé proposed the marriage of his son to
the king's daughter by Mlle. de La Vallière.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;qualities which might
have been turned to the advantage of their owners and
the state, had the former been more self-assertive.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id="page138"></a>[pg 138]</span>
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.</p>

<p>First among the mistresses of Louis XIV. was Mlle. de
La Vallière, 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.</p>

<p>Mlle. de La Vallière 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."</p>

<p>Guizot describes this period most vividly: "When
Mme. de Montespan began to supplant her in the king's
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span>
favor, the grief of Mlle. de La Vallière 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 Sévigné; "some say
that she will remain at Versailles and at court, others that
she will return to Chaillot; we shall see."</p>

<p>Mlle. de La Vallière 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 Vallière 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id="page140"></a>[pg 140]</span>
hopes that God will prevail; the uprightness of her heart
will carry everything before it."</p>

<p>"When I am in trouble at the Carmelites'," said Mlle.
de La Vallière, 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&mdash;there is enough of it all, to disgust us."</p>

<p>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 Vallière entirely abandoned him for God,
he forgot her absolutely, never going to the convent to see her.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id="page141"></a>[pg 141]</span>
her heart, her mental powers attained their complete development."</p>

<p>The fate of Mlle. de La Vallière 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.</p>

<p>Of an entirely different type from Mlle. de La Vallière
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&mdash;that
was Mme. de Montespan." And these qualities
were the secret of her success as well as of her fall.</p>

<p>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 fêtes, 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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142"></a>[pg 142]</span>

<p>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 château 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 <i>Souvenirs</i>,
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."</p>

<p>She was known first as Mlle. Tonnay-Charente, and
was maid of honor to the Duchess of Orléans. 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,&mdash;afterward Mme. de Maintenon,&mdash;who later
influenced the king to abandon his mistress.</p>

<p>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 <i>maîtresse-en-titre</i>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143"></a>[pg 143]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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&mdash;as to you&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span>
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 Soubèse 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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>While at the convent, she tried, in vain, to effect a
reconciliation with her husband; not until every avenue
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id="page145"></a>[pg 145]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>It would seem that the more the history of Mme. de
Maintenon is studied, the more one is led away from a
first impression&mdash;which usually proves to be an erroneous
one. Thus, M. Lavallée, in his first work, <i>Histoire des
Français</i>, 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 <i>Histoire de la maison royale
de Saint-Cyr</i>: "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."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span>

<p>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, Fénelon, wrote to her:</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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 Orléans, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span>
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.&mdash;an alliance of which
his mother had a horror.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>Mme. de Maintenon was born in prison. Her maiden
name was Françoise d'Aubigné. She was the granddaughter
of Agrippa d'Aubigné, the historian. Her father
had planned to settle in the Carolinas, and his correspondence
with the English government, to that effect, was
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148"></a>[pg 148]</span>
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 Françoise back to Catholicism.</p>

<p>At the home of the Countess of Neuillant, she often met
Scarron, the comic poet&mdash;a paralytic and cripple&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id="page149"></a>[pg 149]</span>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" id="page150"></a>[pg 150]</span>
approbation of honest persons&mdash;such is the direction of
all her efforts. Well dressed, though very simply; discreet
and modest, intelligent and <i>distingué</i>, 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&mdash;what is much rarer&mdash;knowing
how to listen; taking an interest in the joys and sorrows
of her friends, and skilful in amusing and consoling them&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" id="page151"></a>[pg 151]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;religion, art, literature.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" id="page152"></a>[pg 152]</span>
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&mdash;showing
him those qualities he desired to see.</p>

<p>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 man&oelig;uvring, by simply being
herself, she replaced the haughty and beautiful Mme. de Montespan.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"To sum up: the king's sentiment for her was of the
most complex nature. There was in it a mingling of
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153"></a>[pg 153]</span>
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&mdash;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."</p>

<p>It must not be inferred, however, that the feeling for
Mme. de Maintenon was purely ideal. "He was unwilling
to remarry," says the Abbé 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."</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154"></a>[pg 154]</span>

<p>At court, she opposed all foolish extravagance, such as
the endless fêtes and amusements of all kinds which had
become so popular under Mme. de Montespan&mdash;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&mdash;if not the
love&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;mistresses and intriguers,
bishops and priests, courtesans and valets, princes
and members of the royal family,&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id="page155"></a>[pg 155]</span>
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
<i>amours propres</i> 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.</p>

<p>"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&mdash;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:</p>

<p>"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&mdash;not
merely in words but in deeds as well&mdash;detesting war and
loving justice and peace, always moderate and irreproachable
in her conduct&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" id="page156"></a>[pg 156]</span>
her rôle: '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.'"</p>

<p>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&mdash;hence the
almost complete absence of her influence in politics.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>Her most intense desire seemed to be to please, and be
esteemed&mdash;to receive the <i>honneur du monde</i>, which appeared
to be her sole motive for living. When in power, she
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id="page157"></a>[pg 157]</span>
did not use her influence as the intriguing women of the
epoch would have done, because she did not possess
their qualities&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>The greatest work of Mme. de Maintenon was the
founding of the Seminary of Saint-Cyr, which the king
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" id="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id="page159"></a>[pg 159]</span>
you would not have accepted, with such good grace, the
counsels that I have given you? This is absolutely certain&mdash;the
most beautiful things when taught by persons
who displease us, do not impress but rather harden us."</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160"></a>[pg 160]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;a period which was followed by
sorrow and disaster. The novels of Mlle. de Scudéry,
which were at the height of their popularity, had over-refined
the sentiments; the <i>chevaleresque</i> 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&mdash;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&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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
<i>Esther</i> (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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" id="page161"></a>[pg 161]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>But Mme. de Maintenon was somewhat too severe, too
narrow, too strict,&mdash;one might say, too ascetic,&mdash;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 <i>don des larmes</i> (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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span>
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&mdash;a teaching which contributed no little to the general
purification of morals at court.</p>

<p>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 Sévigné,
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 Sévigné. 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&mdash;such are the characteristics
of a correspondence which might justify the expression, the style is the woman."</p>

<p>He gives, also, the following discriminating comparison
between the two writers: "Enjoyment, Gallic animation,
good-tempered gayety, fall to the lot of Mme. de Sévigné;
what marks Mme. de Maintenon is experience, reason,
profundity. The one laughs from ear to ear&mdash;the other
barely smiles. The one has pleasant illusions about everything,
admiration which borders on <i>naïveté</i>, 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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" id="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span>
and her conclusions bear the imprint of a profound sadness.
At times Mme. de Sévigné, also, has attacks of
melancholy, but the cloud passes quickly and she is again
in the sunshine. Gayety&mdash;frank, communicative, radiant
gayety&mdash;is the basis of the character of this woman
who is more witty, seductive, and amusing than is any
other. Mme. de Sévigné shines by imagination&mdash;Mme.
de Maintenon by judgment. The one permits herself to
be dazzled, intoxicated&mdash;the other always preserves her
indifference. The one exaggerates the splendors of the
court&mdash;the other sees them as they are. The one is more
of a woman&mdash;the other more of a saint."</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;qualities that made her powerful and incomparable.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" id="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span>




<h2>Chapter VI</h2>

<h2>Mme. de Sévigné, Mme. de La Fayette, Mme. Dacier, Mme. de Caylus</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span>


<p>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.</p>

<p>It is not within the limits of reason to expect women
to rival, in literature, the great writers such as Corneille,
Racine, Molière, Bossuet, La Fontaine, Descartes, Pascal&mdash;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&mdash;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 Sévigné wears the
laurel wreath; Mme. de La Fayette, with Mlle. de Scudéry,
is the representative of the novel; Mme. Dacier
was the great advocate of the more liberal education of
women; and the <i>Souvenirs</i> of Mme. de Caylus made that authoress immortal.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page168" id="page168"></a>[pg 168]</span>

<p>The association of La Rochefoucauld, the Cardinal de
Retz, the Chevalier de Meré, Mme. de La Fayette, and
Mme. de Sévigné, was responsible for almost everything
elevating and of interest produced in the seventeenth century.
Of that highly intellectual circle, Mme. de Sévigné
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.</p>

<p>Mme. de Sévigné 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 Hôtel de Rambouillet to the beginning
of the seventeenth century. She represented the style,
<i>esprit</i>, elegance, and <i>goût</i> of this greatest of French cultural
periods. Her life may be considered as having had
two distinct phases&mdash;one connected with an unhappy marriage
and the other the period of a restless widowhood.</p>

<p>Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marchioness of Sévigné, 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 Ménage and Chapelain
(court favorites), from whom she early imbibed a genuine
taste for solid reading; from these instructors she learned
Spanish, Italian, and Latin.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" id="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span>

<p>In 1644, she was married to the Marquis Henri de
Sévigné, 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 Abbé 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.</p>

<p>Mme. de Sévigné was but nineteen years old when,
after the marriage of Julie d'Angennes, the frequenters of
the Hôtel 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.&mdash;Mmes. de
Hautefort, de Sablé, de Longueville, de Chevreuse, etc.&mdash;were
exceedingly talented talkers, they were poor writers:
but in Mme. de Sévigné, Mme. de La Fayette, and Mlle. de
Scudéry both arts were developed to the highest degree.</p>

<p>Mme. de Sévigné was on the best terms with every
great writer of her time&mdash;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&mdash;suitors who frequently became
her tormentors. Ménage, her teacher, who threatened to
leave her never to see her again, was brought back to her
by kind words, such as: "Farewell, friend&mdash;of all my
friends the best." The Abbé 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:</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page170" id="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"Si l'amour est un doux servage,</p>
<p>Si l'on ne peut trop estimer</p>
<p>Les plaisirs ou l'amour engage,</p>
<p>Qu'on est sot de ne pas aimer!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Mais si l'on se sent enflammer</p>
<p>D'un feu dont l'ardeur est extrême,</p>
<p>Et qu'on n'ose pas l'exprimer,</p>
<p>Qu'on est sot alors que l'on aime!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Si dans la fleur de son bel âge,</p>
<p>Une qui pourrait tout charmer,</p>
<p>Vous donne son c&oelig;ur en partage,</p>
<p>Qu'on est sot de ne point aimer!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Mais s'il faut toujours s'alarmer,</p>
<p>Craindre, rougir, devenir blême,</p>
<p>Aussitôt qu'on s'entend nommer,</p>
<p>Qu'on est sot alors que l'on aime!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Pour complaire au plus beau visage</p>
<p>Qu'amour puisse jamais former,</p>
<p>S'il ne faut rien qu'un doux langage,</p>
<p>Qu'on est sot de ne pas aimer!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>"Mais quand on se voit consumer.</p>
<p>Si la belle est toujours de même,</p>
<p>Sans que rien la puisse animer,</p>
<p>Qu'on est sot alors que l'on aime!</p>
  </div>  </div>

<center>"L'ENVOI.</center>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"En amour si rien n'est amer,</p>
<p>Qu'on est sot de ne pas aimer!</p>
<p>Si tout l'est au degré suprême,</p>
<p>Qu'on est sot alors que l'on aime!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>[If love is a sweet bondage,</p>
<p>If we cannot esteem too much</p>
<p>The pleasures in which love engages,</p>
<p>How foolish one is not to love!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>But if we feel ourselves inflamed</p>
<p>With a passion whose ardor is extreme,</p>
<p>And which we dare not express,</p>
<p>How foolish we are, then, to love!</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>If in the flower of her youth</p>
<p>There is one who could charm all.</p>
<p>And offers you her heart to share,</p>
<p>How very foolish not to love!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>But if we must always be full of alarm&mdash;</p>
<p>Fear, blush and become pallid,</p>
<p>As soon as our name is spoken,</p>
<p>How foolish to love!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>If to please the most beautiful countenance</p>
<p>That love can ever form,</p>
<p>Only a mellow language is necessary,</p>
<p>How foolish not to love!</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>But if we see ourselves wasting away,</p>
<p>If the belle is always the same</p>
<p>And cannot be animated,</p>
<p>How very foolish to love!</p>
  </div>  </div>

<center>ENVOY.</center>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>If in love, nothing is bitter,</p>
<p>How dreadfully foolish not to love!</p>
<p>If everything is so to the highest degree,</p>
<p>How awfully foolish to love!]</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>Tréville went so far as to say that the figure of Mme.
de Sévigné 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 habitués who were leaders of society.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" id="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span>
enjoyed because of his close relationship to Mme. de Sévigné.
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?"</p>

<p>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, <i>par excellence</i>,
in the salon of Mlle. de Luxembourg: "Know,
madame,&mdash;if by chance you do not already know it,&mdash;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&mdash;which is in
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" id="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span>
all your actions&mdash;the simplest compliments of seemliness
appear, in your mouth, as protestations of friendship."</p>

<p>The originality which gained Mme. de Sévigné 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&mdash;everything that eternally revives interest."</p>

<p>The interest of the modern world in this remarkable
woman is centred mainly in her letters. Guizot says:
"Mme. de Sévigné 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)&mdash;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 Sévigné'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&mdash;it is
not a letter, it is an animated and charming conversation,
touching upon everything, embellishing everything with an inimitable grace."</p>

<p>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 Sévigné'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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" id="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span>
despair. The Rhone causes me strange alarm. I have a
map before my eyes&mdash;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&mdash;perhaps the third will
come; that is the only comfort I desire; as for others, I seek none."</p>

<p>The letters of Mme. de Sévigné 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&mdash;these counsels have been and still are, according
to French opinion, the basis of French character:
and Mme. de Sévigné's own popularity and success attest their wisdom.</p>

<p>She had not the gift of seeing things vividly and reproducing
them in living form; her talent was a rarer one&mdash;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?</p>

<p>"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?
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" id="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span>
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."</p>

<p>Mme. de Sévigné 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.</p>

<p>"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
<i>bourrée</i> 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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177"></a>[pg 177]</span>
are likely to find more beautiful than the green, if only it
were not for the changing part."</p>

<p>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"&mdash;two qualities which Mme.
de Sévigné 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 <i>saillie</i>; 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.</p>

<p>The literary style of Mme. de Sévigné 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&mdash;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&mdash;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."</p>

<p>Mme. de Sévigné 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id="page178"></a>[pg 178]</span>
goodness are so in evidence that there is about her a kind
of atmosphere of good humor."</p>

<p>M. du Bled most admirably sums up her character and
writings in the following: "She is the person who most
resembles her writings&mdash;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&mdash;morally and
physically&mdash;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&mdash;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&mdash;not enough, however, not to cry out that
Louis XIV. will obscure the glory of his predecessors because
he had just danced with her&mdash;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 <i>esprit</i>&mdash;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&mdash;natural <i>éclat</i>,
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&mdash;a sentiment very rare in the seventeenth century."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" id="page179"></a>[pg 179]</span>

<p>Mme. de Sévigné was endowed with the best qualities
of the French race&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"What calls far more for our admiration than for our
regret, is the spectacle of a brave woman facing death&mdash;of
which she had no doubt from the first days of her illness&mdash;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 Sévigné had a liking&mdash;not
to say a wonderful hunger."</p>

<p>In order to give an idea of the place that Mme. de
Sévigné holds in the opinion of the average Frenchman,
we quote the final words of M. Vallery-Radot:</p>

<p>"To take a place among the greatest writers, without
ever having written a book or even having thought of
writing one&mdash;this is what seems impossible, and yet this is
what happened to Mme. de Sévigné. Her contemporaries
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" id="page180"></a>[pg 180]</span>
knew her as a woman distinguished for her <i>esprit</i>, 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&mdash;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 <i>ennui</i> of absence, she wrote to her daughter
all that she had in her heart and that came to her mind&mdash;what
she did, wished to do, saw and learned, news of
court, city, Brittany, army, everything&mdash;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&mdash;it is enchantment.
Generations pass away in turn; a single one, or,
rather, a group escapes the general oblivion&mdash;the group of
friends of Mme. de Sévigné."</p>

<p>A woman with characteristics the very opposite of those
of Mme. de Sévigné, 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 Sévigné, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id="page181"></a>[pg 181]</span>
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.</p>

<p>After her marriage, she seemed to have but one interest&mdash;La
Rochefoucauld, just as that of Mme. de Maintenon
was Louis XIV. and that of Mme. de Sévigné&mdash;her
daughter. These three prominent women illustrate remarkably
well that predominant trait of French women&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Mme. de La Fayette, like Mme. de Sévigné, 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&mdash;an instinct
which was superior to her reason, and a love of truth in all things.</p>

<p>Compared with those of Mme. de Rambouillet, it is said
that her attainments were of a more solid nature; and
while Mlle. de Scudéry 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 rôle in French history
who were endowed with all things necessary to happiness&mdash;fortune,
reputation, talent, intimate and ideal friendship.
Extremely sensitive to surroundings, she readily received
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" id="page182"></a>[pg 182]</span>
impressions&mdash;a gift which was the source of a somewhat doubtful happiness.</p>

<p>In her later days, notwithstanding terrible suffering, she
became more devout and exhibited an admirable resignation.
A letter to Ménage 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&mdash;sad, inexpressible
feelings; I have no spirit, no force&mdash;I
cannot read or apply myself. The slightest things affect
me&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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 Sévigné 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 Sévigné:
"Never did we have the smallest cloud upon our friendship.
Long habit had not made her merit stale to me&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183"></a>[pg 183]</span>
assured, too, that I was her dearest consolation&mdash;which, for
forty years past, had been the case."</p>

<p>Shortly before her death, she wrote to Mme. de Sévigné:
"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&mdash;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&mdash;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&mdash;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&mdash;I take a book&mdash;I close it. Day
comes&mdash;I get up&mdash;I go to the window. It strikes four, five,
six&mdash;I go to bed again, I doze until seven, I get up at eight,
I sit down to table at twelve&mdash;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&mdash;rubbing my mouth with vinegar.
Otherwise, I am very well, and I haven't so much as a pain in my head."</p>

<p>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 Sévigné gives good reason for this in her letter:</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" id="page184"></a>[pg 184]</span>
prove that she had good reason for not going out and for
being melancholy. Her reins and her heart were all gone&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" id="page185"></a>[pg 185]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>Mme. de La Fayette exercised a great influence upon
La Rochefoucauld&mdash;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 <i>Maxims</i>), 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 Sablé&mdash;essentially
a moralist and a deeply religious woman&mdash;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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" id="page186"></a>[pg 186]</span>

<p>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 Sévigné. 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.</p>

<p>In the beginning of the century, D'Urfé'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.&mdash;A reaction was natural and took
the form of either a kind of parody or gross realism.
These novels, of which <i>Francion</i> and <i>Berger Extravagant</i>
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 (<i>honnêtes gens</i>) were to be found.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" id="page187"></a>[pg 187]</span>

<p>The novels of Mlle. de Scudéry, 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&mdash;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."</p>

<p>Her first production was <i>La Princesse de Montpensier</i>
(1662); in 1670, appeared <i>Zayde</i>, it was ostensibly the
work of Segrais, her teacher and a writer much in vogue
at the time; in 1678, <i>La Princesse de Clèves</i>, 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&mdash;the pros and
the cons. It was the most popular work of the period.</p>

<p>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&mdash;sympathetic, noble, and dignified.</p>

<p>In no fictitious tale before hers was love depicted with
such rare delicacy and pathos. In her novel, <i>La Princesse
de Clèves</i>, "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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" id="page188"></a>[pg 188]</span>
As an example of this we cite the description of the sentiments
of Mme. de Clèves 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:</p>

<p>"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&mdash;-and love me still, if you can."</p>

<p><i>La Princesse de Clèves</i> 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."</p>

<p>M. d'Haussonville regards the novels of Mmes. de Charrière,
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."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" id="page189"></a>[pg 189]</span>

<p>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&mdash;and a woman of high rank."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 Houlières 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:</p>

<p>"I am tall, neither fat nor thin, of a very fine and easy
figure. I have a good mien, arms and hands not beautiful,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" id="page190"></a>[pg 190]</span>
but a beautiful skin&mdash;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&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" id="page191"></a>[pg 191]</span>

<p>Tanneguy-Lefèvre, 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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;a
man of no means, but one who thoroughly appreciated
the worth of Mlle. Lefèvre. This union was spoken
of by her contemporaries as "the marriage of Greek and Latin."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" id="page192"></a>[pg 192]</span>

<p>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&mdash;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 <i>esprit</i>, it is Mme. Dacier who
is the father."</p>

<p>Besides her translations of the plays of Plautus, all of
Terence, the <i>Clouds</i> and <i>Plutus</i> of Aristophanes, she published her
translation of the <i>Iliad</i> and <i>Odyssey</i>
(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.</p>

<p>Mme. Dacier thoroughly appreciated the grandeur of
Homer and knew the almost insurmountable difficulties
of a translation; therefore, when in 1714 the <i>Iliad</i> 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 <i>Des Causes de la Corruption du Goût</i> (Causes of
the Corruption of Taste), a long defence of Homer, to
which La Motte replied in his <i>Réflexions de la Critique</i>
This rekindled the whole controversy, and sides were immediately formed.</p>

<p>Mme. Dacier was not politic; although she sustained
her ideas well and displayed much erudition and depth of
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span>
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 <i>esprit</i>, while that of Mme. Dacier was of
a <i>homme savant</i>. He translated the <i>Iliad</i> 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."</p>

<p>Mme. Dacier died in 1720. "She was a <i>savante</i> 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.</p>

<p>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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page194" id="page194"></a>[pg 194]</span>
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."</p>

<p>She then married the innocent young girl to the Marquis
de Caylus, a debauched, worthless reprobate&mdash;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.</p>

<p>She appeared at a supper given by the king, and, by the
brilliancy of her beauty and <i>esprit</i>, 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.</p>

<p>Sainte-Beuve said that Mme. de Caylus perfectly exemplified
what was called urbanity&mdash;"politeness in speech
and accent as well as in <i>esprit</i>." In her youth she was
famous for her extraordinary acting in the performance,
at Saint-Cyr, of Racine's <i>Esther</i>. Mme. de Sévigné wrote:
"It is Mme. de Caylus who makes Esther." Her brief and
witty <i>Souvenirs</i> (Memoirs), showing marvellous finesse in
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span>
the art of portraiture, made her name immortal. M. Saint-Amand
describes her work thus:</p>

<p>"Her friends, enchanted by her lively wit, had long
entreated her to write&mdash;not for the public, but for them&mdash;the
anecdotes which she related so well. Finally, she
acquiesced, and committed to paper certain incidents, certain
portraits. What a treasure are these <i>Souvenirs</i>&mdash;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 <i>Souvenirs</i>. Who, than Mme. de
Caylus, ever better applied the famous precept: 'Go
lightly, mortals; don't bear too hard.'"</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;due to the
brush of a woman of the world&mdash;are better worth studying
than is many a picture or fresco."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span>




<h2>Chapter VII</h2>

<h2>Woman in Religion</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span>


<p>The entire religious agitation of the seventeenth century
was due to women. Port-Royal was the centre from
which issued all contention&mdash;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&mdash;Mère Angélique, 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
<i>esprits d'élite</i>. A short account of this famous convent
must precede any story of its members.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span>

<p>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 Angélique
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.</p>

<p>The immense and beautiful Hôtel 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 Abbé of Saint-Cyran, who, with
Jansenius, was living at Paris at the time that Mère Angélique
was perfecting her reforms; she, attracted by the
ascetic life led by the abbé, fell under his influence, and
the whole Arnauld family, numbering about thirty, followed her example.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span>
publishing works denouncing, in strong terms, the glaring
errors of the time, the source of which was considered, by
both the Abbé 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.</p>

<p>At this time the convent at Paris became so crowded
that Mère Angélique 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 <i>Memoirs of the
History of Port-Royal</i> and the <i>Image of the Perfect and
Imperfect Sister</i>; 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.</p>

<p>"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 <i>Mars Gallicus</i> attacked
the French government and people, aroused the
suspicions of Richelieu. When in 1640 the Port-Royalists
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span>
openly and enthusiastically received the famous work,
<i>Augustinus</i>, 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 <i>De la Fréquente Communion</i>, in which
he attacked the Jesuits for admitting the people to the
Lord's Supper without due preparation, two parties formed&mdash;the
Jesuits, supported by the Sorbonne and the government,
and the Port-Royalists, supported by Parliament
and illustrious persons, such as Mme. de Longueville.</p>

<p>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 <i>La Maternité</i>.</p>

<p>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 Brégy, Mme. de Hautefort, Mme. de Longueville,
Mme. de Sévigné, Mme. de La Fayette, and Mme.
de Sablé were inmates of Port-Royal, or its friends and constant visitors.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>In its purest form, Port-Royalism was a return to the
sanctity of the primitive church&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;Robert, Henri, and
the younger Antoine, called "the great Antoine"&mdash;were
illustrious champions of Port-Royal.</p>

<p>Marie Jacqueline Angélique, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span>
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,&mdash;a wonderful type in
which were blended candor, pride, and submission,&mdash;and
she exhibited indomitable strength of will and earnest zeal for her cause.</p>

<p>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, <i>The Secret
Chapter of the Sacrament</i>, was suppressed at Rome, but
without bringing formal censure upon her.</p>

<p>The last of those great abbesses was Mère Angélique,
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.
Mère Angélique 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; Mère Angélique endeavored to avert the
storm, but all in vain; amidst her efforts, she collapsed.
She was also a writer, her <i>Memoirs of the History of Port
Royal</i> being the most valuable history of that institution.</p>

<p>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&mdash;a century which boasts such
writers and theologians as Nicole, Pascal, Racine, etc.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span>

<p>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&mdash;violence, prison, exile,&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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, <i>spirituelle</i>, 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:</p>

<p>"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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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,&mdash;poverty, dispersion,
imprisonment, death,&mdash;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. Périer, 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span>

<p>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 régime 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&mdash;and for this
doctrine Jacqueline Pascal gives up her life."</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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&mdash;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&mdash;that
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span>
Richelieu and Louis XIV. would tolerate the boldness of this attempt."</p>

<p>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 Sablé, a
type of the social-religious woman.</p>

<p>Mme. de Sablé 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.</p>

<p>Mlle. de Souvré married the wealthy Marquis of Sablé,
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 Hôtel de
Rambouillet. She, Mmes. de Sévigné, de Longueville,
and de La Fayette formed that circle of women who idealized friendship.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209"></a>[pg 209]</span>
means of access. Mmes. de Sablé and de Rambouillet
were called the arbiters of elegance and good taste.</p>

<p>To her friends, Mme. de Sablé 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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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,
Condé, Monsieur,&mdash;brother of Louis XIV.,&mdash;Mme. de La
Fayette, Mme. de Hautefort, and others.</p>

<p>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 Sablé possessed all
the qualities that attract and hold, nothing extraordinary
or rare, but abundant politeness and elegance.</p>

<p>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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" id="page210"></a>[pg 210]</span>
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.</p>

<p>At the salon of Mme. de Sablé originated many famous
literary works, such as the <i>Conférences sur le Calvinisme</i>,
works on Cartesian philosophy, the <i>Logique de Port-Royal</i>,
<i>Questions sur l'Amour</i>, <i>Les Maximes</i>, 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 <i>Maxims</i>.</p>

<p>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 <i>Pensées</i> of
Pascal would never have been published in that form had
not the <i>Maxims</i> enjoyed such favor. Pascal often visited
Port-Royal and naturally followed the general reflective
tendency of its society. His <i>Discours sur les Passions de
l'Amour</i> possibly originated at the salon of Mme. de Sablé,
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 Sablé with the message:
"As you do nothing for nothing, I ask of you a carrot soup or mutton stew."</p>

<p>When La Rochefoucauld entered the society of Mme.
de Sablé, he had seen much of life, was familiar with
most of the adventures and intrigues of the Fronde and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211"></a>[pg 211]</span>
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 <i>Maxims</i> 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 Sablé
received letters of criticism or suggestion&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
Angélique 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 Sablé remained faithful to its principles; she lived with
her friends, Mme. de Longueville and Mme. de Montausier,
until 1669, when, with the coöperation 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 Sablé, 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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" id="page212"></a>[pg 212]</span>

<p>Mme. de Sablé 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 <i>Maxims</i> and
<i>Pensées</i> 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>After travelling over Europe for a number of years, and
writing several works, including <i>Spiritual Torrents</i> and
<i>Short and Easy Method of Making Orison with the Heart</i>,
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id="page213"></a>[pg 213]</span>
purposes of prayer and religious conversation. The Duchess
of Beauvilliers, the Duchess of Béthune, the Countess
of Guiche, the Countess of Chevreuse, and many others,
with their husbands, became her devoted adherents.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 <i>Method of
Prayer</i>, an examination was instituted by Bossuet and
Fénelon, who marked out a few passages as erroneous&mdash;a
procedure to which she submitted. However, Bossuet
himself wrote a treatise against her <i>Method of Prayer</i>, in
which he cast reflections upon her character and conduct;
to that work Fénelon refused to subscribe, which antagonistic
proceeding brought on the great quarrel between
those two absolute ecclesiasts. In fact, Fénelon became
imbued with the doctrines of Mme. Guyon.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page214" id="page214"></a>[pg 214]</span>
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.</p>

<p>Fénelon had written a treatise, <i>Maxims of the Saints</i>,
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:</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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, Fénelon, demanded the condemnation
by the latter of the works of Mme. Guyon. The refusal
cost Fénelon 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:</p>

<p>"So it is to secure my own reputation that I am wanted
to subscribe that a lady&mdash;my friend&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" id="page215"></a>[pg 215]</span>
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."</p>

<p>Thus, in the seventeenth century, religious agitations
and religious reform were the work preëminently 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" id="page216"></a>[pg 216]</span>
Pisani, took part in the balls, fêtes, 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.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" id="page217"></a>[pg 217]</span>

<p>In that century, the young girl, mixing more generally
in society, received greater consideration&mdash;hence, she became
more active and conspicuous. It will be seen that
the rôle 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&mdash;the
indispensable element of society. There were three
classes of women&mdash;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.</p>

<p>A young man making his début 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&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>But where did the young girls receive the education
which gave them such prestige&mdash;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 Ségur? The
sons were educated in the usages of the <i>bonne compagnie</i>
by the mothers, but the daughters did not enjoy that
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id="page218"></a>[pg 218]</span>
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 <i>causeries</i> 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 <i>coiffeur</i>, in
constructing complicated edifices that crushed down the
heads of women, to the reading of new books."</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;and innocence was the
first requirement of a marriageable young woman.</p>

<p>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 Molé and Larrive
gave instruction in declamation and reading, and Noverre
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" id="page219"></a>[pg 219]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" id="page221"></a>[pg 221]</span>




<h2>Chapter VIII</h2>

<h2>Salon Leaders<br />
Mme. de Tencin, Mme. Geoffrin, Mme. du Deffand, Mlle. de Lespinasse,
Mme. du Châtelet</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id="page223"></a>[pg 223]</span>


<p>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&mdash;those of Mme.
de Marchais, Mme. de Persan, Mme. de Villars, Mme. de
Vaines, and of D'Alembert, D'Holbach, Helvétius. 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 Abbés
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 Popeliniére, and others.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" id="page224"></a>[pg 224]</span>
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 hôtels,
showed itself in all its force, splendor, and elegance. The
celebrated women of the regency&mdash;Mme. de Prie, Mme. de
Parabère, Mme. de Sabran&mdash;had no salon, while those of
the Marquis d'Alluys and the Hôtels 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.</p>

<p>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
<i>bon mot</i> was the event of the day and travelled over all
the civilized world.</p>

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id="page225"></a>[pg 225]</span>
gradually conquered the new power in the state&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Every century has had its specialty: the twelfth had its
crusades, the sixteenth its religious struggles, the seventeenth
its grand <i>goût</i>, the eighteenth its conversation and
love of reason, the nineteenth its political struggles; and
each one displayed the French passion for <i>esprit</i>; the
eighteenth, however, was, <i>par excellence</i>, the century of
<i>esprit</i>, and it was most remarkably developed in woman.</p>

<p>"Such astonishingly loquacious people as lived in Paris
in the eighteenth century! ineffective, sardonic, verbose,
sociable, intellectual, elegant, immoral&mdash;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."</p>

<p><i>La Ménagerie de Mme. de Tencin</i> 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" id="page226"></a>[pg 226]</span>
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 Orléans. 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>The great literary men whom Mme. de Tencin gathered
about her, Fontenelle, Montesquieu, Mairan, Marivaux,
Helvétius, Marmontel, were called her menagerie, or her
<i>bêtes</i>. Among them, Marivaux received a pension of one
thousand écus 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&mdash;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;
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" id="page227"></a>[pg 227]</span>
but he who in his style wishes to have subtleness, amenity,
charm, flexibility, will do well, I think, to live with woman."</p>

<p>Mme. de Tencin exerted an immense influence upon the
men of her circle, especially socially; for example, she
married the wealthy M. de La Popelinière 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."</p>

<p>Every New Year's Day the <i>bêtes</i> 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&mdash;<i>Le
Siège de Calais</i> and <i>Les Malheurs de l'Amour</i>. 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.</p>

<p>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 <i>contrôleur-général</i>, and her lover Dubois, she was able
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" id="page228"></a>[pg 228]</span>
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.</p>

<p>After the death of Mme. de Tencin and that of Mme. de
Châtelet, 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 <i>bêtes</i> 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 <i>bêtes</i> all flocked to the
<i>salon bourgeois</i>, and consequently a more brilliant gathering
never assembled in a salon; here sat, enjoying the
liberal hospitalities, Fontenelle, Montesquieu, Mairan, Marmontel,
Helvétius, Diderot, D'Alembert, Thomas, D'Holbach,
Hume, Morellet, Mlle. de Lespinasse, the Marquis
de Duras, Comtesses d'Egmont and de Brionne. Here,
conversation&mdash;which, in the eighteenth century, was not
only a discussion or a dissertation, but an art&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Mme. Geoffrin was born in Paris in 1699, and was the
daughter of M. Rodet, <i>valet de chambre</i> 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 <i>Manufacture des
Glaces de Gobelins</i>. 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" id="page229"></a>[pg 229]</span>
her <i>esprit</i>, tact, intelligence, and admirable taste in dress
were all effective in bringing about the desired results.</p>

<p>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
Abbé 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: <i>Voil qui est bien!</i></p>

<p>Her husband was the <i>maître d'hôtel</i>, 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 <i>visiteurs flottants</i>, 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: <i>Mais, c'était mon mari. Hélas!
il est mort, le bon homme.</i> [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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" id="page230"></a>[pg 230]</span>
assembled in his wife's salon, and to witness her social success."</p>

<p>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 reëstablished
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Mme. Geoffrin was shrewd and tactful enough to avoid
politics and not to permit discussions of a political nature
at her salon&mdash;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: <i>Soyons aimables</i> [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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" id="page231"></a>[pg 231]</span>
was one of these. It was her habit to go frequently to
see friends, merely to ascertain their wants and to satisfy
them. The Abbé 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: <i>Donner
et pardonner</i> [Give and forgive].</p>

<p>Stanislas, King of Poland, her <i>protégé</i>, 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: <i>Maman, votre fils est roi</i>
[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.</p>

<p>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."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page232" id="page232"></a>[pg 232]</span>

<p>In her best years, she was intimately associated with
the Encyclopædists, 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
<i>La Fontenelle des Femmes</i>. 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 <i>frotteur</i> [floor polisher] of it."</p>

<p>Mme. Geoffrin, more than any other woman of the
salons, possessed the three essential qualifications of a
salon leader,&mdash;good sense, tact, and intelligence. She had
also <i>esprit</i>, perfect simplicity, precision, and faultless taste;
though a sceptic, she was a diplomat who perfectly understood
the art of man&oelig;uvring. 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 fête 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;Mme.
du Deffand. She, so to speak, yawned out her life in a
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" id="page233"></a>[pg 233]</span>
blasé 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 <i>esprit</i> 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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 Frénel, 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 <i>nullité rare</i>.
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 Orléans, the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page234" id="page234"></a>[pg 234]</span>
regent, from whom she received six thousand francs life income.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>At the age of about thirty-four, Mme. du Deffand returned
to a kind of regular life, and, in time, won a
reputation for <i>esprit</i>, 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 <i>bons mots</i>, glancing
epigrams, witty verses, were the avenues to social success."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" id="page235"></a>[pg 235]</span>

<p>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&mdash;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: <i>Voilà
bien du bruit pour une omelette au lard</i>. [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.</p>

<p>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 Hénault, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" id="page236"></a>[pg 236]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 Sévigné, 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."</p>

<p>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, <i>le Président</i> Hénault and Pont de Veyle, besides
D'Alembert, Turgot, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Necker,
Walpole, the Abbés Barthélemy and Pernetty, the Chevalier
de Lisle, de Formant, <i>le Docteur</i> 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
Maréchale de Luxembourg, the Marquises de Boufflers and
du Châtelet, 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.</p>

<p>Her salon, above all others, was the centre of cosmopolitanism,
where all great men, foreigners and natives, found
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" id="page237"></a>[pg 237]</span>
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-Beaupré, Duchesse de La Vallière. Gallantry
and beauty were found in the Maréchale de Luxembourg
and the Comtesse de Boufflers. The philosophical movement
of the Encyclopædists 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 <i>déclamateurs</i>; it was a royalist salon without
illusion, hence indifferent to all questions. It represented
the perfect type of the French model of <i>esprit de finesse</i>,&mdash;that
is, precision,&mdash;and its leader possessed a keen insight into human character.</p>

<p>This wonderful woman, who, during a period of over
forty years, had held at her feet the élite of the French
world, at the age of about threescore and ten, fell desperately
in love with a man of fifty&mdash;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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" id="page238"></a>[pg 238]</span>
He felt himself flattered in being the one preferred by
such a distinguished old lady of high society.</p>

<p>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 Staël, but
she was still physically healthy and young enough to enjoy
life and the realization of that which she had so long
desired&mdash;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&mdash;the outgrowth
of that morbid imagination developed from her long suffering from ennui.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" id="page239"></a>[pg 239]</span>
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."</p>

<p>She was a woman dominated by her reason&mdash;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: <i>les trompeurs</i>, <i>les trompés</i>, <i>les
trompettes</i>. 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 <i>milieu</i>); she was too old,
or lived too long; she belongs to another age."</p>

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" id="page240"></a>[pg 240]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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,&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" id="page241"></a>[pg 241]</span>
her but to await deliverance by death." This came to her in 1780.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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 <i>esprit</i>.
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.</p>

<p>"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 <i>esprit</i>, 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."</p>

<p>(1774.) "They believe Mme. du Deffand to possess
more <i>esprit</i> than she really has; they praise and fear her,
but she merits neither the one nor the other. As far as
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" id="page242"></a>[pg 242]</span>
her <i>esprit</i> is concerned, she is what she is; in regard to her
form, to her birth and fortune&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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:</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"Qui vous voit et qui vous entend</p>
<p>Perd bientôt sa philosophie;</p>
<p>Et tout sage avec Du Deffand</p>
<p>Voudrait en fou passer sa vie."</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>[He who sees and hears you,</p>
<p>Soon loses his philosophy.</p>
<p>Wise he who with Du Deffand</p>
<p>Insane would pass his life.]</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" id="page243"></a>[pg 243]</span>
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 Maréchale 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.</p>

<p>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, Helvétius, 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.</p>

<p>Her salon immediately became known as the official
encyclopædia resort, Mme. du Deffand dubbing it <i>La Muse
de l'Encyclopédie</i>. 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" id="page244"></a>[pg 244]</span>
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!</p>

<p>Mlle. de Lespinasse possessed two characteristics which
were prominent in a remarkable degree&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" id="page245"></a>[pg 245]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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 Scudéry; 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.</p>

<p>Mme. du Deffand's friend, <i>le Président</i> Hénault, left the
following portrait of Mlle. de Lespinasse: "You are cosmopolitan&mdash;you
are suitable to all occasions. You like
company&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" id="page246"></a>[pg 246]</span>
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 <i>le monde</i>. In vain
one would transplant you&mdash;you would take root anywhere.
In short, you are not an ordinary person."</p>

<p>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&mdash;for Mme. du Deffand&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 Châtelet, 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 Château 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 Châtelet who
encouraged him, sympathized with him, and appreciated
his mobile humor as well as his talent. During these
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" id="page247"></a>[pg 247]</span>
years, while he was under the influence of madame, appeared
<i>Mérope</i>, <i>Alzire</i>, the <i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, etc.</p>

<p>Mme. du Châtelet was the one great <i>femme savante</i> of
that century. In the preface to her <i>Traduction des Principes
Mathématiques de Newton</i>, Voltaire wrote: "Never
was a woman so <i>savante</i> as she, and never did a woman
merit less the saying, <i>she is a femme savante</i>. She did not
select her friends from those circles where there was a
war of <i>esprit</i>, 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 Sévigné; but this severe
firmness and this tendency of her <i>esprit</i> did not make her
inaccessible to the beauties of sentiment."</p>

<p>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."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" id="page249"></a>[pg 249]</span>




<h2>Chapter IX</h2>

<h2>Salon Leaders&mdash;(Continued)<br />
Mme. Necker, Mme. d'Epinay, Mme. de Genlis: Minor Salons</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" id="page251"></a>[pg 251]</span>


<p>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.</p>

<p>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 <i>le Président</i> Hénault, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" id="page252"></a>[pg 252]</span>
strict Protestant type. As a girl of sixteen, she had given
evidence of remarkable mental ability and had acquired a
wide knowledge&mdash;physics, Latin, philosophy, metaphysics&mdash;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 <i>préciosité</i> and the spirit of the blue-stocking rather
than toward the seriousness and dignity which marked her later career.</p>

<p>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 fiancée, 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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" id="page253"></a>[pg 253]</span>
friends after their marriage. M. Necker wrote, in reply
to a letter of congratulation:</p>

<p>"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&mdash;has he
not made a good transaction, whether or not she be
seated on sacks of money? Humanity, what a poor judge you are!"</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;Monday and Wednesday
at Mme. Geoffrin's, Tuesday at Helvétius's, Thursday and
Sunday at the Baron d'Holbach's,&mdash;Mme. Necker was
compelled to appoint Friday as her reception day. She
soon succeeded in attracting to her hôtel the best <i>esprit</i> of
Paris: Diderot, Suard, Grimm, Comte de Schomberg, Marmontel,
D'Alembert, Thomas, Saint-Lambert, Helvétius,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page254" id="page254"></a>[pg 254]</span>
Ducis, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, the Abbés Raynal, Armand,
and Morellet, Mme. Geoffrin, Mme. du Deffand,
Mme. de Marchais, Mme. Suard, the Maréchale de Luxembourg,
the Duchesse de Lauzun, the Marquise de La Ferté-Imbault, Mme. de Boufflers.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>It was at the salon of Mme. Necker that Bernardin de
Saint-Pierre first read his <i>Paul et Virginie</i>, which received
such a cold and indifferent welcome that the author, utterly
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page255" id="page255"></a>[pg 255]</span>
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&mdash;a style then in vogue
at court. She never judged persons by their reputations,
but by their <i>esprit</i>; thus, it was possible for her to receive
people of the most diverse tendencies. When the Marquise
de La Ferté-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
Maréchale 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."</p>

<p>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 Sévigné, 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."</p>

<p>Galiani leaves a different impression: "There is not a
Friday that I do not go to your house <i>en esprit</i>. 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page256" id="page256"></a>[pg 256]</span>
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 café all speak at the same time.
M. Necker thinks everything well, bows his head and goes away."</p>

<p>In summer her receptions were first held at the Château
de Madrid, and, later on, in a château 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 <i>Palais de l'Institute</i>.</p>

<p>When, during the stirring times before the Revolution,
her salon took on a purely political nature, Mme. Necker
played a very secondary rôle. 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.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" id="page257"></a>[pg 257]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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 <i>esprit</i> 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page258" id="page258"></a>[pg 258]</span>
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:</p>

<p>"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&mdash;as was
her countenance&mdash;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."</p>

<p>"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
<i>esprit</i> and of being in relation with the <i>beaux esprits</i>, she
was able to preserve the moral conscience of her Protestant
training, to protest against the false doctrines about
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page259" id="page259"></a>[pg 259]</span>
her, to give herself up to duties in the midst of society, to
found institutions for the sick and needy,&mdash;and to leave a
memory without a stain."</p>

<p>While, among the famous salon leaders of the eighteenth
century, Mme. Necker stands out preëminently 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&mdash;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
<i>danseuse</i>. 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" id="page260"></a>[pg 260]</span>
herself under the influence of the professional seducer
Francueil, and, completely carried away by that passion,
she cries out, in her memoirs: <i>Francueil, Francueil, tu
m'as perdue, et tu disais que tu m'aimais</i> [You have undone
me&mdash;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&mdash;on the
contrary, it was but a natural human selection; such was
the nature of the affection of Mme. d'Epinay for this débauché Francueil.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" id="page261"></a>[pg 261]</span>

<p>These two men&mdash;the lover and the husband&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 écus 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" id="page262"></a>[pg 262]</span>
completely vindicated. Grimm then became her third lover.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 <i>Conversations d'Emilie</i>. She died in the same year,
surrounded by her dearest friends&mdash;Grimm, M. and Mme.
Belgunce, and Mme. d'Houdetot.</p>

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page263" id="page263"></a>[pg 263]</span>
and wrote innumerable letters. Her fortune was lost
through the reforms of Necker.</p>

<p>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;</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"Moi, de cinq ours la souveraine,</p>
<p>Qui leur donne et present des lois,</p>
<p>Faut-il que je sois à la fois</p>
<p>Et votre esclave et votre reine,</p>
<p>O des tyrans le plus tyran?"</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>[I, sovereign over five bears,</p>
<p>Who give and prescribe laws for them&mdash;</p>
<p>Must I be your slave and queen at the same time,</p>
<p>O among tyrants, the greatest?]</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>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&mdash;and not unadvisedly&mdash;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
Encyclopædists, and was regarded as the central figure
of the philosophical movement in general.</p>

<p>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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" id="page264"></a>[pg 264]</span>
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, Helvétius, Duclos,
Suard, the Abbés 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
<i>Tancred</i>, Diderot's <i>Le Père de Famille</i>, were given under
her patronage and discussed in her salon; after the performance
she entertained all the friends at supper.</p>

<p>Upon the departure of Abbé Galiani from Paris, Mme.
d'Epinay and Diderot were intrusted with the revision and
printing of his famous <i>Dialogues sur les Blés</i>; Grimm left
to them the continuance of his <i>Correspondance Littéraire</i>.
She was known for her wonderful analytical ability and
her keen power of observation&mdash;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,&mdash;in
spite of the defects in her moral life,&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" id="page265"></a>[pg 265]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 <i>esprit</i>, 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&mdash;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 <i>Nouvelle Héloïse</i>.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>She was born in 1746, and at a very early age showed
a remarkable talent for music, but her general education
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" id="page266"></a>[pg 266]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 Popelinière. 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
rôles at the most fashionable houses, "through her consummate
acting and <i>bons mots</i> 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."</p>

<p>Through the influence of her aunt, Mme. de Montesson,
who was secretly married to the Duke of Orléans, Mme.
de Genlis was appointed lady-in-waiting in the household
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page267" id="page267"></a>[pg 267]</span>
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
"<i>gouverneur</i>" to his children, the Duc de Valois, later
Louis-Philippe, the Duc de Montpensier, the Comte de
Beaujolais, and Mlle. Adelaïde; for the education of her
pupils she had the use of several châteaux. Many a
piquant epigram and chanson were composed for the edification
of the "<i>gouverneur</i>." 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:</p>

<p>(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]."</p>

<p>(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."</p>

<p>(January, 1791.) "Yesterday, I was at the Tuileries.
The queen spoke to my father, to my brother, and said
nothing to me&mdash;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."
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" id="page268"></a>[pg 268]</span>
(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.</p>

<p>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
<i>Théâtre d'Education</i>. 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.</p>

<p>In 1778 Mme. de Genlis published her moral teachings
in <i>Adèle et Théodore</i>, a work which created quite a little
talk at the time, but which eventually brought upon her
the condemnation of the philosophers and Encyclopædists,
because in it she opposed liberty of conscience. When,
on the occasion of the first communion of the Duc de
Valois, she wrote her <i>Religion Considered as the Only True
Foundation of Happiness and of True Philosophy</i>, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" id="page269"></a>[pg 269]</span>
magic of talent to her productions, as it had refused the
charm of innocence to her childhood.</p>

<p>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'Orléans while they were walking
in the gardens one night):</p>

<p>"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&mdash;physical or moral&mdash;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&mdash;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'Orléans has a singular governor. She holds too
closely to her rôle, and never forgets her <i>jupons</i> [skirts]
except when she ought most to remember them."</p>

<p>During her visit to England she was petted by everyone;
but even in England there was a widespread prejudice
against her&mdash;a feeling which the mere sight of her immediately
dissipated. An English lady wrote about her:</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" id="page270"></a>[pg 270]</span>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 Orléans 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 Staël, Scott, and Byron. Her
death, in 1830, was announced in these words: "Mme. de
Genlis has ceased to write&mdash;which is to announce her death."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" id="page271"></a>[pg 271]</span>
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&mdash;a reformer,
teacher, pietist, politician, actress&mdash;that a true estimate
of her character is difficult. A woman of all tastes and of
various talents, she was a living encyclopædia 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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page272" id="page272"></a>[pg 272]</span>
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&mdash;as a woman pedagogue,
<i>par excellence</i>, of the eighteenth century.</p>

<p>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 cafés 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: <i>Bonne renommée
vaut mieux que ceinture dorée</i> [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
<i>A laver la tête d'un More on perd sa lessive</i> [To wash a
blackamoor white].</p>

<p>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 <i>thés à l'anglaise</i> were served by the
great ladies themselves, attired in white aprons. The exclusive
and élite of the social world made up his company.
The most elegant assembly was that of the Maréchale de
Luxembourg; it will be considered later on. The salon of
Mme. de Beauvau rivalled that of the Maréchale de Luxembourg;
she was mistress of elegance and propriety, an
authority on and model of the usages of society. A manner
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" id="page273"></a>[pg 273]</span>
perhaps superior to that of any other woman, gave Mme. de
Beauvau a particular <i>politesse</i> 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 <i>politesse</i> 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>The house of M. de La Popelinière, at Passy, was noted
for its unique entertainment; there the celebrated Gossec
and Gaïffre conducted the concerts, Deshayes, master of
the ballet at the Comédie-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 <i>danseuses</i>, ate, slept, and lodged as in a hotel.
With Mme. de Blot, mistress of the Duke of Orléans, 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 <i>petits jours</i> 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" id="page274"></a>[pg 274]</span>
exquisite fruits and magnificent flowers which the hostess
cultivated and distributed among her friends.</p>

<p>"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&mdash;in one the doubtful, in the other the accredited.
On Saturday, a selection was made, which went to the
<i>Grand Livre</i>, which became a journal entitled <i>Nouvelles à
la Main</i>, kept by the <i>valet-de-chambre</i> of Mme. Doublet.
This book furnished the substance of the six volumes of
the <i>Mémoires Secrets</i>, which began to appear in 1770.</p>

<p>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 Reynière, who, by dint of shrewd man&oelig;uvring, by
unheard-of extravagances, excessive opulence in the furnishings
of her salon, and by the most gorgeous and rare
fêtes and suppers, had succeeded in attracting to her
establishment a number of the court and nobility.</p>

<p>The salon of M. de La Popelinière 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 Abbé Raynal, and the luncheons
of the Abbé 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&mdash;it was there
that the famous quarrel of the Gluck and Piccini parties
originated. The Tuesday dinners of Helvétius became
famous; it was at them that Franklin was one of the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" id="page275"></a>[pg 275]</span>
favorites; after the death of Helvétius, 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" id="page277"></a>[pg 277]</span>




<h2>Chapter X</h2>

<h2>Social Classes</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" id="page279"></a>[pg 279]</span>


<p>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 Trémoille; having
been stricken with smallpox, she was ministered to by
her husband, who voluntarily shared her fate and died with her.</p>

<p>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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page280" id="page280"></a>[pg 280]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;after having spent some time
in the <i>pension</i>, where instruction in religion was given her&mdash;she
was instructed by the sisters for one year.</p>

<p>After her confirmation and her first communion, and the
home visits to all the relatives, she was placed in a <i>maison
religieuse</i>, 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" id="page281"></a>[pg 281]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;in short, he became her master in
all things. These disadvantages she was taught to consider
deeply before entering the marriage state.</p>

<p>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&mdash;and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" id="page282"></a>[pg 282]</span>
they give the tone." As we approach the end of the
century, the <i>bourgeoisie</i> begins to assume the airs, habits,
extravagances, and even the immoralities, of the higher classes.</p>

<p>Below the <i>bourgeoise</i> 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<i>débauchés</i> or aspirants for social favors. Through their
adventures they made their way up in the world to high society.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page283" id="page283"></a>[pg 283]</span>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;they represented the fortune of pleasure.</p>

<p>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&mdash;through notoriety&mdash;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 <i>débauchés</i> of the street," says
Mme. de Choiseul, one of the purest of women.</p>

<p>This class usually created and established the styles.
There is a striking contrast between the standards of
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" id="page284"></a>[pg 284]</span>
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.&mdash;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 <i>finesse, sveltesse et gracilité</i>, with
an extremely delicate complexion, a small mouth and thin
nose, as opposed to the strong, plump mouth and <i>nez léonin</i>
(leonine nose). More animated, the face was all movement,
the eyes talked; the <i>esprit</i> passed to the face. It
was the type of Marivaux' comedies, with an <i>esprit mobile</i>,
animated and colored by all the coquetries of grace.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" id="page285"></a>[pg 285]</span>
travelled over entire Europe; all Europe was <i>à la française</i>,
yoked and laced in French styles, French in art, taste,
industry. The domination of the French <i>Galerie des
Modes</i> 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.</p>

<p>Every country had, in Paris, its agents who eagerly
waited for the appearance of the famous doll of the Rue
Saint-Honoré; 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page286" id="page286"></a>[pg 286]</span>

<p>It now remains but to illustrate these various classes
by types&mdash;by women who have become famous. The
Duchesse de Boufflers, Maréchale de Luxembourg, was
the woman who most completely typified the spirit and
tone of the eighteenth-century <i>classique</i> in everything that
belonged to the ancient régime 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 <i>savante</i> 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 <i>roués et élégants
enervés</i> she soon became a leader. Mme. du Deffand left
a striking portrait of her:</p>

<p>"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&mdash;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&mdash;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 <i>esprit</i> 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."</p>

<p>On one occasion M. de Tressan composed this famous couplet:</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page287" id="page287"></a>[pg 287]</span>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>"Quand Boufflers parut à la cour,</p>
<p>On crut voir la mère d'Amour,</p>
<p>Chacun s'empressait à lui plaire,</p>
<p>Et chacun l'avait à son tour."</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>[When Boufflers appeared at court,</p>
<p>The mother of love was thought to be seen,</p>
<p>Everyone became so eager to please her,</p>
<p>And each one had her in his turn.]</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>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:
<i>Eh bien! c'est moi.</i> 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.</p>

<p>After her marriage to the Maréchal 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 <i>la bonne compagnie</i> 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 <i>tutoiement</i>
(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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page288" id="page288"></a>[pg 288]</span>
character in the <i>ancien salon français</i>, in the way of
excellence of tone.</p>

<p>The Marquise de Rambouillet, Mme. de La Fayette,
Mme. de Maintenon, Mme. de Caylus, and Mme. de
Luxembourg are of the same type&mdash;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&mdash;one of Molière
and one of La Fontaine&mdash;and asked which was the greater,
she answered: 'That one,' pointing to La Fontaine, 'is
more perfect in a <i>genre</i> less perfect.'"</p>

<p>By the Goncourt brothers, her salon has been given its
merited credit: "The most elegant salon was that of the
Maréchale 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&mdash;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&mdash;in the discredit
of all moral laws&mdash;the authority of one law, <i>la parfaite
bonne compagnie</i>, whose aim was a social one&mdash;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 <i>savoir vivre</i>, by all possible researches
and refinements of <i>esprit</i>. It fixed everything&mdash;usages,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" id="page289"></a>[pg 289]</span>
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."</p>

<p>A type of what may be called the social mistress of the
nobility&mdash;the personification of good taste, elegance and
propriety such as it should be&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 <i>avait un prince du sang</i> (was
mistress of a prince of the blood). When reminded of her
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" id="page290"></a>[pg 290]</span>
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 Maréchale de Mirepoix for going to see Mme. de
Pompadour, and in the heat of argument said: "Why, she
is nothing but the first <i>fille</i> (mistress) of the kingdom!"
The maréchale 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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
Château de Trie, which belonged to the Prince de Conti.</p>

<p>All who came in contact with her recognized the distinction,
elevation of <i>esprit</i>, 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.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" id="page291"></a>[pg 291]</span>
She was fêted 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."</p>

<p>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 <i>esprit</i> 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page292" id="page292"></a>[pg 292]</span>
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:</p>

<p class="author">"Edinburgh, 20th of August, 1776.</p>

<p>"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&mdash;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 diarrh&oelig;a 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.</p>

<p class="author">"<span class="sc">David Hume</span>."</p>

<p>Hume died five days after this letter was written.</p>

<p>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 <i>esprit</i> 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."</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" id="page293"></a>[pg 293]</span>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;all breathed this <i>volupté</i>.</p>

<p>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 <i>volupté</i>, 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;from experience&mdash;gallant
confidences which took away the veil of
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" id="page294"></a>[pg 294]</span>
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,
<i>ivresse d'esprit</i>, 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 abbés were the leaders.</p>

<p>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
fêtes; the public announcement of the liaison was made at
the theatre when he sat in her box.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" id="page295"></a>[pg 295]</span>
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 <i>roués</i>, consummate leaders
of theoretical and practical immorality, who were without
conscience. To gain their ends, they manipulated every
medium&mdash;valets, chambermaids, scandal, charity; their one
object was to dishonor woman.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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. Aïssé
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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" id="page296"></a>[pg 296]</span>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" id="page297"></a>[pg 297]</span>
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.</p>

<p>At one time, the great ambition of woman was to procure
a legal separation&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page298" id="page298"></a>[pg 298]</span>
until they included the <i>bourgeoisie</i> and, finally, the offspring
of the common <i>femme du peuple</i>. 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 <i>roués</i> 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.</p>

<p>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 Comédie Française; the reappearance of that
favorite with Adrienne Le Couvreur as companion, in the
plays of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire, reëstablished
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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" id="page299"></a>[pg 299]</span>
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 abbé. 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 <i>La Mort de Mademoiselle
Le Couvreur</i>, which was the cause of his being again obliged to leave Paris.</p>

<p>The popularity of the Comédie Française 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
<i>tragédienne</i>. When Mlle. Clairon received an offer to
play alternately with the favorite, Mlle. Dumesnil, she
selected as her opening part <i>Phèdre</i>, the <i>rôle de triomphe</i>
of her rival.</p>

<p>The appearance of a débutante was an event, and its
announcement brought out a large crowd; the presumption
of a provincial artist in selecting a rôle 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page300" id="page300"></a>[pg 300]</span>
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.</p>

<p>Mlle. Clairon did as much for the theatre as did Adrienne
Le Couvreur, especially in discarding, in her <i>Phèdre</i>, the
plumes, spangles, the panier, the frippery, which had been
the customary equipments of that rôle. 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 <i>grande révérence</i>, which was later supplanted
by the courtesy of Mme. de Pompadour.</p>

<p>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 hôtel 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 <i>Siège de Calais</i>, 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" id="page301"></a>[pg 301]</span>
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 <i>maîtresse-en-titre</i> was called to her beauty and vocal charm.</p>

<p>Her début 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 <i>bons mots</i>
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"&mdash;the
credit and debit. She was one of the few prominent
women who died in favor and in comfortable circumstances.</p>

<p>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 <i>amant utile</i>, and
the farmer-general, M. de La Borde, her <i>amant honoraire</i>.</p>

<p>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 <i>débauchées</i>, the most seductive and lascivious girls of
the opera; at the last function, luxury and debauch were
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page302" id="page302"></a>[pg 302]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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 <i>fille d'opéra</i>."</p>

<p>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 Orléans, Monseigneur de Jarente, who
supplied her with money and other necessaries. In 1771
she decided to build a hôtel 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."</p>

<p>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 <i>Robe à la La Guimard</i>. Inasmuch as the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page303" id="page303"></a>[pg 303]</span>
management of the Opéra 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 hôtel on the Rue Chaussée-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&mdash;choice exotics obtained
from a distance, regardless of expense."</p>

<p>After appearing at the Haymarket Opera House in
London in 1789, Mlle. La Guimard decided to retire to
private life, and married M. Despréaux, 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&mdash;forgotten, half-witted, stooping to any
act of indecency to gain a few sous.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" id="page305"></a>[pg 305]</span>




<h2>Chapter XI</h2>

<h2>Royal Mistresses</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" id="page307"></a>[pg 307]</span>


<p>In the study of the royal mistresses of the eighteenth
century, we encounter two in particular,&mdash;Mme. de Pompadour
and Mme. du Barry,&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 man&oelig;uvre she
made herself <i>Dame de Palais de la Reine</i>. 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 <i>prie-dieu</i>, and was an object of pity and ridicule.</p>

<p>Mme. de Prie and M. le Duc, having planned to deprive
M. Fleury, the minister, of his power,&mdash;he had been the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page308" id="page308"></a>[pg 308]</span>
king's preceptor,&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;or Mlle. de Nesle,&mdash;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 Châteauroux, 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
<i>maîtresse-en-titre</i>; 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 <i>bourgeoise</i>
of the financier class had usurped the position of mistress&mdash;that
honor having belonged exclusively to the nobility.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page309" id="page309"></a>[pg 309]</span>
making tapestry, embroidering, and in charity work&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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; Crébillon had taught her declamation
and the art of diction; the friends of Crébillon had formed
her young mind to <i>finesse</i>, to delicacies, to lightness of
sentiment, and to irony of the <i>esprit</i> of the time. All the
talents of grace seemed to be united in her. No woman
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page310" id="page310"></a>[pg 310]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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
<i>La Jardinière</i> 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."</p>

<p>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 Châteauroux, 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
<i>bourgeoisie</i> 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page311" id="page311"></a>[pg 311]</span>
respect to the court ladies that the hostilities gradually
ceased, but not until the public itself had expended all its
efforts against this upstart.</p>

<p>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 <i>maîtresse-en-titre</i>,
whether she were of noble birth or not.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;princes and ministers,&mdash;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,&mdash;she must occupy the king, aid
and agitate him, fight off constantly, from day to day and hour to hour, ennui."</p>

<p>This terrible ennui, indifference, enervation, this lazy
and splenetic humor of the king, she succeeded in distracting,
in soothing, and amusing. She understood him
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page312" id="page312"></a>[pg 312]</span>
perfectly&mdash;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.</p>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>In 1747, two years after her installation, she interested
the king in a theatre, and inaugurated the famous representations
at the Théâtre 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 <i>esprit</i> 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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page313" id="page313"></a>[pg 313]</span>

<p>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
<i>petit lever</i> 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 <i>cordons bleus</i>,
eager to claim the favor of any of her protégés. Every
noble house offered a daughter in marriage to her brother,
whom she made <i>intendant</i> of public buildings, and who
looked with much displeasure upon the actions of his sister.</p>

<p>Mme. de Pompadour made a thorough study of the politics
of Europe in relation to the affairs of the nation&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 résumé 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id="page314"></a>[pg 314]</span>
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&mdash;for she did not love the
king&mdash;were those spent with her brother, the Marquis de
Marigny, in the midst of artists, musicians, and men of letters.</p>

<p>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 <i>loge</i> 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 Vandières. 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.</p>

<p>Mme. de Pompadour gradually amassed a royal fortune,
buying the magnificent estate of Crécy for six hundred
and fifty thousand livres; "La Celle," near Versailles, for
twenty-six thousand livres; the Hôtel d'Evreaux, at Paris,
for seventy-five thousand livres&mdash;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 château in which she was received by
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page315" id="page315"></a>[pg 315]</span>
the king; she made "Choisy"&mdash;the king's property&mdash;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
château with its wonderful furniture, her own invention.</p>

<p>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&mdash;now a royal personage, now a gardener's maid.</p>

<p>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 man&oelig;uvres of the courtesan, were required to keep
Mme. de Pompadour seated in this position, which was
surrounded by snares and dangers.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id="page316"></a>[pg 316]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 <i>bourgeoisie</i>.
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&mdash;the king satisfying his
utter depravity, and Mme. de Pompadour making herself
all the more secure against a possible rival.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id="page317"></a>[pg 317]</span>

<p>All this time her active brain was ever planning for
higher honors and greater power. She aspired to becoming
<i>dame de palais</i>, 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.</p>

<p>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:</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p class="i8">"Ainsi donc vous réunissez</p>
<p>Tous les arts, tous les goûts, tous les talents de plaire;</p>
<p class="i8">Pompadour vous embellissez</p>
<p class="i8">La Cour, le Parnasse et Cythère,</p>
<p>Charme de tous les c&oelig;urs, trésor d'un seul mortel,</p>
<p class="i8">Qu'un sort si beau soit éternel!"</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>[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!]</p>

<p>Voltaire dedicated his <i>Tancrède</i> to her; in fact, his influence
and favor were so great that he was about to receive
an invitation to the <i>petits soupers</i> 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
Crébillon, who had given her elocution lessons in her
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page318" id="page318"></a>[pg 318]</span>
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.</p>

<p>It was Mme. de Pompadour who founded, supported,
and encouraged a national china factory; the French owe
Sèvres 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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:</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page319" id="page319"></a>[pg 319]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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 protégé
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Despite all her political duties and intrigues, she found
time for art and literature. Not one minute of the day
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id="page320"></a>[pg 320]</span>
was lost in idleness, every moment being occupied with
interviews with artists and men of letters, with the furnishers
of her numerous châteaux, 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.</p>

<p>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
protégés; the clergy went to her and laid before her their
plaints, and through her the financiers arranged their transactions
with the state.</p>

<p>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:</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page321" id="page321"></a>[pg 321]</span>

<p>"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."</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>She was the greatest patroness of art that France ever
possessed, giving to it the best hours of her leisure; it was
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page322" id="page322"></a>[pg 322]</span>
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&mdash;the
carriage, the <i>cheminée</i>, sofa, bed, chair, fan, and
even the <i>étui</i> 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."</p>

<p>In <i>The Old Régime</i>, 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. <i>Les Gobelins</i>, the carpets of the Savonnerie, the
<i>porcelaine de Sèvres</i>, were all, at her request, declared
<i>Manufactures Royales</i>. Some of the finest specimens of
the products of Sèvres, in ornamental groups of figures,
were modelled and painted by Mme. de Pompadour, as
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page323" id="page323"></a>[pg 323]</span>
presents to the queen.... The name of Pompadour
is, indeed, intimately associated with a whole school of art
of the Louis Quinze period&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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,&mdash;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,"&mdash;Mme. du Barry.</p>

<p>Mme. du Barry was the natural daughter of Anne Béqus,
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page324" id="page324"></a>[pg 324]</span>
to Toulouse, where he was stationed, while his wife was
lodged at Versailles, within easy access of the king's own chamber.</p>


<p>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.:</p>

<p>"The great day had arrived&mdash;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&mdash;informed
that to-day Mme. du Barry is to have the
honor of being presented to Your Majesty&mdash;have come
from all parts to witness her <i>entrée</i>, not being able to witness
the reception Your Majesty will give her.' The time
has long since passed&mdash;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&mdash;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
Béarn, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page325" id="page325"></a>[pg 325]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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 <i>mignonne</i> 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 Hébé; about her hovered
that charm of intoxication, which made Voltaire cry out
before one of her portraits: <i>L'original était fait pour les
dieux!</i> [The original was made for the gods!]</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page326" id="page326"></a>[pg 326]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 écus 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.</p>

<p>Her life was a mere senseless dream of <i>femme galante</i>,
a luxurious revel, a constant whirl of pleasures, and extravagance
in jewelry, silks, gems, etc. A service in silver
was no longer rich enough&mdash;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 <i>contrôleur
général</i>, the Abbé 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page327" id="page327"></a>[pg 327]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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 <i>clientèle</i> are no longer
artists, philosophers, poets&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page328" id="page328"></a>[pg 328]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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-Pélagie they
took her to the Conciergerie, to the room which Marie Antoinette had occupied.</p>

<p>Accused of being the instrument of Pitt, of being an
accomplice in the foreign war, of the insurrection in La
Vendée, 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
République. 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&mdash;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!
<i>A moi! A moi!</i>" and the heavy iron cut short her pitiful
screams, thus ending the life of the last royal mistress.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page329" id="page329"></a>[pg 329]</span>




<h2>Chapter XII</h2>

<h2>Marie Antoinette and the Revolution</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page331" id="page331"></a>[pg 331]</span>


<p>The condition of France at the end of the reign of
Louis XV. was most deplorable&mdash;injustice, misery, bankruptcy,
and instability everywhere. The action of the
law could be overridden by the use of arbitrary warrants
of arrest&mdash;<i>lettres de cachet</i>. 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page332" id="page332"></a>[pg 332]</span>
of disheartened acquiescence or lost their fortunes and
reputations in hopeless revolt.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;Turgot, on account of
his philosophical principles, Necker, on account of his Protestantism.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>At the time of the accession of Louis XVI., when poverty
was general over the kingdom, the household of the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page333" id="page333"></a>[pg 333]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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
rôle. 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page334" id="page334"></a>[pg 334]</span>
were enchanted with her, and to them she owes no small
part of her posthumous popularity.</p>

<p>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 Guéménée, 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 Guéménée, where she contracted
the ills of a chronically empty purse and late hours.
When attacked by measles, to relieve her ennui&mdash;which
her ladies were not successful in doing&mdash;she procured the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page335" id="page335"></a>[pg 335]</span>
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&mdash;such
as De Besenval, the Duc de Coigny, and the Duc de Guines.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;a favor which the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page336" id="page336"></a>[pg 336]</span>
dissipated and weak king granted. Louis XV. was nothing
more than a slave to vice and his mistresses. The king's
daughters&mdash;Mmes. Adelaïde, Victoire, and Sophie&mdash;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&mdash;Mmes. Clotilde and
Elisabeth&mdash;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&mdash;the time of her appearance.</p>

<p>At that time there were two parties&mdash;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 <i>dèvôts</i> and were led by
Chancellor Maupeau and the Duc d'Aiguillon. This faction,
with the mistress&mdash;Mme. du Barry&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page337" id="page337"></a>[pg 337]</span>
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.</p>

<p>At first her aunts&mdash;Mmes. Adelaïde and Sophie&mdash;succeeded
in partially estranging her from Louis XV., who
had taken a strong fancy to his granddaughter; but this
influence was soon overcome&mdash;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&mdash;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&mdash;this was
about 1774, when she was at the height of her popularity.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page338" id="page338"></a>[pg 338]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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. Adelaïde 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Tidings of these extravagances of the queen and her
court in time reached the empress-mother in Vienna.
Marie Thérèse severely reproached her daughter, writing:
"My daughter, my dear daughter, the first queen&mdash;is she
to grow like this? The idea is insupportable to me." Yet,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page339" id="page339"></a>[pg 339]</span>
"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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 <i>Mercure de France</i>, all sorts
of stories, from so-called trustworthy information, on the
king, on society, and especially on the doings of the queen.</p>

<p>Marie Antoinette's fondness for the chase and the English
racing fad, for gambling, billiards, and her <i>petits soupers</i>
after the riding and racing, gave ample opportunity to
the gossipmongers and enemies. In spite of the vigorous
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page340" id="page340"></a>[pg 340]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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
Orléans 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page341" id="page341"></a>[pg 341]</span>
been raised to fifty thousand écus, 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>By spending so much of her time at the salons of Mme.
de Polignac and the Princesse de Guéménée, the queen
excited the displeasure and enmity of many of the court
and the people; at those places, De Besenval, De Ligny,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page342" id="page342"></a>[pg 342]</span>
De Lauzun,&mdash;men of the most licentious habits and expert
spendthrifts,&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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, <i>The Life of Marie
Antoinette</i>, gives as the source of her great love of pleasure
her very strongly affectionate disposition,&mdash;the need
of showering upon someone the overflowing of an ardent
nature,&mdash;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 château "Little
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page343" id="page343"></a>[pg 343]</span>
Trianon," where she might enjoy herself as she liked,
away from the intrigues of court.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>There was constant festivity about the queen and her
companions, but no etiquette; there was no household,
only friends&mdash;the Polignacs, Mme. Elisabeth, Monsieur,
the Comte d'Artois, and, occasionally, the king. To be
sure, the amusements were innocent&mdash;open-air balls, rides,
lawn fêtes, 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&mdash;with the exception of Voltaire;
the queen refused to patronize a man whose view upon
morality had caused so much trouble.</p>

<p>Music and the drama received especial protection from
her. The triumph of Gluck's <i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i>, in 1774,
was the first victory of Marie Antoinette over the former
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page344" id="page344"></a>[pg 344]</span>
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
<i>Roland</i> was arranged for him by Marmontel and
was presented in 1778, unsuccessfully; Gluck presented
his <i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i>, 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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page345" id="page345"></a>[pg 345]</span>
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,&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page346" id="page346"></a>[pg 346]</span>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> 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 Alençon could produce, the
most gorgeous equipages, the most expensive furniture,
inlaid and carved, the tapestry of Beauvais and the porcelain
of Sèvres&mdash;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: <i>A bas l'Autrichienne!</i></p>

<p>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
<i>corps d'armée</i> which was to be sent to America. When
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page347" id="page347"></a>[pg 347]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Events were fast diminishing the popularity of the
queen. When, after the long-disputed question of presenting
the <i>Marriage of Figaro</i>, she herself undertook to
play in <i>The Barber of Seville</i> 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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page348" id="page348"></a>[pg 348]</span>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 château so that they would not communicate
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page349" id="page349"></a>[pg 349]</span>
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.</p>

<p>The last period of the life of the queen, La Rocheterie
calls the militant period&mdash;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&mdash;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'Orléans was always
applauded, to her humiliation.</p>

<p>Whatever may have been the faults and excesses of
her youth, their period was over and in their place arose
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page350" id="page350"></a>[pg 350]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;submissive, dignified, "majestic in her bearing,
heroic, and reconciled to her awful fate."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page351" id="page351"></a>[pg 351]</span>
measure, since the victim was a woman who possessed honors without power."</p>

<p>Because Marie Antoinette played a romantic rôle 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&mdash;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&mdash;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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page352" id="page352"></a>[pg 352]</span>
of her friends' doings, while her social triumphs were
products of her own activity. The two women&mdash;her intimate
friends&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;not one <i>bon mot</i> has survived her; but
she may well be placed by the side of her queen for one
sublime virtue, too rare in those days,&mdash;chastity. She
was Princess of Sardinia; upon the request of the Duke
of Penthièvre 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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page353" id="page353"></a>[pg 353]</span>
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,
fêtes, and other amusements, she was inseparable
from the princess, who was indeed a rare exception to the
majority of the women of that time.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Mr. Dobson says she was scarcely the <i>discrète et insinuante
et touchante Lamballe</i>, with a marvellous sang-froid,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page354" id="page354"></a>[pg 354]</span>
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,&mdash;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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page355" id="page355"></a>[pg 355]</span>




<h2>Chapter XIII</h2>

<h2>Women of the Revolution and the Empire</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page357" id="page357"></a>[pg 357]</span>


<p>Many women of the revolutionary period have no claim
for mention other than a last glorious moment on the
guillotine&mdash;"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 régime, there was merely the outward appearance&mdash;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."</p>

<p>During the Directorate, luxury and libertinism reigned
almost as absolutely as during the monarchy. Barras was
supreme. He had his mistress, or <i>maîtresse-en-titre</i>, in the
beautiful Mme. Tallien, the queen of beauty of the salon of
<i>la mode</i>. Ease and dissolute enjoyment were the aims
of Barras, and in these his mistress was his equal. They
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page358" id="page358"></a>[pg 358]</span>
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.</p>

<p>The salons under the Empire are said to have preserved
French politeness, courtesy, and the usages of <i>la bonne
compagnie</i>, 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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page359" id="page359"></a>[pg 359]</span>
fusion of the element just described with the remnant of
the old régime. 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 régime, which were revived
at the Hôtel d'Anjou.</p>

<p>The salon of Mme. de Staël 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 Château de Mortfoulaine; at Lucien Bonaparte's
hôtel 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;the fate of all historical characters.
It would be difficult to estimate this remarkable
person and her work without some details of her life.</p>

<p>When a mere girl she showed signs of a tempestuous
future; she was seductive, but impulsive, with an inborn
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page360" id="page360"></a>[pg 360]</span>
love for the common people&mdash;which is not always credited
to her&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 Platières 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.</p>

<p>Roland, scrupulously conscientious, painstaking, and observing,
had won the position of inspector of manufactures,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page361" id="page361"></a>[pg 361]</span>
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 <i>Patriote Français</i>, 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.</p>

<p>When, in 1791, Mme. Roland arrived at Paris&mdash;for she
accompanied her husband&mdash;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, Pétion, Condorcet, Buzot, and others
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page362" id="page362"></a>[pg 362]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page363" id="page363"></a>[pg 363]</span>

<p>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, <i>The Sentinel</i>, 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.</p>

<p>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 coöperated in composing and promulgating the
numerous writings of her husband by which public opinion
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page364" id="page364"></a>[pg 364]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page365" id="page365"></a>[pg 365]</span>
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!"</p>

<p>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&mdash;Sainte-Pélagie. 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.</p>

<p>The charge against her when before the bar of judgment
of Fouquier-Tinville, the terrible prosecutor, consisted in
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page366" id="page366"></a>[pg 366]</span>
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&mdash;one of the best and greatest
women known to French history. She stands out as a
representative of the French Republic.</p>

<p>There are a number of traits of Mme. Roland which
should be considered before giving a final estimate of her
character, of her rôle 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 rôle for which her origin had not destined her,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page367" id="page367"></a>[pg 367]</span>
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&mdash;as the
genius among them by her force, purity, and grace&mdash;the
brilliant and austere muse in all the saintliness of martyrdom.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;a too
great ambition, which often led her into perilous paths,
even to the scaffold, which, in its turn, covered her errors.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page368" id="page368"></a>[pg 368]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page369" id="page369"></a>[pg 369]</span>
people." Thus, her philosophy led her to a complete
detachment from her individual self, and fostered the idea
of dying for her country.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Possibly the rarest phenomenon in the history of the
illustrious women of France is Mme. Récamier, 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 Récamier 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page370" id="page370"></a>[pg 370]</span>
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.
Récamier, 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 <i>finesse</i> 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.</p>

<p>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 <i>sous-entendu</i> 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.
Récamier&mdash;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&mdash;at the ball, the theatre&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page371" id="page371"></a>[pg 371]</span>
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&mdash;a style she affected the year around.</p>

<p>But her beauty alone could hardly have contributed to
the marvellous success of Mme. Récamier, 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&mdash;foreigners and Frenchmen, princes and the
middle classes, saints and worldlings, philosophers and
artists, adversaries as well as partisans&mdash;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
élite 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page372" id="page372"></a>[pg 372]</span>
worshippers. To these qualities, as much as to her beauty,
were due the harmony of her life, the unity of her character&mdash;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&mdash;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,&mdash;ennui.</p>

<p>Two splendid portraits of Mme. Récamier 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. Récamier, 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. Récamier, 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page373" id="page373"></a>[pg 373]</span>
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. Récamier 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 fêtes under the Directorate.</p>

<p>In 1798 M. Récamier bought the house formerly tenanted
by Necker, and later established himself in a château 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&mdash;persisting
in her line of conduct in spite of her friend
Fouché&mdash;she finally incurred the enmity of the emperor.
Even the Princess Caroline endeavored to obtain Mme.
Récamier's friendship for Napoleon, "but, although the
princess gave her <i>loge</i> 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 Récamier's bank he
replied: "I am not in love with Mme. Récamier!" Thus,
because his wife preferred the aristocracy to the favors of
Napoleon, the banker lost his fortune.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page374" id="page374"></a>[pg 374]</span>

<p>She, however, bore her misfortunes with great reserve,
immediately selling her jewels and her hôtel; 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 Staël, 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 Staël, 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.</p>

<p>Upon the fall of Napoleon, Mme. Récamier returned to
Paris and, her husband's fortune being restored, gathered
about her all the great nobles of the ancient régime. 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&mdash;such as Chateaubriand
and the Duc de Montmorency. Between her and the
famous author of <i>Le Génie du Christianisme</i> 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page375" id="page375"></a>[pg 375]</span>
and with whom he spent every evening, encouraged his
friendship with Mme. Récamier. 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. Récamier, 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.</p>

<p>The influence possessed by Mme. Récamier 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.</p>

<p>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 <i>abbaye</i>, 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&mdash;he being seventy-nine,
she seventy-one&mdash;and bear his illustrious name. "Why
should we marry at our age?" Mme. Récamier replied.
"There is no impropriety in my taking care of you. If
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page376" id="page376"></a>[pg 376]</span>
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.</p>

<p>There is a wide difference between Mme. Récamier 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 <i>noblesse</i>
of the old régime.</p>

<p>"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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page377" id="page377"></a>[pg 377]</span>
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
régime than was found there,&mdash;David, Lebrun, Lesueur,
Grétry, Cherubini, Méhul, J. Chénier, Hoffman, Ducis,
Désaugiers, Legouvé, and others.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;she had gone to meet
him, but missed him,&mdash;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 <i>coup d'état</i>.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page378" id="page378"></a>[pg 378]</span>
charmed such persons as Barras, Gohier, Fouché, Moreau,
Talleyrand, Sièyes, 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 <i>émigrés</i>. At that time she was probably the
most important figure in France. The <i>émigrés</i> 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 Fouché, the representative of the revolutionary
element&mdash;the aristocracy, by her dignity and
refinement. Her whole appearance had a peculiar charm.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page379" id="page379"></a>[pg 379]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page381" id="page381"></a>[pg 381]</span>




<h2>Chapter XIV</h2>

<h2>Women of the Nineteenth Century</h2>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page383" id="page383"></a>[pg 383]</span>


<p>Among the unusually large number of prominent French
women which the nineteenth century produced, possibly
not more than a half-dozen names will survive,&mdash;Mme.
de Staël, 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&mdash;all of which tended to open a field for
women more extensive than in any preceding century.</p>

<p>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 régime, 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 Staël, but her influence and work
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page384" id="page384"></a>[pg 384]</span>
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.</p>

<p>Her mother, the Mme. Necker of salon fame, endeavored
to bring up her daughter as the <i>chef d'&oelig;uvre</i> of natural
art,&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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, Staël-Holstein, a man
of good family, but with little money and plenty of debts,
who had been looking out for a comfortable dowry. In
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page385" id="page385"></a>[pg 385]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Her salon was the centre of the élite 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 <i>Réflexions sur le Procès de la Reine</i>, 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.</p>

<p>After the violence of her love for Benjamin Constant,
who drew her back to politics, was somewhat cooled, she
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page386" id="page386"></a>[pg 386]</span>
became an ardent Republican, writing her treatise <i>Réflexions
sur la Paix adressées a M. Pitt et aux Anglais</i>, which
facilitated her return in 1795 to Paris, where she found
her husband reinstalled as ambassador. Her hôtel in the
Rue de Bac was reopened, and she proceeded to form a
salon from the débris of society floating about in Paris. It
was an assembly of queer characters&mdash;elements of the old
and new régime, but not at all reconciled, converts of the
Jacobin party returning for the first time into society,
surrounded by the women of the old régime, using all
imaginable efforts and flattery to obtain the <i>rentrée</i> 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.</p>

<p>Through the influence of Mme. de Staël, the decree of
banishment was repealed by the convention, thus opening
Paris to Talleyrand. In 1795 appeared her <i>Réflexions sur
la Paix Intérieure</i>; 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
Comité 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 <i>Les Passions</i> 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."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page387" id="page387"></a>[pg 387]</span>
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 <i>De la
Littérature Considérée sous ses Rapports avec les Institutions
Sociales</i>, 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.</p>

<p>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 <i>Dernières Vues de
Politique et de Finance</i>, 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 Staël
of instilling these ideas into her father. Her salon and
forty of her friends were put into the interdict.</p>

<p>After the death of her husband in 1802, she was free to
marry Benjamin Constant; and after refusing him, she
wrote her novel <i>Delphine</i> to give vent to her feelings.
The two famous lines found in almost every work on
Mme. de Staël 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page388" id="page388"></a>[pg 388]</span>
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 <i>aperçu</i> 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&mdash;it is an
adventure of Baron Münchhausen." The philosopher assumed
a tragic attitude, and a spell of silence fell upon the audience.</p>

<p>The result of her visit to Italy was her novel <i>Corinne</i>,
in which the problems of the destiny of women of genius&mdash;the
relative joys of love and glory&mdash;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
<i>incognito</i> 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page389" id="page389"></a>[pg 389]</span>
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.</p>

<p>In 1811 she was secretly married to a young Italian officer,
Albert de Rocca, a handsome man of twenty-three&mdash;she
was then forty-five. In him she realized the conditions
which she described in <i>Delphine</i>, 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 fêtes; Mme. de Staël 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. Récamier
and De Montmorency, who continued to visit Mme.
de Staël. 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.</p>

<p>In the autumn of 1816 she returned to Paris, and spent
a number of months very happily in her old style&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page390" id="page390"></a>[pg 390]</span>
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.</p>

<p>The most important of her works is <i>De l'Allemagne</i>, 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 <i>esprit</i>, eloquence, reason, raillery.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page391" id="page391"></a>[pg 391]</span>
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 <i>Faust</i> were based on her conception.</p>

<p>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 <i>Considérations sur
la Révolution Française</i> 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 Staël 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.</p>

<p>Mme. de Staël 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page392" id="page392"></a>[pg 392]</span>
inspirations, which were always superior to her ideas, and
in her sentiments, which she invariably turned to passions.</p>

<p>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 Staël. In history her influence was
equally felt, especially in Guizot's <i>Essays on the History of
France</i>, and in his <i>History of Civilization</i>, wherein civilization
was considered as the constant progress in justice, in
society, and in the state. To her Guizot owed his idea of
<i>Amour dans le Mariage</i>. <i>The Historical Essays on England</i>,
by Rémusat, an ardent admirer of hers, was largely influenced
by her <i>Considérations</i>, while Tocqueville's <i>Ancien
Régime</i> contains many of her ideas.</p>

<p>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 <i>De l'Allemagne</i> and her <i>Des Passions</i>
freely. The heroine of <i>Jocelyn</i> is called but a daughter of
<i>Delphine</i>, and the same author's terrible invective against
Napoleon was inspired by her.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page393" id="page393"></a>[pg 393]</span>

<p>Mme. de Staël 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;such were the prevailing thoughts of her life and works.</p>

<p>Mme. de Staël'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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page394" id="page394"></a>[pg 394]</span>
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&mdash;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 Staël.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>After a number of unsuccessful efforts of a literary nature,
she wrote <i>Indiana</i>, 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 Château
de Nohant, where she enjoyed the companionship of her
son, her daughter-in-law, and her grandchildren; she died there in 1876.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page395" id="page395"></a>[pg 395]</span>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>Her intellectual development may be traced in her works,
which, from 1830 to 1840, were personal, lyrical, spontaneous&mdash;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&mdash;a love
profound and naïve, exalted and sincere, passionate and
chaste: such is pictured in <i>Indiana</i>. In <i>Valentine</i> 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 <i>allure</i>, an exquisite
style, a freshness and brilliancy, <i>finesse</i> and grace; but
they show an undisciplined talent, giving vent to feelings
that her unbounded enthusiasm would not allow to be
checked&mdash;there is emotion, but no system.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page396" id="page396"></a>[pg 396]</span>

<p>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 <i>Consuelo</i>
and in <i>Comtesse de Rudolstadt</i>. These theory-novels
were soon followed by novels dealing with social problems,
now and then relieved by delightful idyllics such
as <i>La Mare au Diable</i> and <i>François le Champi</i>. This
third tendency M. d'Haussonville considers the least successful.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;love, passion for
humanity, sentiment for Nature.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page397" id="page397"></a>[pg 397]</span>

<p>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:</p>

<p>"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&mdash;beings without conscience&mdash;and
virtue must be burdened with heavy chains."</p>

<p>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&mdash;Jacques&mdash;she gives the advice to take his
own life, so that his wife may be free to love elsewhere.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page398" id="page398"></a>[pg 398]</span>
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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;a thought or a sentiment;
her landscapes belonged to her characters&mdash;there is
always a soul living in them, for, to George Sand, man
and Nature were inseparable.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page399" id="page399"></a>[pg 399]</span>

<p>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 Lemaître 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&mdash;the fanciful and the realistic.</p>

<p>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&mdash;everything was spontaneous.
No preparation of plan did she ever think of&mdash;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&mdash;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!"</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page400" id="page400"></a>[pg 400]</span>
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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;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.</p>

<p>An interesting comparison might be made between Mme.
de Staël 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 Staël 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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page401" id="page401"></a>[pg 401]</span>
Nature. This explains the two natures, their sufferings,
their joys, their writings.</p>

<p>The greatest punishment ever inflicted upon Mme. de
Staël 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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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 rôle.
"She is possibly the only French writer who possessed
no <i>esprit</i> (in the sense that it is used in French
society)&mdash;that playful, epigrammatic, querulous wit of conversation."</p>

<p>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 Staël. George Sand was a genius, a
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page402" id="page402"></a>[pg 402]</span>
master-product of Nature, while Mme. de Staël 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&mdash;but both were great writers.</p>

<p>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 <i>La Mare au Diable</i>
and the <i>Meunier d'Angibault</i> when recalling the fields
where Rosa Bonheur speeds the plow or places the oxen
lowering their patient heads under the yoke."</p>

<p>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 <i>La Mare au Diable</i>
that Rosa conceived the idea of the work which by some
critics is pronounced her masterpiece, <i>Plowing in Nivernais</i>.
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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page403" id="page403"></a>[pg 403]</span>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;she was then but twenty-three years
old; and after 1849, having exhibited some thirty pictures,
her reputation had become European.</p>

<p>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.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page404" id="page404"></a>[pg 404]</span>

<p>Her honors in life were many, though always unsought.
The Empress Eugénie, while regent during the absence
of Napoleon III., went in person to her château 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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;-not even Landseer, who is
said to be "stronger in telling the story than in the manner of telling it."</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page405" id="page405"></a>[pg 405]</span>
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&mdash;who knew and
appreciated their higher qualities. Rosa Bonheur most harmoniously
united two essential elements in art&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page406" id="page406"></a>[pg 406]</span>
at their best in <i>The Horse Fair</i>; the same qualities seem to
have been possessed by many of her contemporaries, such as Troyon.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 <i>Horse Fair</i>,
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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page407" id="page407"></a>[pg 407]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;certainly among great French women&mdash;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&mdash;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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;1775
to 1785. In 1775, but a young girl, admitted to all
the sessions of the Academy as recognition of her portraits
of La Bruyère 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.</p>

<p>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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page408" id="page408"></a>[pg 408]</span>
everywhere. Her famous suppers and entertainments in
her modestly furnished hôtel, at which Garat sang, Grétry
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.</p>

<p>It is doubtful whether any artist&mdash;certainly no French
artist&mdash;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.</p>

<p>In the domain of the dramatic art of the nineteenth century,
two women have made their names well known
throughout Europe and America,&mdash;Rachel, and Sarah Bernhardt,
both tragédiennes and both daughters of Israel.
While Rachel was, without question, the greatest tragédienne
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;a position which she
held for eighteen years, during which she was worshipped
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page409" id="page409"></a>[pg 409]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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&mdash;a true
tenderness and compassion. As a tragédienne 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.</p>

<p>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 rôle 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&mdash;especially
was she incapable of acting at her best on
evenings of her first appearance in a new rôle. 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 <i>Phèdre</i>, and in this rôle
Bernhardt "is weak, unequal. We see all the viciousness
in <i>Phèdre</i> and none of her grandeur. She breaks herself
to pieces against the huge difficulties of the conception
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page410" id="page410"></a>[pg 410]</span>
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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;"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&mdash;passions not deep, but
unbridled and hysterical in their intensest display. Her
<i>forte</i> lies in the ornate and elaborate exhibition of rôles,"
for which she creates the most capricious and fantastic
garbs. She is a great manager,&mdash;omitting the financial
part,&mdash;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 <i>fin de siècle</i> product.</p>

<p>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 <i>Publiciste</i>, and for ten years wrote
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page411" id="page411"></a>[pg 411]</span>
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.</p>

<p>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 Staël, "she was the
woman endowed with the most sagacity and intelligence;
the sentiment that she inspires is that of respect and
esteem&mdash;and these terms can only do her justice."</p>

<p>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."</p>

<p>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&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page412" id="page412"></a>[pg 412]</span>
vigor, depth, precision of form, and strength of expression
seldom found in poetry of French women.</p>

<p>One of the most conspicuous figures in the latter half of
the nineteenth century is Mme. Adam,&mdash;Juliette Lamber,&mdash;an
unusual woman in every respect. In 1879 she founded
the <i>Nouvelle Revue</i>, on the plan of the <i>Revue des Deux
Mondes</i>, 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&mdash;but
modestly sensational&mdash;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, <i>femme de lettres</i>, journalist, and female
politician, no woman is better known in France in the nineteenth century.</p>

<p>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,&mdash;Delphine Gay,&mdash;who ruled,
at least for a short time, the social and literary world of
Paris at her hôtel 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 <i>Courrier Français</i>, for which she wrote
articles on the questions of the day&mdash;effusions which were
written upon the spur of the moment and were very unreliable.
Her dramas were hardly successful, although they
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page413" id="page413"></a>[pg 413]</span>
were played by the great Rachel. Her present claim to
fame is based upon the brilliancy of her salon.</p>

<p>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 Lemaître, she possessed
the gift of <i>écriture artiste</i> 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.</p>

<p>We are accustomed to give Gyp&mdash;Sybille Gabrielle Marie
Antoinette de Riquetti de Mirabeau, Comtesse de Martel
de Janville&mdash;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
<i>risqué</i> 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.</p>

<p>Mme. Blanc&mdash;Thérèse de Solms&mdash;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
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page414" id="page414"></a>[pg 414]</span>
with young men and permitting them to see more of the
world before entering upon married life.</p>

<p>Mme. Gréville, who died recently, deserves a place
among the prominent women writers of France. No
<i>femme de lettres</i> ever received more honors, prizes, and
decorations than she; a number of her writings were
crowned by the Academy. A member of the Société 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&mdash;a wise
act, for it may preserve his name with that of his talented wife.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<hr class="full" />








<pre>





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