DU COMTE DE GRIGNAN A POMPONE
A Grignan, le 7 mcd lôqô.
Vous comprenez si bien, Monsieur, tout ce que l'on peut sentir dans la perte que nous venons de faire, et vous y entrez si sincèrement et pour vous et pour moi, que je me 5 trouve obligé de joindre aux très-humbles remerciements que je dois à vos bontés, un compliment particulier sur votre douleur. En vérité. Monsieur, toutes les personnes qui étoient attachées à Mme de Sévigné par les liens du sang et de l'amitié sont bien à plaindre, et siurtout celles qui 10 ont pu connoitre dans les dernières journées de sa vie toute l'étendue de son mérite et de sa solide vertu. J'aiurai l'honneur quelque jour de vous conter des détails sur cela, qui attireront votre admiration.
Faites-moi la grâce d'être toujours bien persuadé, Mon- 15 sieur, de mon parfait attachement^our vous, et du véritable respect avec lequel je suis votre très-humble et très-obéissant serviteur,
' Grignan.
Ménage (G. de, 1 613-1692) was the tutor and lifelong friend of Mme de Sévigné ; her instructor in Latin, Spanish, and Italian ; a grammarian of great distinction, supposed to be ridiculed by Molière in bis Femmes Savantesy under the name of Vadius. He was a literary ecclesiastic who compiled an Etymological Dictionary of the French language, etc. The letter is undated, though probably written in 1644, fîfty-two years before her last letter.
1 4. Vandro/Ï : the ^s, etc., spelling of the conditional ând imperfect was prévalent to the time of Voltaire (i8th century), who suggested the change to ais^ etc., in order to make the spelling conform to the pronunciation. Relies of the older spelling are found in English reconn^dtre, etc.
1 19. Petites Maisons: a Paris mad-house; alluded to also by La Fontaine, Fable V., Boileau, Sat. IV., etc.
2 6. Devant que de : lyth century French for avant de.
Château of Les Rochers.
Mme de Sévigné passed a great part of her time on her estâtes in Burgundy and Brittany, at Livry near Paris, and at her daughter's château in Provence. The bestknown of thèse résidences, and the one from which most of her letters from the coimtry are dated, is the old-fashioned château des Rochers near Vitré, almost unchanged since Mme de Sévigné inhabited it. " C'est un bâtiment composé de deux corps de logis en équerre qui s'appuient sur une tour centrale du XV^ siècle. L'aspect en est simple et noble ; point d'ornement inutile ; la tour seule, avec son toit élégant, ses clochetons et ses tourelles, a une assez fîère tournure." — G. Boissier: Mme de Sévigné^ p. 146. Hère, amid the parterres and parks, surrounded by orange trees, jasmine, old-fashioned box hedges, and tranquil landscapes, she passed her time reading and writing, embroidering, walking, entertaining friends and visitors, and — economizing, with a view to paying the enormous debts of her son-in-law Grignan.
2 6. Mme de Sévigné sometimes signed " Chantai," sometimes " M. de Rabutin (or Rabustin) Chantai," even after her marriage.
2 10. ce z®' d'octobre: ce is not usual now in dates except in commercial style.
2 12. Coadjatem was a title of Cardinal de Retz (referred to hère), who had been made cardinal in 1650 and archbishop of Paris in 1654. Falling into disfavor, he had been imprisoned but had just escaped from prison.
2 14. The Duc de la Meilleraye was marshal of France in 1639, lieutenant-genend of Brittany, and chîef of artillery; died in 1664.
2 30. Hugues de Rabutin (i 588-1656) : an excellent man of brusque manners.
3 6. Christophe de Coulanges : Abbë of Livry.
3 15. Ménage, who fell in love with Mme de Sëvignë, had said that a certain letter of hers was **worth 10,000 crowns."
3 17. The Abbé Girault was Mënage's secretary, and editor of his Misctllanies,
3 18. Duc de Luyn, son of the Constable, and translator of Descartes' Méditations^ lived to 1690. He proposed marriage to Mme de Sévignë in 1685.
3 19. " Bussy-Rabutin, cousin of Madame de Sévigné, and one of the boldesty most unscrupulous, and most unlucky aspirants aifter fortune, has left a considérable number of letters and memoirs in which he expresses his own projects and wrongs, and, above ail, a scandalous chronicle called the Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules^ in which gossip against ail the ladies of the court, not excepting his own relations and friends, is pitilessly recorded. Bussy had many of the family qualities which show themselves more amiably in the cousin [Mme de Sévignë] whom he libelled.** — G. Saintsbury, p. 317. He afterwards made amends for the libel by penning an admirable portrait of her for a family genealogy. The M. de Sévigné referred to in the preceding letter was her husband (Henri Marquis de Sévigné) and was killed in a duel while still a young man, 1651. Mme de Sévigné's father was also killed in 1627.
4 12. Mme de Châtillon, sister of Marshal de Luxembourg, was the widow of Gaspard de Coligny, Duc de Châtillon, then wife of the Duc de Mecklenbourg, a leading character in the Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules. The allusion is to Cardinal Mazarin's order that Mme de Châtillon should be shut up in the Abbé Foucquet*s house. This Foucquet was a private agent of Mazarin and brother of the financier ; died in 1680.
4 14. The Duchesse de Roquelaure's full name was Charlotte Marie de Daillon du Lude. She died in 1657 ; the inamorata of the Duc d* Anjou.
4 18. Mme de Fiennes married Comte des Chapelles, but did not take his name.
4 20. The queen was Anne of Austria (i 602-1 666).
4 21. This prince d'Harcourt was Charles de Lorraine.
4 21. The Duc de la Feuillade, Viscount d'Aubusson, peer and Marshal of France, died in 1691.
4 22. Nioolaa-Jeannin de Castille, treasurer of Spain.
4 23. Coont Hamilton wrote the Metnoirs of this Count de Gramont, who died in 1707, after serving under Condë and Turenne.
4 30. The Louvre was then the officiai résidence of the French court. It was afterwards united with the Tuileries and is now a magnificent muséum of art and antiquities.
4 31. Mesnard remarks that an académiste was a young man of family who attended a fencing or riding académie.
4 32. Campos : holiday.
6 4. Mt de Pompone, to whom Mme de Sévigné addressed so many letters, was the son of Amauld d'Andilly and nephew of the famous Jansenist, Antoine Amauld. The Amaulds were connected with the great school of Port Royal where Racine, Nicole, and Pascal often lived and labored. '* The society was early imbued with Jansenist principles, which brought it into violent conflict with the Jesuits, and eventually led to its persécution and destruction." — Saintsbury. Pascal's Lettres Provinciales were one product of this controversy.
5 5. N. Foucquet (161 5-1680), the famous superintendent of finances, solidtor gênerai, and agent of Cardinal Mazarin in the War of the Fronde, was a great friend and admirer of Mme de Sévigné, and his trial for malversation i n office, so graphically described by the letter, is one of the most celebrated in French history.
'5 6. être sur la sellette : ^ to âe crass-examined.
6 7. The chancellor who conducted the trial was Pierre Seguier (i 58S- 1672), odious on account of his connection with the trial of de Thou.
5-13. compagnies souyeraines: ''tribunals against whose décisions there was no appeal." — Masson.
6 3. Any kind of tax ; later, sait tax only.
6 3. Foucquet was accused of receiving a pension of 120,000 livres from the farmers of the salt-tax impost.
6 7. The sister was Marie-Angélique de Sainte-Thérèse Amauld d'Andilly, who had been sent with her aunt, Mother Agnès, to the Couvent of the Daughters of the Visitation, in the Faubourg Saint Jacques. The sister had just signed the deed condemning as heretical the five •• propositions " of Jansenius.
6 12. Gigeri was a fortified place in Algiers from which the French under the Duke de Beaufort and General Gadagne were driven in 1664.
6 18. N. Pavillon (i 597-1 677) was bishop of Aleth, a devout Jansenist
Pire Annat (i 607-1 670) was opposed to him, a Jesuit and confesser of the king (Louis XIV.).
6 27. The octroi duties were laid upon goods intended for town consumption and were once employed in paying municipal expenses.
6 31. The rapporteur was the upright O. le F. d'Ormesson (161 6-1 686).
7 4. sur quoi: for more modem sur lequel^ when a definite antécédent is referred to.
7 9. emplâtre : a remedy sent to the queen by Mme Foucquet through her daughter, Marie Foucquet, Duchesse de Charost, which cured her of a dangerous illness.
7 13. T ♦ ♦ * : = d'Ormesson.
7 16. The Arsenal, Foucquet's place of confinement, is now a fine public library.
7 17. Ladies then often wore masques, called loups , in the Italian fashion.
7 18. D'Artagnan was a captain of musketeers.
7 32. pal été YOir : a common use of être as a verb of motion, followed by an infinitive without préposition. — The voisine was Mme du Plessis-Guënëgaud, intimate with Mme de Sévigné and known as " Amalthée " in Mlle de Scudéry's romance of La Clélie,
7 34. Sapho was the "fancy " name of Mlle de Scudéry (1627-1701), who wrote Le Grand Cyrus and other celebrated works, the most famons ** bluestocking " of her time. See Crane's Société Française au XVII' Siècle.
8 8. The Bastille at Paris was a strong fortress used as a state prison, built by order of Charles V., between 1370 and 1383. The prisoners were often noblemen, authors (such as Voltaire), savants, priests, and publishers. It was destroyed by an infuriated mob July 14, 1789 (the national holiday of France), and some of the keys to the dungeons were presented by Laifayette to Washington and now hang at Mt. Vemon.
8 8. J. Foucaut was the clerk who read the sentence to Foucquet. 8 16. Jean Pecquet was a celebrated anatomist, member of the Academy of Sciences, physician to Foucquet and to Mme de Sévigné.
8 16. Layalée was Foucquet's valet.
9 4. Pignerol was a fortified state prison in Sardinia, said to hâve been one of the places where the ** man in the Iron mask ** was imprisoned. The identity of this man has never been settled.
9 5. Saint-Mars was maréchal des logis to the musketeers, and died governor of the Bastille in 1708.
9 14. Marie Elisabeth Foucquet was abbess of the Parc-aux-Dames, near Senlis.
9 15. This écnyer was G. Foucquet, the superintendent's brother and equerry to the king.
9 17. Marie Foucquet, Duchesse de Charost, was Foucquet's daughter. Âncenis was a village near Nantes.
9 18. Gisancourt was one of Foucquet's judges.
9 19. Ayant is now used for tixne, devant for space.
9 21. ChamUlard was master of pétitions and intendant of Caen. Chamillard's son was controller-general of finances towards the end of Louis XIV.'s reign.
9 21. Henri Possort, an opponent of Foucquet, was maternai uncle of Colbert, the financier.
9 23. The quotation is from Vergil's uSneid^ I. 1 1 : ** Such wrath in soûls celestial I **
9 34. The baisemain was a form of salutation which grew out of the feudal custom of the vassal kissing his lord's hand in acknowledgment of vassalagé, still common in the Spanish phrase "1 kiss your hands " {le beso à usted las tnanos). In this famous letter Mme de Sëvigné writes with ail the power of offended genius and family affection to a disloyal relative who had cnielly satirized some of her personal peculiarities.
10 12. foiblçsse: novï faiblesse ; cf. English /<7/^/^, from old French spelling of the adjective.
10 13. Mme de Bouillon (Marie-Anne Mancini) was wife of the Duke de Bouillon, nephew of Turenne, brother of the cardinal.
10 15. The disgraciés referred to were probably Foucquet and Cardinal de Retz.
10 24. De Chalon (J. de Neuchèse) was Mme de Sévigné's greatuncle and bishop of Chalon.
10 28. Neuchèse was the bishop's heir.
11 4. une dame, etc. : Mme de Montglas, Bussy-Rabutin's mistress. 11 15. Mme de la Banme, nie Catherine de Bonne, comtesse de Tal-
lart, nièce of the first Marshal de Villeroi, was one of B. Rabutin's former ladyloves.
11 19. de sourire: the so-called historical (or independent) infinitive = imperfect
11 24. bigarrés: allusion to a passage in B. Rabutin's Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules in which Mme de Sévigné's eyes are laughingly called paupières bigarrées.
11 29. enchâssé : wellframed, It was the fad of the day to ** paint ^ literary portraits of people ; witness La Bruyère*s celebrated Caractères.
12 2. The Palais-Royal was originally the Palais Cardinal, built in 1 629-1 636 for Richelieu by the famous architect Lemerder and presented to
the king by the cardinal. Cf. Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII. in relation to Hampton Court.
12 7. amour : of either gender in the I7th century.
12 12. innocente : an innocent — a fool.
12 31. Germaine Louise d'AncienviUe, Marchioness d'Époisse.
13 1. Note ait tort, corrected in the Aimé-Martin édition to aie tort 13 7. de croire : an unusual inversion for vous auriez tort de croire^ etc. 13 9. verbaliser : = chatter.
13 20. placet : pétition ; a Latin légal term, as in English one says a caveatf etc.
13 26. Rabutinage: family relationship ; Mme de Sévigné's maiden name was Marie de Rabutin. — Bussy-Rabutin afterwards made the atnendt honorable to the memory of his cousin in the portrait of Mme de Sévigné which he left in MS. and in the following epitaph which he wrote beneath one of her pictnres :
" Marie de Rabutin,
Marquise de Sévigné,
Fille du Baron de Chantai,
Femme d'un génie extraordinaire
Et d'une solide Vertu,
Compatibles avec beaucoup d'agréments." *
13 28. Thèse three marshals were Créquy, Bellefonds, and Humières, cousin of Bussy. — Mme de Villars was Bellefonds' aunt and mother of Villars, marshal of France in 1702.
13 32. The fille alluded to was her own daughter, Mlle de Sévigné, afterwards Mme de Grignan.
14 15. Charles de Ste.-Maure became Baron de Montausier in 1635, govemor of Normandy in 1663, duke in 1664. In 1645 ^^ married the famous *' bluestocking " Julie d'Angennes, to whom he addressed the magnificent volume entitled La Guirlande de Julie. She was the sister of the first wife of Comte de Grignan.
14 16. Dauphin was the title given, from the times of Philip of Valois, to the eldest son of the kings of France after the union of Dauphiny with the crown, the last lord of Dauphiny, Humbert III., in 1343, having ceded his seignory on condition that the title " Dauphin *' should be borne by the heir to the throne. — The well-known " Dauphin " or " Delphini " éditions of the classics were made by order of Louis XIV. for his son the Dauphin (called the *' Grand Dauphin '*) whose teacher was Bossuet.
14 17. Altération of a well-known Une from Comeille's Cinna^ V. 3, which reads thus : '* Je t'en avois comblé, je t'en veux accabler " (the en referring to bienfaits).
14 25. This letter is the famous one containing the announcement of Mlle de Sévigné's engagement to Connt de Grignan, to which (aifter the marriage) we owe this celebrated séries of letters, rightf ully placing Mme de Sévigné among the Grands Écrivains of France (edited in fourteen octavo vols, by MM. Monmerqué and Mesnard : Hachette, 1862).
15 9. Connt de Grignan (François Adhëmar), lientenant-general oi Provence, was bom in 1629 and died about 17 14, having been twice mar ried before marrying Mlle de Sévigné. His other wives were Angélique Clarice d'Angennes and Angélique du Puy du Fou.
16 19. The archbishop died in 1669, eighty-six years of âge. His brother succeeded him as bishop of St. Paul Trois Châteaux and became count-bishop of Uzès, dying in 1674.
15 26. article sur quoi : at présent, sur lequel.
15 30. Through the Vassé connection Mme de Sévigné was related to Cardinal de Retz. — The letter enumerates many names remarkable in French history, — Montmorency, Rohan, Du Bellay, Du Guesclin, etc.
16 25. The lords of Commerci (says St. Simon, Mém, 178, 122) were called damoiseau^ a title given under the feudal System to nobleinen not yet knights. In 1639 Cardinal de Retz (who writes this letter) had become damoiseau by the death of a maternai aunt. He had retired to Commerci in 1662.
16 26. This lady was a Montmorency who first married Gaspard de Coligny and then the Duke of Meckelbourg (Mecklenburg), better known as the Duchesse de Châtillon, celebrated for her gallantries (see Hist Amoureuse des Gaules).
16 27. Maréchal d'Albret was brother of the Chevalier d'Albret who killed Mme de Sévigné's husband in a duel.
17 7. conclusion : référence to the final arrangements for the marriage of Mlle de Sévigné to Comte de Grignan.
17 17. dataire : the dataire or prodataire was the highest officiai of the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical courts, through whose hands ail vacant bénéfices, except the consistorial, pass ; so called because it was his business to mark the dates of pétitions.
17 18. Daterie : the Roman chancelry.
17 29. ordinaire : the first regular, or ordinary post-messenger.
18 4. De Grignan was lieutenant-general of Provence and was constantly travelling on officiai business.
18 5. In her letter of June, 1672, Mme de Sévigné had said that the musician Camus esteemed de Grignan's voice and musical culture very highly.
18 18. La Rochefoucauld, bom in 161 3, dead in 1680, was perhaps after Pascal the most famous of the epigram writeis of the I7th century.
anthor of the Maxims^ gênerai in the War of the Fronde, and a pronounced pessimist.
18 19. son fils : the Prince de Marsillac (1634-17 14).
18 20. Mme de La Fayette (a cousin and intimate friend of Mme de Sévigné) enjoys the distinction of having written the first real novd — La Princesse de Clives — in the French language. It revolutionized novel writing in France. She was bom 1634, died 1693. See Ginn & Company's excellent édition by Professors Sledd and Gorrell.
18 21. The tante was the Marchioness de Trousse. Mme de Sévigné constantly calls the Abbé of livry (C. de Coulanges, 1 607-1 687) mm abbét le bon abbéf le bien bon, etc.
18 25. The king commuted Valcroissant's punishment, and the latter afterwards showed his gratitude by assisting de Grignan's son. — The gaileys ceased to be used in 1748 and the galley slaves were thereafter employed on fortifications, harbors, etc.
19 5. This is the Brancas, Marquis de Monbec, etc., cÂez/a/ier d*Aûnneur to Anne of Austria, whose extraordinary absent-mindedness caused him to be satirized by La Bruyère under the name of " Mënalque " in the Caractères, He was greatly instrumental in bringing abont the Grignan-Sévigné marriage.
19 12. A portion of letter 112 has been omitted.
20 19. Mme de Rochefort, née Madeline de Laval Bois-Dauphin, was wife of the Marquis de Rochefort, marshal of France in 1675, ^^^ became lady-in-waiting to the queen in 1673.
20 21. la mère, Marie Séguier, Marquise de Coislin, etc. (The name Séguier is now spelled Séguier^ now Seguier.)
20 26. The Pont-Neuf was built by Henri IV. and was famous for its open-air singers and buffoons who stationed themselves on the bridge and performed ; still in existence.
20 26. Quasi was much used down to the eighteenth century; = presque,
21 3. Coadjutenr : = Adhémar de M. de Grignan, brother of Comte de Grignan, archbishop of Claudiopolis, coadjutor of his uncle, who was archbishop of Arles, and himself archbishop of Arles in 1689 ; often nicknamed " Seigneur Corbeau " (Lord Raven) in thèse letters on account of his dark complexion.
21 4. Marie A. H. de Lorraine, sister of the Prince d'Harcourt, married the Portuguese Duke de Cadaval in 1671. Her mother was the de Grignans' aunt.
21 5. Hugues de Lionne, from 1661 foreign secretaryof state, was the Duke de Cadaval's agent in arranging the d'Harcourt marriage.
22 5. Sainte-Harie was the convent of the Visitation in the faubourg St. Jacques, founded in 1626 ; now belonging to the Ladies of St. Michel.
22 14. Mme de La Fayette lived in the Rue de Vaugirard, opposite the Petit Luxembourg.
22 20. Merlusine, nickname given by Mme de Sévigné and her daughter to the Comtesse de Marans ; derived from the spiteful fairy Merlusine or Mellusine of the old French romances. The countess, it seems, had spoken evil of Mme de Grignan.
22 21. The Abbé D'HacquevlUe was aprivy counsellor, friend of Cardinal de Retz and of the Se vignes; died 1678.
22 30-31. Thèse were the Great and the Little Arsenal, united by a handsome garden apparently used as a public promenade. — The Marquise de Troche was Marie Godde (Gode) de Varennes.
23 7. The Marquise de Layardin (died 1694) was a de Rostaing.
23 27. Mlle d'Houdancourt married the Duc de Ventadour, a nobleman proverbial for his ugliness ; govemess of Louis XV.
23 29. Bishop of Lodève and then of Viviers.
23 30. Banished to Châteauroux for many years, the Princesse de Condé died there in 1694. She was a nièce of Cardinal de Richelieu.
23 33. d'Estampes was président of the Grand Council, privy counsellor, ambassador to Holland, etc.; died 1671.
23 ZZ, Mme de Mazarin was Hortense Mancini, nièce of Cardinal Mazarin, and wife of Armand-Charles, son of Marshal de la Meilleraye, who had taken the name of Mazarin. She was bom at Rome in 1646 and died in England in 1699. ^^^ extravagance and his dévotion are graphically described by St Simon, Vol. X., p. 277, seq,
24 2. Lys, a former Cisterdan abbey near Dijon, belonging to the order of St. Bernard.
24 7. This lady was the beautiful Mlle Bonne de Pons, a relative of Marshal d'Albret, who had married the Marquis d'Heudicourt, grand louvetier (wolf hunter) of France, and became a favorite of Mme de Maintenon. St. Simon called her Mme de Maintenon*s " evil angel," as witty as she was " desperately mean.'*
24 8. de Béthime was envoy to Poland after Sobieski's élection, married the sister of Sobieski's wife, and died envoy to Sweden in
24 9. Mme Scarron,bom Françoise d*Aubigné, widowof thecelebrated comic writer, P. Scarron, after 1660, became in 1669 govemess of the children of Mme de Montespan and Louis XIV. and was later secretly married to the king. She purchased the marquisate of Maintenon.
24 13. The Richelieu and d'Albret palaces, often spoken of in thèse
letters, were near the Sévigné house in the Marais, where Mme Scarron- Maintenon often came to sup ; then a fashionable part of Paris.
25 12. Mlle de Ra3rmo]id was a famous and lovely singer who afterwards became a nun.
26 12. The Comtesse de Lude {née de Bouille)^ wife of the Comte and Duc de Lude, grand master of artillery.
25 13. The récit du ballet referred to seems to hâve been the famous Psyché written by Molière, Corneille, and Quinault, with music by LuUi, performed January I7th at the Tuileries.
25 14. Mme de Villars' husband was ambassador to Spain.
25 25. Jules Mascaron, the distinguished preacher, was bom at MarseiUes in 1634, became bishop of Tulle and Agen, and died in 1702. This year (167 1) he was conducting Lenten services in Mme de Sévigné's paiish, St. Gervais. He was an Oratorian. Louis Bourdaloue (1632-1704) was then preaching at Notre Dame, the cathedral, and was with Bossuet, Fénelon, and Massillon, one of a quartette of celebrated seventeenthcentury preachers. He was a Jesuit.
25 30. le marquis (de Grignan), as yet unbom.
26 2. The grand homme was Louis XIV. and the lady probably Mme de Montespan.
26 7. Voiture (i 598-1 648), a famous writer of vers de société and of letters. "This admirable writer of prose and of verse published absolutely nothing during his lifetime, though his work was in private the delight of the salons." — Saintsbury, p. 249. The king, at the time, was hesitating between de Montespan and de la Vallière.
26 17. The tomb-mausoleum of Henri IL, Duc de Montmorency, Marshal of France, beheaded in 1632, erected at Moulins by his widow.
26 18. Mme de Grignan had met the Marquise de Valença^ and her daughters praying at the tomb of Montmorency. The latter were nièces of Montmorency.
26 22. Langlade was a great friend of La Rochefoucauld and of Mmes de Sévigné and de I^ Fayette, secretary of the Duc de Bouillon (whose Mémoires he is said to hâve composed) ; originally a Frondeur^ then an agent of Mazarin ; died 1 680.
26 34. Mme de Sévigné uses il tn'ennuie in its original impeisonal form =y^ tn'ennuie.
27 10-12. Rouane and Arles are small towns in the south of France, the latter famous for its Roman ruins.
27 12. The Pont : Samt-Esprit.
27 17. Dragon: = anxiety, care; was much used in the seventeenth century, now obsolète.
27 29. The Dauphin was born in November, i66i, and was therefore about nine years old.
27 30. Mme de la Vallière, nie Louise-Françoise de la Baume Le Blanc, 1644, was at first maid of honor to Madame Henriette, became Duchesse de la Vallière in 1667, was succeeded by Mme de Montespan in the king's favor, and died a Carmélite nun in 1 7 1 o. — Mme de Montespan was in f avor in 1 668, and had two chUdren by Louis XIV., one of whom was the Duc de Maine.
28 1. ordinaire : post.
28 3. Charlotte Séguier, Duchesse de Sully, was the daughter of Chancellor Séguier and wife of Henri de Bourbon, son of Henri IV. and the marquise de Vemeuil.
28 3. Mme d' Arpajon was the third wife of the Duc d'Arpajon and lady of honor to the Dauphiness; died 1701.
28 4. Mme de St. Géran was the wife of Count de Saint Géran and lady-in-waiting to the queen.
28 4. M. de Guitaut, Marquis d'Epoisse, was an Intimate friend of the Sévignés.
28 7. The Countess-dowager de Vauvineaux, often called " La Vauvinette" in the letters, was Mlle Aubry ; died 1705.
28 9. à Pâtre : = au foyer,
28 15. Mme de Janson, sister-in-law of the bishop of Marseilles, was Geneviève de Briançon, who married the Marquis de Janson in 1651. — Another letter speaks of a M. le Blanc, who owned the house inhabited by Comte de Guitaut.
28 19. The first part of this letter is omitted. The Rhône is famous for its swiftness and its destructive inundations. Avignon was called by Rabelais la ville sonnante^ the *' city of bells/' on account of its numerous churches; the popes resided there for a time, and the great papal palace is still to be seen. Hère Petrarch first saw Laura in the church of St. Clara, and hère she was buried in the church of the Cordeliers (demolished in 1791). The bridge of Avignon is celebrated in French poetry. John Stuart Mill died at Avignon in 1873.
29 21. la montagne de Tarare, formerly almost impassable, lies on the highway from Roanne to Lyons.
30 4. Avignon and its county were govemed by a papal vice-legate. 30 10. Saint-Qermain, thirteen miles from Paris, was the most famous
résidence of the French kings until the court moved to Versailles. Louis XIII. and XIV. were born in the historic royal castle, now a muséum.
30 14. The queen was Maria Theresa, Infanta of Spain, through whom Louis claimed the Netherlands, etc. In 1685 the king privately married Mme de Maintenon.
30 26. Mlle de la Mothe Houdancoort, a great beauty, had married the humpbacked débauchée Duc de Ventadour, and had the right to sit on the tabouret in the présence of the king and queen.
30 28. le grand maître (of artillery) was the Duc de Lude.
31 7. The Marquis de Bellefonds was first maître d^ hôtel to the king, and became marshal of France, first equerry to the Dauphiness, etc. ; celebrated for his debts and his fréquent visits to the monastery of La Trappe.
31 8. The Duc and Duchesse de Duras. The former succeeded Turenne as marshal of France, was lieutenant-general under Condé, and commanded the French army in Flanders in 1671.
31 9. The Ducs de Charost, father and son, were Béthunes by birth, and the latter was Foucquet's son-in-law. — The Duc de Salles (C. Montausier) was hitor to the Dauphin. His wife, the f amous " bluestocking," Julie-Lucie d'Angennes, was sister of the Comte de Grignan's first wife and first maid of honor to the queen. The letters abound in mention of them.
31 9. Tutti quanti (Italian), everybody. Italian had been fashionable at the court of France since the time of Francis I. and Catherine de Médids. Mme de Se vigne quotes it constantly.
31 11. The celebrated French preacher J. B. Bossuet (i 627-1 704) was bishop of Condom, then of Meaux ; distinguished as f uneral orator, controversialist, historian ; tutor to the Dauphin ; nicknamed " the Eagle of Meaux." " On his appointment to the see of Condom, he struck eut a new Une, that of funeral discourses {Oraisons Funèbres)y and produced, on the occasions of the death of the two Henriettas of England, mother and daughter, of the great Condé, of the Princess Palatine, and of others, Works which are undoubtedly triumphs of French éloquence." — Saintsbury, p. 353.
31 11. This Mademoiselle is apparently Marie-Louise d'Orléans, la petite Mademoiselle (as distinguished from la grande Mademoiselle de Montpensier, who was engaged to marry Lauzun, and originated one of Mme de Sévigné's most famous letters), first wife of Charles IL of Spain, daughter of Monsieur and of Madame Henriette of England, first cousin of the Dauphin. Monsieur was the title of Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, brother of the king, and Monseigneur of the Dauphin.
31 12. Jean Renaud de Segrais was gentleman in ordinary to Madeihoiselle, a collector of songs, and great friend of the Se vignes.
31 15. In the Adventures of Don Quixote (then just translated into French from the Spanish by C. Oudin) Micomicon is the name of the kingdom to which the unfortunate Princess Micomica (Dorothea) is heiress, and which the giant Pandafilando bas wrested from her.
31 15. The Comtesse de Ludres (with whom Charles de Se vigne was
in love) was in tum maid of honor to Mme Henriette, the queen, and the second Duchesse d'Orléans, a favorite of Louis XIV., finally canoness of the abbey of Poussay; died in 1726.
31 22. Mme de Ludres, having been bitten by a supposed mad dog, plunged thrice into the sea, which was a popular cure for hydrophobia.
31 25. Hurlubrelu (properly, hurluberlu, Littri: English, " hurly-burly " ; supposed to be Scotch or Scandinavian. — Century Dictionary), a method of dressing or puffing the hair in confused tiers of ringlets. " On portoit sur le front de petites boucles, de grosses aux deux côtés du visage, et tout autour de la tête un gros bourrelet de cheveux cordonné avec des rubans ou des perles, qui en avoit."
31 26. La Choiseul, probably the Comtesse de, wife of Choiseul, marshal of France.
31 27. Ninon de l'Enclos, born in 161 6, died in 1706, perhaps after Aspasia the most famous literary courtesan that ever lived. Molière, La Rochefoucauld, and Scarron consulted her about their writings ; the young Marquis de Sévigné, La Rochefoucauld, Marshal d'Âlbret, the great Condé, etc;, were among her lovers, and such were her wit and beauty that her salon became a school of manners and culture in the grand siècle, numbering Voltaire among its pupils.
31 27. Un printemps d'hôtellerie : a spring scène in a country inn, where it was fashionable to paint pictures of the seasons on the ceilings, etc.
31 32. This M. de Saint-Germain was a débauchée and friend of St. Pavin, whose father was lord of Livry.
32 10. Comédienne: Anne Desmares (i 644-1698) wife of the Sieur de Champmeslé ; famous for her success in acting Racine's Bérénice.
32 11. The famous critic, satirist, and poet Boileau (Nicolas Despréaux, 1636-1711), "tender in prose, cruel in verse," is often mentioned and quoted in the letters ; author of Art Poétique, Le Lutrin, Satires et Épîtres, etc., historiographer to the king, rival of La Fontaine for a fauteuil in the Academy, imitator of Horace, imitated by Pope.
32 12. Jean Racine (i 639-1 699) : the great dramatic writer, author of Phèdre, Andromaque, Esther, Athalie, rival of Corneille and Molière, called "the tender" on account of his overflowing sentiment and harmonious verse ; often mentioned and quoted by Mme de Sévigné, who ranks Corneille higher.
32 29. The grand Bourdaloue (i 632-1 704), as Mme de Sévigné calls him, was then conducting the Passion Week services and divides with Bossuet, Fénelon, and Massillon the honor of being among the greatest preachers of the seventeenth century. The beauty, éloquence, and daring of his sermons are repeatedly eulogized in the letters.
33 2. Abbé de Montmor, Louis Habert, became bishop of Perpignan, and was son of the Seigneur de Montmor. His brother was intendant of the galleys in the Marseilles department.
3â 9. Monsieur d'Agen, Claude Joly, whom Mascaron succeeded in
33 14. Probably Nicolas le Camus, attomey-general, in 1672 first président of the Court of Succor.
34 8. A part of this letter is omitted. — The château of Chantilly first belonged to the Montmorencys, then, from 1632, to the Condés, and fînally to the family of the Duc d'Aumale, who bequeathed it recently to the French nation. Extraordinary préparations for the réception of Louis XIV. there were made on this occasion. — " To stalk a deer " was courre (not courir) un cerf.
34 16. Vatel (written also Watel in memoirs of the time) was controUer of the Prince de C onde 's household (Monsieur le Prince^ below). Employed as a skilled purveyor by Colbert when the king received Christina, queen of Sweden, etc.
34 21. marée : hère = seafish,
34 30. Probably J. J. Charron de Menars, brother of Mme Colbert, counsellor to parliament, etc. Died 17 18, much liked for his probity. — Mlle de la Grange Neuville was daughter of Charles de la G. Neuville, master of pétitions.
35 4. Moreuil, Alphonse de, seigneur of lismer, first gentleman-inwaiting to the Prince de Condë (addressed as Monseigneur below).
35 13. Jean Hérault de Gounrille was, first, valet to the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, then Qon^i^^ factotum^ finally counsellor of state, author of Mémoires^ etc.
35 16. Gourville relates that ÛCv&fète cost Condé 180,000 livres. There were four principal tables for the king and his suite and fifty-six other tables, ail magnificently served. — The Prince de Condé was Louis II. de Bourbon (1620-1680), at first Duc d'Enghien, sumamed le grand Condé^ ordinarily addressed as Monsieur le Prince^ one of the great gênerais of the seventeenth century. Bossuet pronounced his funeral oration. — His son, the Duc d'Enghien, is addressed below (1. 12) as Monsieur le Duc, The letters abound in références to him and to his great f ather, their wives, etc.
36 21. en user ainsi : = to cu:t thus.
36 27. Liancourt was the beautiful palace of Jeanne de Schomberg Duchesse de Brissac and de Liancourt, a few leagues from Chantilly. — Medianoche {midnight) was a Spanish term for a méat supper after midnight when an ordinary meat-eating day f oUowed a jour mcugre, or fast day.
36 29. jeter le bonnet par-dessus le moalln : = and so ends the taie (I toss my cap over the tnill = I don^t know what else to say, in ending a story to children).
37 2. aux Rochers : see Introductory Note.
38 1. Vaillant was Mme de Se vigne 's agent.
38 12. Mlle du Plessis lived at the château of d'Argentré, half aleague |rom les Rochers.
; 38 13. Vitré, so often mentioned in the letters, is one mile south of Les Rochers, in the department of Ille-et- Vilaine, noted at that time for its unhealthiness.
38 14. The bel esprit was the literary, romance-reading fashionable of the time, as revealed in Mlle de Scudëry's novels, Molière's Précieuses Ridicules^ Les Femmes Savantes^ etc.
38 15. la Princesse de Tarente (1625-1693) was the daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and aunt of the then queen of Denmark.
38 19. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (i 622-1 673) assumed the name of Molière. At first a player, then writer of celebrated comédies, such as Tartufe i Le Misanthrope^ Les Précieuses Ridicules, Les Femmes Savantes^ Georges Dandin, V Avare, etc. ; perhaps after Aristophanes the most famous comedy writer that has ever lived. Died suddenly while playing the principal rôle in his own Malade Imaginaire, Mme de Sévigné admires and quotes him constantly.
38 24. Pilois was the gardener.
38 25. jusques {for Jusçu*) is usual with s in poetry where an additional syllable is wanted.
38 29. The campaign in Candia (Crète) was under command of the Duc de Roannès.
38 30. vago di fama : Italian, athirst for famé,
38 32. bella cosa far niente : Italian, same as dolcefar niente, pleasant to do nothing.
39 4. The Abbé Pierre de la Mousse, prior of La Groslé, probably natural son of François du Gué, father of Mme de Coulanges, was an intimate friend of the Sévignë-Grignan circle, read Italian with Mme de Sévigné, etc.
39 9. Jean de la Fontaine (i 631-1697) appears continually in référence and quotation in the letters; the most celebrated fable writer of France, perhaps of the world. Mme de Sévigné calls the Fables " divine."
40 7. M. de Coêtquen was father of the Marquis de Coëtquen, govemor of St. Malo. One branch of the family was allied to the Se vignes.
40 9. A pistole was then worth about ten francs.
40 16. This was the famous Corpus Christi procession of Aix, probably instituted by René, Count of Provence in the fifteenth century.
40 21. Thèse bohèmes were strolling players wandering about from town to town, dancing, acting, telling fortunes, etc., supposed to corne from « Bohemia."
40 28. The Marquis de Pomenars was often engaged in criminal lawsuits and saw himself, later, hung in effigy ; he uttered counterfeit moneyf was abducted, etc., and jokingly remarked that he did not shave because he did not know to whom his head belonged.
41 15 and 22. The Coadjutor and his nickname. Seigneur Corbeau, are referred to in a previous note.
41.17. Des mieux, etc.: = écrit le mieux, a phrase current in the seventeenth century, and found also in Molière and Corneille.
42 16. Cornélius Tacitus, the great Roman orator, senator, and historian, born about 52 or 54 A.D., married the daughter of Agricola, govemor of Britain, and died about the beginning of Hadrian's reign. Only the first four books of his Historiés and a bit of the fifth survive (embracing the period a.d. 69-97).
42 17. Germanicus (described in Tacitus' Annals, I. and II.) was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus and of Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony and nièce of Augustus ; a popular Roman hero, supposed to hâve been poisoned by Tiberius a.d. 19, father of Agrippina, etc.
42 20. Torquato Tasso, the great Italian poet, born at Sorrento in 1544, died at Rome in 1595 ; author of the epic poem La Gerusalemme LibercUa^ the pastoral Aminta, etc.
42 22. Essais de Morale, by the famous moralist P. Nicole (162 5-1 695), <* a sort of minor Pascal," who was connected with the well-known school of Port Royal, collaborated with Amauld on the Port Royal Logic, wrote Pensées, works on moral philosophy, etc.
42 24. Biaise Pascal (i 623-1 662), the most celebrated of the French maxim or pensée writers, author of the Lettres Provinciales attacking the Jesidts, geometrician, inventor of an arithmetical machine, distinguished physicist, moralist, mathematician, possessed of an exquisite style, " the father of French prose, as Corneille was the father of French verse,** author of the Pensées, a séries of sublime but disconnected thoughts on man, religion, God, destiny, the Infinité, etc. Pascal intended originally to develop his System of moral philosophy, but it was found after his death in a fragmentary condition, unfinished.
43 3. La Calprenède (161 0-1663?) was the author of the novel called Cléopâtre, and was satirized by Boileau. His bad style did not prevent Mme de Sëvigné from being fascinated by him.
43 20. Je me pendrois de : = y> me pendrais en trouvant^ a fréquent inaccuracy in the French of the period.
43 29. Widow of the Marquis de Montlouet; died 1687.
44 12. La Capucine was the name of a small house in the park of Les Rochers.
44 28. Italian : a little bread^ a littîe wine,
45 6. Thèse lines form the first tercet of one of Voiture's sonnets, Mme de Sëvigné having only changed ses yeux to vos yeux. The remainder of the sextet is as follows :
L'onde, la terre et l'ûr s'allumoient à Pentour \ Mais auprès de Philis on le prit pour l'Aurore, Et l'on crut que Philis étoit l'astre du jour.
45 21. This lady was Thérèse, sister of the Comte de Grignan, married in 1668 to Comte de Rochebonne, commandant of the Lyons district.
46 4. The Comte de Brancas was satirized by La Bruyère in his Caractères as " The Absent-Minded Man."
46 8. Portugaise : allusion to the Lettres Portugaises traduites en Français^ published in 1669 by Noël Bouton, Marquis de Chamilly, marshal in 1703.
46 15. Blisabeth Hamilton: lady-in-waiting to the queen, wife of Comte de Gramont and sister of Comte Antoine Hamilton, author of the famous Mémoires de Gramont, Died in 1708.
46 25. la Toussaint: saints' days are féminine (fête^ f., understood).
46 30. Mme de Chaulnes was wife of the Duc de Chaulnes, govemor of Brittany, ambassador to Rome, etc. The letters are f ull of références to both of the^l, and their sumptuous dinners and réceptions were celebrated.
47 10. liH divine Plessis was Mlle du Plessis d'Argentré, a Breton gentlewoman who lived in a neighboring château, made herself ridiculous by imitating Mme de Sévignë, by her affectation, etc.
47 27. Monsieur was the title of Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, brother of the king.
47 28. Ange was the nickname of Mlle Elisabeth Rouxel, later Comtesse de Grancey, a court beauty and favorite, attached afterwards to the suite of the queen of Spain.
47 30. Daughter of the Comte de la Vauguyon, sister of the first husband of the Duchesse de Chaulnes. She secretly married the Sieur de Fromentan, Comte de la Vauguyon, at the âge of fifty-five.
47 34. Mlles de Croque-Oison, de Kerborgne: obscure personages about whom nothing is known except their singular names.
48 5. The heading of this letter recalls the death of the Baron de Chantai, Mme de Sévigné's father, killed in a duel July 22, 1627. — The 22d of July was the^^day of Mary Magdalene.
48 151 Guerche is now a cantonal capital of the department of Ille-et- Vilaine, about twelve miles south of Vitré.
48 21. La Murinette was the nickname of Marie- Anne du Piri de Murinais, a beautiful relative of the Duchesse de Chaulnes, married in 1674 to the Marquis de Kerman. Died 1707.
48 24. The provincial estâtes of Brittany, assembling at intervais to vote on taxes, etc. Other provinces having thèse assemblies were Burgundy, Languedoc, Provence, Artois, Hainaut, Pau, Foix, etc. ; called the Pays d^État. They provided for crown and local expenses.
49 12. An écu of the présent day is worth about five francs (= $1.00). Formerly there were écus of thrée and of six livres, stamped on one slde with tYixee fl€urs-{ie-lis,
49 19. Picard was a servant.
49 29. Mme Quintin was Suzanne de Montgommery, wife of Henri Goyon de la Moussaie, Comte de Quintin.
49 34. Le Pertre is a small town three and a half leagues southwest of Vitré.
60 5. un équipage de Jean de Paris : proverb ; = a magnificent équipage (Littré and Paulin Paris).
50 7. Chien {chienne) is often prefîxed to a genitive, like de commerce in this line, in a depreciatory sensé = what earthly intercourse ; cf. £nglish ** to live a dog's life." See also chien d*esprity p. 52, 1. 22.
50 8. Fontainebleau (thirty-seven miles from Paris) is famous for its park (sixty-five square miles in extent), château, picture gallery, and historic associations connected with Louis XIV., Christina, queen of Sweden, Napoléon, and Pope Pius VIT. (who was confined hère) ; now a great resort for landscape painters.
50 9. Chambord, the celebrated château of Francis I. near Blois, " the Versailles of Touraine," résidence of the French kings down to Louis XV. The palace, in a park of 13,000 acres, has 440 rooms, in one of which Molière*s Bourgeois Gentilhomme was performed for the first time in 1670. — Rochefort was the château of Anne de Rohan, dowager princess of Guémené, in the province of La Beauce.
50 14. Monsieur de Condom : = Bossuet, who, however, never had the bénéfice of Rebais ; Mme de Sévigné was mistaken.
50 15. The Abbé de Foiz was brother of the Duc de Foix and of the Duc de Rendan.
60 16. The ]>uc d'Anjou was the second son of Louis XIV.
60 16. aux états : to the opening of the provincial parliament.
61 2. méchante : = low-spirited,
62 1. MoraUy Pierre Nicole's Essay on Morality, so much admired by Mme de Sévigné, who calls his works " divine." Nicole was Pascal's intimate friend and wrote voluminously on moral philosophy, doctrinal Christianity, faith, self-knowledge, etc.
52 3. Racine's tragedy of Bériniccy suggested to him by Madame Henriette d'Angleterre, Duchesse d'Orléans, first wife of Philippe, brother of Louis XIV., came ont in 1670 and was based upon a single sentence of Suetonius. It is fuU of allusions to the relations existing between Louis XIV. and his sister-in-law, suggested by those existing between Titus and Bérénice. The sentence is : " Titus reginam Berenicen, cui etiam nuptias poUidtus ferebatur . . . statim ab urbe dimisit invitus invitam."
52 5. The Abbé de Villars, whose criticism irritated Racine very much. He was assassinated in 1673.
52 28. Bêtes : probably mosquitoes (.^).
62 30. Anne d'Omano, Comtesse d'Harcourt was Comte de Grignan^s aunt, and one of Mme de Grignan's bêtes noires.
52 33. Golier : one of Mme de Sévigné's women.
52 33. J. A. de Monteil, brother of Comte de Grignan, known as Comte d'Adhémar, became distinguished as a military officer and was attached to the suite of the Dauphin ; died 17 13, and with him the direct Une of the Grignans became extinct.
54 8. Lambesc was a little town in Provence, four and one-half leagues from Aix, where the provincial estâtes (parliament) assembled.
64 14. The bishop meant was probably J. Adhémar de Monteil de Grignan, bishop of St. Paul Trois Châteaux, afterwards count-blshop of Uzès; died 1674.
54 16. Ordinaires : mails, posts.
54 25. Mme de Grignan's husband's title was lieutenant-general of Provence.
64 26. Apollidon was the name of a castle in the romance of Amadis, playfully applied by Mme de Sévigné to her daughter's résidence.
54 28. This Italian sentence means " I hâve put my heart in your hands : it dépends upon you alone to make yourself as beloved as you like.''
64 32. Jean Corbinelli, a friend of Mme de Sévigné, lived to be nearly a hundred (says Masson) and died in 17 16. A folio wer of the Cartesian philosophy at first, he afterwards became a Christian mystic and quietist, and wrote religions romances in furtherance of his views. Mme de Grignan called him le mystique du diable and disbelieved in his orthodoxy. The letters frequently refer to Corbinelli.
65 4. Armand de Gramont et de Toulongeon, Comte de Guiche, eldest son of the Marshal Duc de Gramont, a brave soldier in Turenne's army.
65 9. Allusion to Mme de Grignan's illness two years before, at Livry.
55 16. Référence to Nicole's treatise, Des Moyens de conserver la Paix avec les Hommesy Part II. Mme de Sévigné admired Nicole extravagantly.
56 9. The allusion is j^obably to the chapel Mme de Sëvigné was building.
56 15. The quotation is from Rabelais, Pantagruel^ Chap. XVIII., Book IV. : the lamentations or Panurge during a storm.
56 23. Mme de Grignan had sent her mother a story about certain black dwarfs fabled to haunt désert places, Druidical ruins, etc., in Brittany, and play malicious tricks on the inhabitants.
56 28. Antoine-Charles, Comte de Louvigny, became Comte de Guiche and Duc de Gramont, in succession to his father, the marshal-duke.
56 29. The position was colonel in the French Guards.
56 29. François d'Aubusson, Duc de la Feuillade, marshal of France after 1675, succeeded Marshal de Gramont in 1672.
57 1. Marie Gode (Godde) de Varennes, Marquise de la Troche, an intimate friend of the Sévignés.
67 5. Hasta la maerte : Spanish, until death.
57 6. The Coadjutor of Arles, consecrated bishop of Claudiopolis in
57 7. The two brothers of Comte de Grignan.
57 10. par provision : provisionallyt meantime.
57 12. Dubois was a postman much liked by Mme de Sévigné.
57 14. De la Fayette, etc. : explained in previous notes.
57 17. The Duc de Lauzun was arrested in 1671, and was net set at liberty until 1681. In perhaps the most famous of her letters (No. 121, éd. Mesnard), Mme de Sévigné tells her daughter of the engagement of Lauzun, a younger son of a noble family, to Anne Marie-Louise d'Orléans, Duchesse de Montpensier (1627-1693), called la grande Mademoiselle^ cousin of the king, a princess of the blood-royal. The marriage was broken off. He became colonel-general of dragoons, and after the princess' death, he married the daughter of Marshal de Lorges; died in 1723.
57 28. Pierre-Encise : an old castle, formerly a state prison, near Lyons ; now destroyed.
57 29. Charles de Batz d'Artagnan was an officer in the musketeers who had charge of state prisoners like Foucquet and was very huxnane towards them.
57 30. Pignerol: see note on that subject.
68 3. Marsillac : eldest son of the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, and successor to the title.
58 4. Béni (capital Bourges) was a large province almost in the centre of France, afterwards famous as George Sand*s résidence.
58 23. provisions : letters patent authorizing a position under the crown.
59 3. nièce : Louise Rouzel, younger sister of the Comtesse de Maray ; the sisters were known as the "Angels.''
59 7. The Marquis de Villarceaux was a brother of Mme Granceyi mother of the " Angels," and a great admirer of Ninon de l'Enclos and of Mme Scarron (later de Maintenon).
59 19. The voisine was Mme de Monaco, with whom Lauzun had been in love. She transferred her affections to the king.
59 20. The locks of hair (cheveux) were, it seems, mysteriously labelled grisofiy mouton (or moussony foaming wave ï)y blondin^ etc., in a fashion that now éludes explanation ; mousson de la mère may be for mouton de la mer (hair the color of sea-foam, from mouton, foaming billow).
59 24. The président, Jean de Mesmes, who married Anne Courtin, daughter of the Seigneur de Brusseiles.
59 31. The small-pox raged with extraordinary virulence in France towards the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, carrying off members of the royal family, etc. Mme de Sévignë herself died of it in 1696, and so did her grandson in 1705, theonly son of Mme de Grignan, who died of sorrow over his loss.
60 33. noise : quarrel.
61 4. Eight or ten unimportant lines are hère omitted.
61 12. Jean Pecquet (i 622-1 674) was a famous anatomist and physician of the day, who attended Foucquet, Mme de Grignan, and her child, etc.
61 17. Allusion to Orgon, in Molière's Tartufe (Act IV., Scène 3), who says : " Allons, ferme, mon cœur I point de foiblesse humaine."
61 20. Catan was Mme de Sévigné's maid; called Satan (1) in one MS.
61 30. A f ashionable abbé of the time, friend of Mme de Richelieu, etc., and much liked in the brilliant *' bluestocking " circle that frequented the Hôtel de Richelieu.
61 32. A few lines hâve been omitted hère.
61 33. At Châlons several historic battles were fought, the most famous being the great struggle in which Attila, king of the Huns, was defeated in 451 by the Goths, Franks, and Burgundians.
62 3. Franche-Comté was a province in eastem France ; capital, Besançon, birthplace of Victor Hugo.
62 4. A quotation from one of Mlle de Scudéry's madrigals.
62 5. For Brancas, La Troasse, Pomenars (the counterfeiter), Corbeau, and Trochanire (La Troche), see previous notes.
62 11. The Devilles were Comte de Grignan's head butler and his wife ; dismissed for insolence.
62 15. Probably the chevalier de Châtillon, celebrated for his poverty, silliness, and good looks (St. Simon), captain of Monsieur's bodyguard, then his first gentleman-in-waiting.
62 21. Louis de Provence was Mme de Grignan's son [le petit dauphitiy etc.).
62 22. An Italian phrase used in ending a letter : wiih this I recommené myself ^farewell.
62 26. Nicolas le Camus was attomey-general, first président of the Court of Aid, and brother of Cardinal le Camus.
62 28. Lavardin : see previous note.
62 28. This " affair of his Majesty " was an effort to extort from the impoverished Estâtes of Provence the sum of 600,000 francs ; otherwise, the assembly was threatened with indefinite dissolution. Mme de Sévignë counselled prudence, and Grignan followed her advice.
63 2. Uzès : see previous note.
63 5. séparer: prorogue^ dissolve, — A few Unes are omitted hère alluding to the Devilles, etc.
63 15. Salon was the capital of the canton Bouches-du-Rhône.
63 21. The church of the Minimes was near the Place Royale and was much frequented by the nobility and gentry. The heart of the Baron de Chantai, Mme de Se vigne 's father, was buried there.
63 21. en Bourdaloue : like B., the celebrated preacher, just then beginning to introduce portraits of people in his sermons, thus originating a class of imitators whom BoUeau scourged as singes de Bourdaloue {Sat. X.,
63 23. The Comte de Tréville was so crushed by the sudden death of Madame Henriette (June 29, 1670) that he renounced the world and went Into a retreat. — Henriette de France was the daughter of Henri IV., king of France, and wife of Charles I. of England ; Henriette d'Angleterre, Duchess of Orléans, was the first wife of Philippe of France, brother of Louis XIV.
63 29. Simon Arnauld, Marquis de Pompone (1618-1669) " celebrated as a diplomatist for his integrity and skill, was the son of Arnauld d'Andilly, and the nephew of the great Jansenist divine, Antoine Arnauld." — Masson.
64 3. Lyonne : see previous note.
64 23. Mme de Vaudemont, wife of the Prince de Vaudemont, was a daughter of the Duc d'Elbœuf and intimate friend of the de Grignans, nearly related to the La Rochefoucaulds, etc.; died 17 14.
64 29. prince, etc. : nickname given to Joseph de Grignan (then known as Adhëmar) on account of his grand air.
65 18. Mme Scarron, Lauzun, Mme d'Heudicourt : see previous notes.
65 21. an certain pays : the court ; kept in a continuai tempest by the gallantries of the king, the rivalries of the various favorites, the Lauzun- Montpensier affair, etc.
65 24. Saint-Germain (see note) was one of the royal résidences at this time.
65 25. la pins enviée was Mme de Montespan. — Mme Scarron (afterwards de Maintenon) was distinguished for her discrétion, good sensé, acquirements, and skill as a letter writer.
66 10. Bellefbnds : see previous note.
66 20. brevet de retenue : a certifîcate of assurance payable for the amount stated to the wife or assigns of a royal officiai.
66 31. Madame was the title of the first Duchesse d'Orléans (Henriette d'Angleterre), daughter of Charles I. of Ëngland, and of Elisabeth- Charlotte de Bavière, countess-palatine of the Rhine, second wife of the king's brother, Monsieur^ Duc d'Orléans. It is the second Madame who is referred to in the text ; Vautre, the first Madame,
66 32. Racine's Bajazet was first performed January4 or 5, 1672.
66 33. empirando : Italian, steadily getting worse.
66 34. Camille d'Hostun, Comte de Tallard, became Marshal of France in 1703, minister of state in 1726, and died in 1728.
67 1. Claude Boyer (1618-1698) was a member of the French Academy whom Chapelain compared to Corneille alone.
67 5. A parody on a Une in Radne's Alexandre : " Du bruit de ses exploits mon âme importunée " (Act I., Scène 2).
67 17. faire l'entendue : to play the knowing one,
67 19. les grosses cordes : the mainstay.
67 32. The beautiful Gabrielle Louise de St. Simon, Duchesse de Brissac.
67 33. The Duc de Longueville (Charles Paris d'Orléans, Comte de St. Paul) was killed at Yssel, in the passage of the Rhine, 1672.
67 33. Comte de Guiche : eldest son of Marshal Gramont \ see previous note.
68 3. A few Unes are omitted hère.
68 3. Marie Amat, wife of the Marquis de Valavoire de Vaulx, lieutenant-general ; both signed Mme de Grignan*s wedding contract on behalf of her husband.
68 8. M. le Grand was the Comte d'Armagnac, grand equerry of France.
68 8. tnrlapinade : nonsense worthy of Turlupin, a comic actor of the time, famous for his broad jokes. His name (le Grand) was doubtless suggested by that of the grand écuyer,
68 22. Langlade (Jacques de) was secretary of the Duc de Bouillon, private secretary to Mazarin, and a friend of the Sévignës.
68 25. chose : " thingumbob " ; allusion to the Roman Regulus who retumed to Carthage to keep his word.
69 3. The young Marquis de Sévigné (Mme de Sëvignë's son) had been in love with the actress, la Champmeslé, for whom Racine wrote several of his characters; sportively spoken of as heUe-JUle by Mme de Sévigné.
69 5. la Deeœillets: another celebrated actress of the time; died
69 6. moi: Mme de Sévigné herself sometimes played in private theatricals.
69 14. comédie, comédien^ etc., were often used in the seventeenth century in the wider sensé of playy player ^ in gênerai. — Mme de Sévigné enjoyed unrivalled opportunities of seeing the " first nights " of the most celebrated plays of Racine, Corneille, Molière, etc.
69 20. The queen-mother was Anne of Austria ; the play was Corneille's Pulchérie^ performed in 1672.
69 24. See previous note for the " angels."
69 25. Widow of Antoine de Bourdeaux, who died while ambassador to England in 1660 ; a woman of low birth who counted many distinguished men and women of the day among her f riends.
69 26. The Duc de la Rochefoucauld.
69 28. Comte de Créance's daughter was supposed to hâve been kidnapped by the notorious Pomenars (see previous note) and secreted fourteen years.
69 29. le bel-air : the f ashionables.
69 30. François de Neuf ville, marquis, then Duc de Villeroi (1644- 1730), tutor of Louis XV., governor of Lyons, etc., often called le charmant.
70 7. Mme de Vemeuil was a daughter of the Chancellor Seguier, wife of Henri de Bourbon, Duc de Sully, natural son of Henri IV. ; famous for her beauty and amiability ; intimate friend of the Sévignés.
70 12. GaiUaame d'Haroays : seigneur of Silleraye, treasurer of the Estâtes of Brittany, a friend of the Se vignes and type of the extravagant nobleman of the day, socially accomplished but overwhelmed 'with debt.
70 17. The Maximes of La Rochefoucauld, a volume filled with pithy pessimism and pointed malice in the form of brief sentences and parar graphs, appeared first in 1665 9 ^^^ third édition in 1671.
70 21. François de Harlay de Champvallon was archbishop of Paris from 1671 to 1695. — The archbishop of Reims (where the kings of France were crowned) was Charles-Maurice le Tellier.
70 27. François de Borgia (i 510-157 2), Duke of Candia, a Spaniard, third gênerai of the Jesuits (1565), canonized in 167 1.
70 29. Saint-Antoine: the ceremony took place at St. Paul*s, the Jesuit church.
70 29. François des Montiers, Comte de Mérinville, former lieutenantgênerai to the govemment of Provence.
71 11. War against Holland had been declared in 1672, and Charles de Sévignë had joined the army under the Duc de Luxembourg, Marshal of France.
71 13. The little granddaughter (Marie-Blanche d'Adhémar de Grignan) whom Mme de Sévignë was rearing in her own ho use, became a nun of the Visitation.
71 21. chez Madame : at the Duchess of Orléans'.
71 21. Mademoiselle : la grande Mademoiselle, the Duchesse de Montpensier.
71 25. Nicole : see previous note.
72 27. The Duc de Rohan (Louis de Rohan Chabot), Prince de Léon, was odious to Mme de Sévignë on account of the way in which he treated his wife ; died 1727. — The Chevalier de Grignan (le beau chevalier of so many of Mme de Sévigné's letters) was ill of small-pox and died shortly after.
73 5. bleds : old spelling of blé (wheat) ; allusion to the abolition of some prohibition affecting the grain market of Provence.
73 5. M. le Camus : see former note.
73 9. Mme du Fresnoy was lady-in-waiting to the queen, wife of Louvois' first clerk, and his mistress. Louvois (i 639-1 691), the famous war minister of Louis XIV.
73 19. Abbé Tétn (nicknamed Têtu-tais-Toi, on account of his fluency = tais-tu-tais-tai) : see former note.
73 26. Pierre Seg^uier, Chancellor of France, famous for his part in the prosecution of Foucquet.
73 27. La Comtesse de Fiesque : see former note.
73 32. "Mme de Grignan was not only witty and agreeable; if we may believe Corbinelli, she understood excellently the philosophy of Descartes, and could talk about it with much skill. ... Of Mme de Se vigne 's two children, the son appears to hâve been a kind of rake, left to do pretty much what he liked. Kind-hearted, easily led astray, yielding to every temptation, he fell under the influence of Ninon de TEndos, who corrupted the son as she had corrupted the father. His redeeming quality was deep affection for his mother." — Masson. " Full of attentions and of kindness, he constantly endeavored to amuse and please her. . . . Mme de Grignan, more guarded in conduct, proper, décorons, and outwardly irreproachable, pleases us very little, nevertheless. She was selfish and haughty, and she never seems to hâve retumed in an adéquate manner that deep affection which breathes through Mme de Sévigné's correspondence with her." — Mesnard, Notice Biog., p. Ii8.
74 4. Madeleine-Agnès : one of the nuns at the convent of the Visitation.
74 21. François- Auguste, Marquis de Valavoire de Vaulx.
74 25. Joseph de Seguiran de Bouc, first président of the Chamber of Accounts at Aix.
74 25. Jean-Baptiste de Forbln Meynier, Marquis d'Oppède, ambassador to Portugal.
74 26. M. de Gordes : perhaps the marquis, grand seneschal of Provence, chevalier d^ honneur to the queen, a signer of the marriage contract of Mme de Grignan.
74 26. Jean de Forbin de Souliers (or Soliers), colonel of the Provence régiment^ brother-in-law of Mesdames de Valavoire and de Buzanval.
74 26. Angélique Amat, wife of André Choart de BuzanvaL
74 27. The Coulanges were first cousins of Mme de Se vigne, her mother having been Marie de Coulanges, Baroness de Chantai ; see former notes.
75 2. Francois-Annibal, Duc d'Estrées, elder brother of the marshal and the cardinal, govemor of the Ile-de-France, ambassador to Rome ; died 1687.
75 3. Mme de Rochefort was granddaughter of Chancellor Seguier, and the allusion is to Mme de Grignan's having written a letter of condolence to the Comtesse de Guiche and Mlle de Béthune, his other gpranddaughters, on the occasion of his death.
75 13. Adone (Adonis) was the title of an Italian poem full of concetti written by Marini in France, appearing in 1623, dedicated to Marie de Médicis. Chapelain had written for it a letter or introduction giving his opinion. Jean Chapelain (1595-1674) was one of the literary despots of
the seventeenth century, member and one of the founders of the French Academy, author of the epic Fucelle, "an idle epicurean, who dérives most of his famé from his having been intimate with ail the foremost literary men of the time." — Saintsbury. He encouraged Racine and had had much to do with Mme de Sévigné's éducation. The Academy was foonded by Richelieu in 1635.
75 15. Canto V., entitled " La Tragedia " (translated comédie by the letter writer). It gives the story of the nightingale buried in the lute, "Nel cavo ventre del sonoro legno," which is told by Mercury in Canto VII., entitled <* Le Delitie."
75 20. The marriage was that of Mlle du Gué, sister of Mme de Coulanges, to M. de Bagnols, a wealthy nobleman of Lyons.
75 26. Perhaps Louis-Félix, Marquis de la Valette, natural grandson of the Duc d'Épernon. His mother was a de Souliers.
75 27. Pellisaon had in 167 1 purchased the office of Master of the Pétitions.
76 1. Madame was Marguerite de Lorraine, second wife of Gaston, Duc d'Orléans ; died the April foUowing.
76 8. les petits soufflets : playing at a game of *' pretended '* blows, make-believe, tuming into reality.
76 16. Marie-Sidonia, daughter of the Marquis de MaroUes, wife of the Marquis de Courcelles; référence to a suit brought against her by her husband in 1669.
76 17. la Tournelle was the Criminal Chamber of the parliament of Paris, composed half of counsellors of the Upper Chamber and half of counsellors of inquiry.
76 18. sur la sellette : on the stand.
76 20. The Conciergerie was the Paris city prison, famous as the place of imprisonment of Marie Antoinette during the French Révolution ; still standing, though partly destroyed by the Commune in 187 1.
76 22. Gniche, Longueville, Scarron, Têtn : see previous notes.
76 24. François Comte de Soufflera : elder brother of the marshal. — Hb corpse killing the curé gave rise to La Fontaine's celebrated fable (XL, Book VIL), Le Curé et le Mort.
77 14. Mme du Fresnoi was Louvois* ladylove ; see previous note.
77 25. Coteaux was a nickname applied at fîrst to Saint Evremond and others by Boisrobert. They were reputed so fastidious that M. du Mans (Lavardin) said that there were not four coteaux (vineyards) in France whose wine they would approve. The name stuck to them and was transferred to any over-fastidious gourmand.
78 3. Lucie de Costentin de Tourville, Marquise de Gouville.
78 3. Diane Chasteignier de la Roche-Posay, second wife of the rich financier le Page. She derived the name Saint-Loup from an estate which her husband bought for her in Poitou.
78 6. Segrais (Jean Renaud de) : gentleman-in-ordinary to Mademoiselle, and a great friend of the Sévignés.
78 10. 1022 was the number of stars in Ptolemy's catalogue.
78 14. Anne-Elisabeth de Lorraine, princesse de Vaudemont, daaghter of the Duc d'Ëlbœuf, a friend of the Sévignés.
78 17. Radne's Bajazet was published about six weeks after its fiist appearance; printed in 1672. — La Fontaine's Contes were not published until 1675, though several of them were probably printed separately before this date, as, for example. Les Troqueurs,
78 18. The maxim referred to was : *' Qui vit sans folie n*est pas si sage qu'il croit" (Maxime 214 of modem éditions).
78 19. Epictettts : the Stoic philosopher, a slave and freedman of Nero whose philosophie maxims were collected by his pupil Arrian under the title Encheiridion (Handbook); born about 50 a.d. in Phrygia. They teach self-denial, endurance, self-repression.
80 7. Barbin was a well-known bookseller-publisher of the time.
80 8. Romances by Mme de La Fayette, which enriched Barbin by their popularity. The Princesse de Montpensier appeared in 1662, the Princesse de Clives only in 1678 ; perhaps the editor altered the text from Zatde (1670), another romance of de La Fayette.
80 11. la Champmeslé : see previous note.
80 17. The tirades (impassioned long passages) of Corneille were bits of superb oratory in verse.
80 20. But Racine's Esthery Atkalie, Phèdre, Britannicus, MithridaU were yet to come and showed up Mme de Sévigné's hasty judgment.
80 28. Despréaiiz : Boileau. It was le bon goût then to worship the bonhomme Corneille.
80 31. Anne Bigot Cornnel. — Jean Tambonneau was président of the Chamber of Accounts and married a sister of the Duchesse de Noailles. — A Une is omitted in the text.
81 2. Sea water was a supposed cure for hydrophobia.
81 4. Marie-Sidonia de Lenoncourt, wife of the Marquis de Courcelles, then engaged in a lawsuit with her husband.
81 9. Saint Ambrose (a.d. 340-397) was bishop of MUan, a great student, and was erroneously supposed to be the author of the Te Deum laudamus.
81 11. Semblance, in the Academy Dictionary of 1694, was said to be used only in this expression. — A Une or two are omitted hère.
81 27. A wine sent from Provence and produced at St. LAuient. 81 29. in petto : Italian, in my heart,
81 30. Monsieur de Laon was César d'Estrées, bishop of Laon from 1655 to 1681, and was declared cardinal soon after 1672.
81 31. Montausier was " govemor " of the Dauphin (Louis, eldest son of Louis XIV.).
82 1. Pierre de Bonzi was arch bishop of Toulouse, then of Narbonne, and grand almoner of the queen.
82 12. René du Plessis de la Roche-Pichemer, Comte de Jarzé.
82 13. This dame is uncertain; possibly Mlle de Grancey, Mlle de Fiennes or Mme de Coëtquen.
82 14. The Chevalier de Lorraine was Philippe, younger brother of Comte d'Armagnac.
82 15. The style of Comte de Guiche (Marshal Gramont's eldest son) was extremely involved and obscure ; Mlle de Scudéry complained of it.
82 18. le faubourg hère means espedally her friends La Rochefoucauld and de La Fayette, who lived in the Faubourg St. Germain.
82 20. Paul de Barillon d'Amoncourt, Marquis de Branges, was ambassador to England, counsellor of state, etc.
82 25. A funeral service in memory of the famous Chancellor Seguier, at the Church of the Oratory, rue St. Honoré, now belonging to the French Protestants. It was ordered by the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. The order of the Oratorians was founded in France by Père de Bérulle (161 1), and included celebrated names, such as Massillon, Malebranche, etc.
82 29. Charles le Brun (161 9-1 690) painted a famous séries of pictures from the life of Alexander the Great, was director of the décorations at the Palace of Versailles and of the Gobelins tapestry works (establîshed 1662), and the recognized founder of the French historical school of painting.
83 4. mortier : mortar-board cap wom by magistrates.
83 12. The tapers lighted around a coffin form the chapelle ardente,
83 17. Mme de Verneuil was the chancellor's daughter.
83 19. The Hôtel Seguier was a well-known mansion where the French Academy held its sittings from 1643 ^^ ^^IZ^ once belonging to the Condés, Montpensiers, etc.
83 22. Jules Mascaron was appointed bishop of Tulle in 1671.
83 23. The Duke of Monmouth, beheaded in 1685, was the natural son of Charles IL, King of England, and Lucy Waters: bom at Rotterdam in 1649 ^^d known as '* James Crofts." He fell in love with Madame Henriette, his father's sister, and was banished.
83 32. Vincent Lena (Laisné) was an Italian, bom at Lucca in 1633, reared at Marseilles ; died 1677.
84 6. action : service^ aration (obsolète).
* 84 11. Jean-Baptiste Lulli (i 633-1 687)» a Florentine reared at Paris, was superintendent of the king's music, composée the music for some of Molière's pièces and wrote several opéras (Alceste, Armide, etc.).
84 12. Miserere^ Libéra : chants composed by Lulli.
84 15. The Comte de Guitaud and his wife were great friends of the Sëvignés.
84 16. Toussaint de Forbin Janson, bishop of Marseilles, then of Beauvais, later cardinal, ambassador to Poland and Rome, etc.
84 23. Charleroi was a fortifîed town in Belgium.
84 34. au jour la journée, /rem day to day, The aunt was Mme de Toulongeon.
85 9. The marquis d'Oppède became ambassador to Portugal.
86 16. The Saint-Pilon was a chapel in the form of a dôme built on the summit of an almost inaccessible rock.
85 21. toufie ébouriffée: Jiuffy tu/ty expression used by Mme de Grignan in some bouts-rimés composed by her at Livry.
86 15. Comtesse de Nogent : sister of the Duc de Lauzun; died 1720. The Comte de Nogent was drowned during the Dutch War.
86 15. Mme de Longueville (Anne-Geneviève de Bourbon) was the wife of Henri II., Duc de Longueville, " heroine of the Fronde," and sister of the great Condé. Her young son, the Duc de Longueville, was killed at the passage of the Yssel.
86 17. Catherine- Françoise de Bretagne de Vertus died in 1692, after living twenty-one years at Port Royal de Paris. The great Jansenist couvent school presided over by Amauld was at Port Royal des Champs. She was Mme de Longueville's intimate friend.
87 6. The ** man " referred to was Mme de Longueville's lover, the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, both famous for their connection with the wars of the Fronde.
87 12. The marquise d'U^elles was wife of a lieutenant-general in the French army.
87 18. comte du Plessis : son of the Duc de Choiseul, Marshal of France, was killed at Arnheim, a Dutch city fortified by Cohom.
87 20. Schenk was a f ortress at the confluence of the Rhine and the Waal.
87 28. Mme Colonne and her sister were the notorious nièces of Cardinal Mazarin, the former of whom the king strongly wished to marry in his youth. She married the Roman prince Colonna. The sister was Hortense, Duchesse de Mazarin. The Comtesse de Soissons and Mme de Bouillon were sisters of the ladies above described, and the folie referred to was visiting Aix disguised as menl
87 34. The connétÂble was Laurent-Onufre Colonne de Gioeni, Duc de Taliacoti, grand constable of Naples, grandee of Spain, husband of Marie Mancini (Mme Colonne; died 171 5). — The scandalous behavior of the kinspeople of the great cardinals Mazarm and Richelieu seems (remarks Bussy) like a judgment on them.
88 2. Mlle de l'Etoile was a character in the Roman Comique of Scarron.
88 5. le Prince : Condë.
88 8. Henri- Jules de Bourbon, son of Condé.
88 10. La Marans was Françoise de Montallais, nicknamed la Merlusine and well known for her spiteful temper and her relations to the Ducs de Longue ville and d'Enghien.
88 21. The Provost de Laurens.
88 27. Gourville : see previous note.
88 32. He was the son of the Maréchale de Fertë and figured as the Chevalier de Longueville; accidentally killed in 1688.
89 6. Montchevreuil was Philippe de Mornay, chevalier of Malta ; died of this wound.
89 14. Jean-Baptiste, Chevalier de Marsillac, son of the Duc de la Rochefoucauld ; died of the wound described.
89 30. The maréchale was Colombe le Charron; died 1681.
89 30. The comtesse was Marie-Louise le Loup de Bellenave, married 1673 to Marquis de Clërembault ; died 1724.
90 1. Philippe-Emmanuel de Coulanges (who writes a part of this letter) was Mme de Sévignë's first cousin. Her mother was Marie de Coulanges.
90 3. Orange is the name of the capital of a small principality in the southeast of France near Avignon, once ruled by the Counts of Nassau through intermarriage of this house with that of Philibert de Châlons. William the Silent of Holland and William III., Prince of Orange and king of England, were descendants of this house of Nassau-Orange. The principality was incorporated with France in 17 13, but the title " Prince of Orange ** still remains with the younger House of Nassau, sovereigns of Holland. — The "siège" referred to in this letter was conducted by Comte de Grignan and 600 gentry of Provence on the occasion of the king's determining to wrest Orange from the Stadtholder William.
90 19. The Marquis de la Garde was maternai cousin-german of Comte de Grignan.
90 22. The Abbé d'Hacqueville was counsellor of the king and agréât friend of the Sévignés.
91 3. Vaugirardy now in the heart of Paris, was then a suburb.
91 4. Mme Scarron was educating the children of Louis XIV. and Mme de Montespan at this house.
91 10. In i666 the monicipality began to light Paris with tallow candies, and, more than a century later, with oil lamps.
91 11. Bonne de Pons, Marquise d'Heudicourt, once a court favorite, fell into disgrâce in 1671.
91 12. ce pays-l : at court.
91 15. Daughter of the preceding and, later, Marqube de Montgon. Mme Scarron disapproved of her mother, hence her disgrâce.
91 25. Louis-Armand de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, was son of Mazarin's nièce, Anne-Marie Martinozzi and Armand de Bourbon, brother of the great Condé.
91 27. filles : the queen's maids-in-waiting.
91 30. The princesse d'Harcourt was the wife of Alphonse-Henri- Charles de Lorraine.
91 30. Mme de Soubise was the wife of François de Rohan, Prince de Soubise.
91 31. The Duchesse de Bouillon (Marie-Anne Mancini).
91 31. The Marquise (afterwards maréchale) de Rochefort.
92 25. armées, etc. : forty-eight years before.
92 29. Clément Marot (i 497-1 544) was at one time the most popular poet in France prior to Ronsard ; wrote epigrams, a metrical version of the Psalms, edited Villon and the Roman de la Rose^ and composed many occasional pièces in antique verse forms. He is author of the Une quoted, which should read : " Ce monsieur-là, Sire, c*étoit moi-même."
93 14. Mlle de la Trousse de Méry was a cousin of Mme de Sévigné's. For Corbinelli, see previous note,
93 15. Louis de MoUier was a composer of little opéras and ballets in which the king sometimes danced ; died 1688.
93 16. Itier was also a musician.
93 16. Pelissari : a rich financier, who held a salon of Academicians, littérateurs^ etc.; not in the Sévigné "set." — Most of thèse personages hâve been explained.
93 23. Cardinal de Bouillon was brother of the Duc de Bouillon and nephew of Turenne ; died 17 15.
93 27. Marie-Anne de Bourbon (Mademoiselle de Blois) was the daughter of Louis XIV. and Mme de la Vallière ; married the Prince de Conti and died 1739.
94 1. This was the first of three sermons preached in 1674 by Bourdaloue before their majesties, in honor of the Purification of the Virgin.
94 10. This haughty prelate was Le Tellier, brother of Louvois, minister of war.
94 13. Nanterre : a small village near Paris.
94 27. Probably wife of the lieutenant-general Langeron, attached to the Condë household.
94 28. The Comte de BrioUe or Briord. The other persons hâve been previously described.
94 29. pris un jour = un jour fut pris,
94 33. The chamarier of the diocèse of Lyons looked after the service when the archbishop officiated. In this case he was Charles de Châteauneuf, count-canon of St. John*s, Lyons. — A portion of this letter is omitted.
96 8. The Marquis and Marquise de Villars were great friends of the Sévignës and fréquent visitors at Livry, etc.
96 10. Cardinal de Retz. The abbé de Saint Mihel (Dom Ennesson or Hennezon) was his confessor.
96 28. Mme de la Troche (Marie Gode de Varennes) was one of Mme de Sévigné's closest friends ; nicknamed Trochanire,
96 33. The Vicomte de Tnrenne, Marshal of France, is one of France's military heroes, and was the grandson of William I. of Orange. Born at Sedan in i6ii, long a Protestant, distinguished in the Thirty Years* War, a Frondeur in the civil wars because of his passion for the beautiful Duchesse de Longueville, pitted against his great rival Condë in thèse wars, conqueror of the Spanish Netherlands, Catholic from loyalty in i668, Victor in Rolland in the campaign of 1672, ravager of the Palatinate and Alsace in 1674 and later; he was killed at Sasbach in 1675 ^"^ buried at St. Denis, the Westminster Abbey of France. Napoléon removed his remains to the Invalides.
96 33. Nos frères : the Coadjutor and the Abbë de Grignan.
97 2. Pentecôte : Whitsuntide fell that year (1675) ^"^ J^^® 2.
97 4. The principal résidences of the kings of France are ail mentioned in this letter: Saint Germain, Saint Cloud, Fontainebleau, the Tuileries. Saint Cloud and the Tuileries (also associated closely with Napoléon III. and Eugënie) were almost destroyed by the Commune in
97 5. hoca was a Catalan game of hazard introduced by Cardinal Mazarin, and played upon a table divided into thirty compartments, with thirty balls, each containing a bit of parchment with a figure on it. Thèse balls are mingled together in a bag, and one is drawn out, the cipher examined, and the amount lest or gained is read from it. Great sums were gambled away at this game.
97 11. Pauline de Grignan, afterwards Marquise de Simiane, Mme de
Grignan's daughter. The letters abound in referenœs to her, her éducation» tastes, travels, marriage, friends, children, etc.
97 12. For Mme de Coulanges, the Princesse d*Harcourt, Mme de la Troche, etc.» see fonner notes.
97 17. The olive, live-oak, laurel, orange, etc., of Provence» are evergreens.
97 22. Mme de Sëvignë was studying with the prior.
98 1. The first part of this letter b omitted.
98 5. The honnête homme in the seventeenth century (sa3rs Ste.- Beuve) was the homme comme il faut, a gentleman who kept good Company.
98 6. Monsieur de Condom : Bossuet.
98 9. The Hôtel de Turenne, situated in the Marais, afterwards tumed into a convent, was pulled down and replaced by a church. St. Denis du Saint-Sacrement.
98 18. At Sasbach, between Offenburg and Baden.
98 22. Gabriel de Monchy, Comte d'Hocquincourt, commander of the queen*s dragoons, was killed July 25 in the attack on Gamshusen. — The prayers of the Forty Hours, in the Catholic liturgy, are repeated during a jubilee, or in times of great calamity, when the holy sacrament is exposed.
98 33. Guy-Aldonce de Durfort, future father-in-law of St. Simon and Lauzun, son of Turenne's sister, Marshal of France in 1676, duke in 169 1: died 1702.
99 10. François, Marquis de Marines, Maréchal de Créquy, youngest brother of the Duc de Crëquy, who was first gentleman of the bedchamber to the king.
99 13. Of thèse gentlemen the Gazette of August 3d says : '* This day (30 July) the king honored with the dignity of Marshal of France, Comte d'Estrades, govemor of Dunkirk, Maestricht, and Limburg ; the Duc de Navailles, the Comte de Schomberg, gênerai of his Majesty's army in Catalonia; the Duc de Duras, govemor of Burgundy and Captain of the bodyguard ; the Duc de Vivonne, gênerai of the French galleys and viceroy of Sidly ; the Duc de Feuillade, colonel of the French guards ; the Duc de Luxembourg and the Marquis de Rochefort, captains of the bodyguard." — A famous witticism of Mme Se vigne 's, provoked by thèse appointments on the death of Turenne, was that the king had changed one louis d^or into eight ioMX-sous pièces I
99 18. The grand maître was the Comte du Lude, once first gentleman of the bedchamber ; made duke and peer of France on this occasion.
99 20. * Real dukes, with real fiefs and offices, had to be registered by the parliament, in contradistinction to merely honorary ones like this case.
99 21. René-Eléonore de Bouille, his first wife, passed her time at Bouille, on account of her passion for hunting.
99 28. La favenr : a quotation from Le Cidy Act I., Scène 7.
100 6. The bailiff de Forbin and the Marquis de Vins, captain-lieutenant in the king's musketeers.
100 7. Charles d'Albert d'Ailly, Duc de Chaulnes, governor of Brittany, ambassador to Rome, etc.
100 8. Henri-Charles, Sire de Beaumanoir, Marquis de Lavardin, son of Mme de Sëvigné's intimate friend, king's commissioner to the Estâtes of Brittany, etc.
100 27. The cardinal de Bouillon was Turenne's nephew and titular Abbë of Pontoise, where he built a château and laid out gardens still existing.
100 29. Antoine-Charles, Comte de Louvigny, then Comte de Guiche and Duc de Gramont.
101 2. fit courre : obsolète for courir,
101 5. The Marquis de Cavoie was Racine*s friend, a favorite of the king, called the brave Cavoie^ famous for his duels; died some months after Loub XIV., in 17 16.
101 5. Mme de Guénégand was the wife of Claude de Guënégaud, friends of the Sévignés.
101 14. Raymond de Montecuculi (i 608-1 681) was the gênerai of the Impérial (German) armies, very famous in his day for his opérations against Turenne and Condë on the Rhine.
102 7. Gadagne was Comte de Verdun and father of Marshal Tallard. 102 9. d'Estrées was lieutenant-general, vice-admiral, and, in 1681,
marshal.
102 13. Comte du Lude was grand master of artillery.
102 14. YOitnre: appointment.
102 18. His grandfather was François de Daillon, third Comte du Lude, " governor " of Gaston, Duc d'Orléans.
102 21. Aspire to the title of monseigneur,
102 28. mourir sur le coffre : die as a mère hanger-on^ courtier (sitting on a '< box ** in the antechamber).
103 3. This Villars is probably the son of the ambassador, the future marshal.
103 4. Bernard de la Guiche, Comte de St. Gëran, grandson of Marshal St. Gëran. The event aUuded to was : the head of the Marquis de Bëringhen, suddenly tom off by a cannon bail, flew in St. Gëran*s face, wounding hîm so severely that he had to wear a cap ail his life.
103 13. Guillaume d'Harouys, treasurer of the Estâtes of Brittany, widower of a sister of Emmanuel de Coulanges.
109 8. Lonis-Franpoia le Ferre de Canmartin was counsellor to the parliament, then intendant of justice in Champagne.
109 17. The verses are a parody on the dialogue between Alceste and Lycomède in Act II., Scène 2, of Quinault's Alceste, — Mithridates had steeled himself against poisons by experimenting with them constantly.
109 25. le bien Mécliant (generally nicknamed le âien bon) was the Abbë de Coulanges.
109 28. The opéra was Atys^ by Quinault and Lulli. — The persons named hâve been explained in previous notes.
110 2. Baptiste Lulli: see previous note. Atys (music by Lulli, words by Quinault) had been performed before the king at St. Germain in 1676.
110 6. Fanre was a celebrated dancer of the day.
110 10. Tïkà grand Tiianon was originally erected in 1670 as a retreat for Louis XIV. within the Park of Versailles ; rebuilt by Mansard in 1687. T}iQ petit Trianon was built by Gabriel in 1766 and was the favorite résidence of Marie Antoinette.
110 14. Mme de Sëvigné misquotes Le Cidy Act IV., Scène 3: "Et le combat cessa faute de combattants."
110 22. This passage apparently refers to M. and Mme de Coulanges» and to the formeras jealousy.
110 26. La Comtesse de Fiesque.
110 27. Anne Bigot Comnel was well known for her bons mots.
111 10. de la Montagne was Charles de Sévigné*s servant.
111 13. Mme d'Escars was an intimate friend of Mme de Se vigne.
111 22. Allusion to a visit, at Aigues-Mortes (in Provence), to the Marquis de Vardes, who had been banished f rom court thither.
111 25. Pierre, Abbé de la Vergne, was a zealous friend of Mme de Grignan, who was sceptically inclined.
111 25. Forbin Janson, Bishop of Marseilles, etc. ; see note.
111 28. chanoine: nickname for Françoise de Longueval, canoness of Remiremont, who spiritually advised the Duchesse de Brissac.
111 30. A fine statue was found at Arles in 165 1 and was presented to Louis XIV., who decided it was a Venus, not a Diana ; now in the Louvre.
111 34. Manrel (.^) is also mentioned in a letter of Jan. 12, 1680.
112 14. The " princess from Italy " was Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont, daughter of Marshal de Gramont, wife of the Duc de Valentinois, Prince de Monaco.
112 15. The Duchesse d'Orléans.
112 21. This Villebrune, originally a Capuchin monk, became a doc-
tor, was liked by Mme de Sévigné but ridiculed by her daughter, and possessed a médical nostnim for diseases; studied at Montpellier.
112 23. The Prince of Tarent um abjured Protestantism in 1670, but his wife and daughter remained Protestants.
112 25. Laval is now a populous and important manufacturing centre (linen, cotton, marble works, etc.), capital of the department of Mayenne.
112 27. The Du Plessis were in close touch with the de Sévignés, one of them being the young Marquis de Grignan's " govemor."
112 30. The Duc de la Trémouille : son of Prince Henri-Charles de Tarente and Amélie de Hesse-Cassel ; famous for his fine figure and his — ugly face !
113 7. The Grignan family had fotmded a chapter at Grignan.
113 27. Gabrielle de Longueval Municamp, Duchesse and Maréchale d'Estrées, widow of the marshal.
113 27. le dianoine : Mme de Longueval.
113 27. François de Rouville : brother of Bussy's second wife.
113 27. Bttssy (Roger de Rabutin, Comte de) was the son of Baron de Bussy and was one of the wittiest and most accomplished letter writers and mémoirisUs of the Great Age. He was a member of the French Academy and cousin of Mme de Sévigné, author of remarkable Mémoires^ pensioner of the king, writer of verse, translater of Martial, etc.
113 30. Monsieur le Premier : Béringhen, first equerry to the king's minor stables. His wife was Anne du Blé, aunt of the future Maréchal d*Uxelles.
113 34. Marie de Bailleul married first the Marquis de Nangîs, then the Marquis d'Uxelles ; a great friend of the Sévignés, well known for her gallantries, etc.
114 3. Marie de Girard, Maréchale de Castelnau, a friend of the Sévignés, also rather too well known for her gallantries.
114 4. Philipsburg, the key to the Rhine, had been taken by the Germans after six months' siège. The French gênerai du Foy commanded there ; it was afterwards recaptured by the Dauphin.
114 7. This Créquy was François, Marquis de Marines, youngest brother of the Duc de Créquy, who was the king's first gentleman of the bedchamber. He was defeated by the Duke of Zell at Conzsaarbriick, was besieged in Trêves but distinguished himself at the capture of Fribourg (Freiburg).
114 14. les petits esprits: defined by a writer of 1690 to be '*light, volatile atoms, the subtlest parts of bodies, which give them motion and are means of communication between soûl -and body, enabling the former to carry out its opérations."
114 17. The amende honorable in this case was to ask pardon, standing barefoot with a rope around her neck, before the main entrance of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. She was accompanied to the scaffold in the Place de Grève by M. Pirrot, a doctor of theology. Some believed her a saint i
114 25. Pierre-Louis de Reich, Seigneur de Penautier» treasurer of the £lstates of Languedoc, had been accused by la Brinvilliers, but though thrown into prison, he was exonerated after a fashion.
114 28. The attomey-general was Achille de Harlay, afterwards first président of the parliament of Paris (1689).
115 4. Dr. Pirrot, who assisted her to mount the scaffold.
115 7. The Bridge of Notre-Dame was then lined with sixty-one houses.
115 13. Maestrichty after falling into the hands of the French, was again besieged by the Germans, but Marshal Schomberg raised the siège.
115 15. The petite amie was Mme de Coulanges. — A paragraph is omitted hère.
115 22. Lonvigny : see previous note.
116 15. The lie St. Louis in the Seine at Paris, connected with the city by numerous bridges.
116 17. hormis qœ b now little used.
116 18. Mme de Sëvignë was a sufferer from goût and rheumatism.
116 24. Sucy is a pretty village four leagues from Paris where Philippe de Coulanges, maternai grandfather of Mme de Sëvignë, bmlt a fine house in 1620.
X16 24. Marie de Lyonne, wife of Charles Amelot de Goumay, président of the Grand Council.
117 2. M. de Moulcean (written also Monceaux and Mouceaux)y président of the Exchequer Board at Montpellier, where was the famous médical school at which the Capuchin monk Villebrune was studying.
117 2. in Ogni modo : Ital., in every or any way^ by any means,
117 4. il : Le. Villebrune.
117 17. The *< exempt" Desgrais had discovered la Brinvilliers in a convent at Liège, whither she had fied for refuge, arrested, and brought her back to France.
117 22. mirodée (also miraudée): a Norman patois word apparently meaning carefully adjusted.
117 34. Glaser : Glazel, Classer; the name is variously spelled.
118 2. Sainte-Croix, her former lover, was a cavalry officer and friend of her husband, the Marquis de Brinvilliers, who was a descendant of the founder of the great Gobelins tapestry manufactory. She herself was
highly connected, being the daughter of Comte d'Offremont and rdated to many distinguished families.
118 6. The Duke of Luxembourg was one of the great French gênerais of the time. He tried to saccor Philipsburg, but was prevented by false news, and withdrew.
118 9. Aire, an important and well-fortified place, was captured by Marshal d'Humières, July 31.
118 14. Marshal Schomberg marched to the relief of Maestricht, besieged by the Prince of Orange, and forced him to raise the siège.
118 16. The siège and capture of Condé by Marshal de Créquy were described in a previous letter not printed hère.
118 17. The Duke of Villa-Hermosa was govemor-general of the Spanish Netherlands and gênerai of the Spanish troops. He marched on Maestricht with four régiments, favoring the siège of that city.
118 22. rêverai (reversis) : a game at cards introduced into France by the Duke of Savoy in the sixteenth century ; played by four persons. The winner is the one who gets fewest tricks, the knave of hearts being the chief card. — Enormous sums were lost at gambling during this reign, the king's brother on one occasion being obliged to sell his gold plate, jewels, etc., to pay his debts.
118 24. Anne de Rohan Chabot, Princesse de Soubise, wife of the Prince de Soubise ; much liked by the king.
118 25. Philippe de Courcillon, Marquis Dangeau, famous for good luck at play, married the Comtesse de Loewenstein, a relation of the Dauphiness.
118 26. Langlée was the son of the bonne Lamglét, /emmâ de chambre to the queen-mother. He and Dangeau were rivais for the favor of Mme de Montespan.
118 30. amie : Mme de Coulanges.
118 32. Mme de Nevers and Mlle de Thianges were sisters; they were nièces of Mme de Montespan.
119 1. The Grancey ladies are the *' angels " of a previous note. 119 2. Lorraine : see previous note.
119 4. Monsieur le Duc was the title of Henri-Jules de Bourbon, at first Duc d'Enghien, then Prince de Condé. He was the son of the great Condé whose title was Monsieur le Prince,
119 5. The Duchesse de Rohan Chabot was about to take her daughter, Mme de Coëtquen, spécial friend of the Chevalier de Lorraine, to Lorge. Monsieur le Duc was his rival.
119 7. The year before a war h ad broken out between Denmark and Sweden, terminating in 1679. ^"^ Mme de Sévignë's covert allusion is to
the commutation of the death penalty of the Comte de Griffenfeld into that of life imprisonment. Griffenfeld loved la bonne princesse (Mlle de la Trémouille), had risen to high rank at the court of Denmark, was accused of secret correspondence with Louis XIV., and condemned to death. He was originally a leamed jurist, whose father was a wine merchant of Copenhagen.
119 20. Jean-Baptiste Adhëmar de Monteil : bishop of Claudiopolis, coadjutor, then^archblshop of Arles, and brother of Comte de Grignan ; the " coadjutor " so often mentioned.
119 27. The Abbé D'HacqueviUe was counsellor to the king and a devoted friend of the Sëvignës.
120 4. The de la Garde marriage ; the Marquis de la Garde was a first cousin of the Comte de Grignan and devoted friend of the Sévignës.
120 7. The bishop of Marseilles (Toussaint de Forbin de Janson) was made cardinal by Alexander VIII. in 1690.
120 11. François-Henri de Montmorency, Duc de Luxembourg. 120 20. The archbishop of Arles.
120 28. Monsieur t the Duc d'Orlëans, the king*s brother; Madame, the Duchesse d*Orlëans ; Mademoiselle, daughter of Monsieur and Madame Henriette of England, afterwards first wife of Charles II., king of Spain. — The queen was Marie-Thërèse.
121. This interesting letter describes " A Day at Versailles in the Thnc of Louis XIV."
121 7. Fontenelle wrote a eulogy on Dangeau, and La Bruyère, in his chapter on Des Grands^ describes him under the name of Pamphile.
121 22. Guy-Aldonce de Durfort, Duc de Lorges, was Turenne's nephew and a marshal of France. On the death of Turenne he commanded in his place.
121 23. tutti quanti : Italian, a//, everybody.
121 26. Vichy, in the department of TAUier, is still famous for its minerai springs and was known to the Romans as Aquae Calidae.
121 33. point de France: a kind of lace. The coiffure described is seen in Mme de Se vigne 's own portrait.
122 2. The maréchale de PHÔpital : originally a seamstress of Grenoble, fulfilled a prédiction made of her that she would marry a great lord (Marshal de THÔpital) and then a prince (the former king of Poland, Jean- Casimir Wasa). Her jewels were famous; died 171 1.
121 4. poinçons : jewelled hair-pinsy then in vogue. 121 4. Coiffe : a coif^ part of a headdress.
121 16. du tout point: Perrin, in his édition of 1754, corrects to point du tout
122 17. ponles : pools (stakes at cards ; lit. the * hens/ the stakes being regarded as eggs to be gained from the hen).
122 21. quinola : knave of hearts^ the chief card in the game of reversi, 132 33. strapontin : a front seat that can be raised or lowered.
122 34. Allusion to the Princess Niquée, who, in the romance of Amadis de Gaule^ is represented as gazing enraptured into a magie mirror.
123 12. iniqua corte : the unjust court (Tassons GeruscUemme^ VII., 1 2). 123 16. le plus plaisant robin : proverb, contemptible fellow.
123 18. Louis- Auguste de Bourbon, Duc de Msdne, son of Louis XIV. and Mme de Montespan, colonel-general of the Swiss Guards, gênerai of the galleys, etc.
123 20. Probable allusion to the two parties into which the court was then divided for and against Mme de Montespan. In Italian history the Ghibellini supported the authority of the Holy Roman (German) Empire in Italy ; the Guelfi opposed this authority and upheld the popes.
123 20. For Thianges, Monaco, Tarente, Monsieur le Prince (de Condé), see previous notes.
123 25. " To whose sword ail victory is assured " ; Tasso's
Questa famosa spada Al cui valore ogni vittoria e certà.
— Gerusalemme^ II., 69.
123 32. Louis-Alexandre, Marquis de Rambures, colonel of infantry, killed at eighteen.
124 4. glorieux : the Chevalier de Grignan.
124 14. The celebrated Dutch admirai De Ruyter died in 1676 from a wound received while in command of the Dutch and Spanish fleets against the French in the Mediterranean.
124 16. The de la Garde marriage, which was broken off.
124 22. Between the grand maître (Comte du Lude) and Mme de Sévignë there had been a love-affair of long standing.
124 33. De Lamoignon.
124 33. Doctor Pirot (or Pirrot), born 1631, was prof essor of theology at the Sorbonne, chancellor of the church at Paris, grand- vicar of Cardinal de Noailles, and author of a memoir on the authority of the Council of Trent in France, to which Leibniz replied and which Bossuet defended.
125 6. Nicolas de Neufville, Duc de Villeroi, marshal of France, govemor of Louis XIV. His son became governor (tutor) of Louis XV.
125 6. After Penautier's acquittai he resumed ail of his functions and rose again to social favor.
126 16. Perhaps an allusion to what Molière says in his Sicilien^ 13: '' Assassiner, c'est le plus court chemin.*' 125 21. The archbishop of Arles. 125 23. De Langeron was lieutenant-general of the naval forces.
125 31. Suzanne d'Aumale de Hancourt, second wife of the Marshal Schomberg who accompanied the Prince of Orange to England and was killed at the Battle of the Boyne.
126 2. Le bien Bon: nickname of the Abbé Christophe de Coulanges. 126 10. A sentence or two omitted hère.
126 21. The minister of war, brother of the archbishop of Reims mentioned below.
126 23. Nanteuil: a famous engraver and painter of pastel portraits, bom at Reims, 1630, died in 1678; had painted Mme de Sëvignë's portrait.
126 24. The Comte de Calvo was govemor of Maestricht in the absence of Marshal d'Estrades.
126 29. The Duc de Roquelanre was made govemor of Guienne in 1676, in place of Marshal d'Albret, who had just died.
127 11. " Little de Rochefort " (daughter of Marshal de Rochefort) was great-granddaughter of the Chancelière (Seguier) mentioned below, widow of the Chancellor of France.
127 12. Louis-Fauste de Brichanteau, Marquis de Nangis, colonel of the royal régiment of marines.
127 14. The Marquise de Rochefort: mother of the girl spoken of and widow of the marshal.
127 27. M. de Sottenville is the father-in-law of Georges Dandîn, in Molière's comedy of that name. The quotation below is from Act I., Scène 4, of the comedy. — The Georgics of Vergil was a pastoral poem on the art of husbandry, in four books, and dealt especially with agriculture and the cultivation of bées, vines, and the olive ; appeared 30 b.c.
128 3. The original text has anoblit (for ennoblit),
128 8. Thèse Unes are from Racan's Bergeries, V., i. — The Marquis de Racan (i 589-1670), belonged to the school of Malherbe and wrote pastoral dramas, a version of the Psalms, odes, epistles, etc., in fluent and melodious verse.
128 20. du But was a person left with Mlle de Mëri in charge of the Hôtel Carnavalet, the Paris résidence of Mme de Sëvigné at this time. This famous mansion is still in existence and was inhabited by Mme de Sëvigné up to her death. Built in the sixteenth century, some of its sculptured ornaments are attributed to Jean Goujon himself, and it was completed by Mansard (designer of the " Mansard" roof); now a muséum.
129 11. la grâce efficace: humorous allusion to the contre versy on grâce, free will, etc., between the Jansenists and Jesuits, immortalized by Pascal*8 Lettres Provinciales,
129 28. This year (i68o) the Dauphin, eldest son of Louis XIV., married the Princess of Bavaria ; she died ten years later.
129 30. M. de Sottenyille : see previous note.
130 7. The little Marquis de Grignan.
130 9. The cities of Orléans and of Blois, from which this letter and the preceding one date, hâve always been historically among the most important provincial French cities. Blois, with its famous château-fortress, was a favorite résidence of the kings of France, including Louis XXL, Francis I., Henry II. and III., and Charles IX., and hère the Guises were murdered in 1588. Orléans, thirty-five miles from Blois and fifty-eight miles from Paris, was the scène of one of the triumphs of Joan of Arc against the English in 1428, and, since the time of Philip of Valois, gave the title of ** duke " to a member of the royal f amily.
130 13. tourner une affaire: quotation of an expression habitually used by M. de la Garde, a friend of the family ; see previous note.
130 20. " News from Denmark ": see previous note.
131 4. le cœur, etc.: see Molière's Médecin malgré Luiy Act II., Scène 6, in which ** Doctor *' Sganarelle asserts that the heart is on the right side, and, being corrected, adds : " Oui, cela était autrefois ainsi : mais nous avons changé tout cela," an oft-quoted passage.
131 12. At livry, the tranquil and charming place where the Sévignés passed so much time, there were two especial walks fancifully named r humeur de ma mère 2Lnd l* humeur de mafillcy in which mother and daughter took exercise according to the mood {humeur)^ bright or sombre, of the moment. The daughter was of a rather sombre temper.
131 18. Translated from the Italian of J. F. de Conestaggio, a noble Genoeseof the household.of Philippe III.; printed at Genoa in 1585.
131 21. This king was Sébastian I., who died in battle against the Moors in 1578. The kingdoms of Spain and Portugal were shortly after united under Philip II.
131 23. This Abdalla (Muley Mohammed al Monthaser), sovereign of Fez and Morocco, being dispossessed by his uncle, had called in the help of Sébastian.
131 23. The oncle de Zaîde refers to a character in the romance of Zayde written by Mme de La Fayette and Segrais (1670-167 1). There is no Zaide in the Réunion du Portugal.
131 32. An ez yoto {in accordance with a vow) îs a gift of thanksgiving deposited or hung up in a church after escape from shipwreck, diseasci
dangers, etc., sometimes representing the disease, etc., itself in predous métal.
131 33. The river Darance, often mentioned in the letters, was particularly detested by Mme de Sévigné.
132 14. Tours is a flourishing and andent manufacturing centre on the Loire, sixty-five miles southwest of Orléans ; famous for its pure French, fine bridge and cathedral, and educational facilities. Near by is the scène of Walter Scott*s Quentin Durward.
132 26. The Duchesse de Fontanges had, by her beauty, inspired a passing passion in Louis XIV., and was liked even by Mme de Montespan.
132 27. The Chevalier de Grignan.
133 1. In her carnage joumey from Paris to Nantes, Mme de Sévigné stops at Saumur on the Loire, a small town between Tours and Nantes (famous for the Edict of Toleration to Protestants issued by Henri IV. in 1589 and revoked by Louis XIV. a few years after this letter was written).
134 24. Descartes* well-known Cogito, ergo sum (Discours de la Méthode, IV.).
134 28. Ingrande : a little town on the Loire, a few leagues southwest of Angers.
135 6. The Comte des Chapelles was the son of François de Rosmadec, and was condemned and executed according to a decree of 1627. He was closely connected with the Sévignés.
135 12. Dans le chapelet : saying his beads.
135 18. Mme de Grignan had several times embarked at Roanne on the way from Lyons to Paris.
135 20. Monsieur d'Angers : Henri Amauld, bishop of Angers, and brother of Amauld d'Andilly and of " the great Antoine Amauld." He was now making his pastoral visit, and was distinguished for his vivadty and intellectual gifts. See note on Port-Royal.
135 26. Référence to a little poem written by Coulanges on a thème suggested by one of La Fontaine's Contes (Book I., 3).
135 33. Italian ; half the courtesy would suffice.
136 1. The tower of the Castle of Nantes, where Cardinal de Retz was confined in 1654, escaping shortly after.
136 3. Mme de Sévigné seems to hint that the cardinal died a violent death, but he in fact died of pernidous fever after copious ill-judged bleedings called for by the médical ignorance of the day.
136 8. d'Harouys : see previous note.
136 9. The Marquis de Molac was govemor of Nantes and second Ueutenant-general of Brittany.
137 20. Supenntendent of the work going on at the Hôtel Carnavalet.
137 25. Entrecasteauz : an estate and château belonging to Comte de Grignan.
138 22. Pauline de Grignan, later Marquise de Slmiane. 138 25. la Rottvière was a physician of Aiz.
138 25. Mme de Thianges' brother was the Duc de Vivonne, gênerai of the galleys, marshal of France, brother of Mme de Montespan.
138 27. Trimont de Cabrières : prior of St. Gêniez de Malgoirez, nicknamed le médecin forci by Mme de Sévigné, from Molière's Médecin maigri Lui, becayise it was said that he cured Mlle de Fontariges.
138 29. fagot is used in several French proverbs. The text alludes to Molière's ''il y z, fagots ^t fagots ; mais pour ceux que je fais," etc. (Médecin maigri Lui, Act I., Scène 6), " there are people and people " = " not everybody is alike."
138 33. Some improvements and repairs were going on at the Hôtel Carnavalet about which Mme de Grignan allusively quotes Vex^Vs pendent opéra interrupta (/Eneid, IV., 88), in which the poet describes the interruption of the building of Carthage and the passion of Dido for JEneas.
139 10. Between this and the last letter nearly ten years hâve elapsed, during which Mme de Sévignë and her friends exchanged about four hundred letters. The daughter writes to M. de Coulanges from the château of Grignan, describing the delight of having her mother with her.
139 15. Niqnée m her glory (Amadis de Gaule, Chap. XXIV. See previous note.).
139 19. The Duc de Chaulnes was govemor of Brittany, ambassador to Rome, etc.
139 23. Upon the delay of the expected bulls Coulanges had written a humorous poem in five couplets, one of which was :
Et nous n'aurons qu'en chanson DesbuUes.
139 26. Mme de Grignan belonged to the Cartesian '<sect," which held peculiar views about the soûls of animais. Says la Fontaine, Descartes pretended
Que la bête est une machine, Qu'en elle tout se fait sans choix et par ressorts : Nul sentiment, point d'amour ; en eUc tout est corps.
— Fable I., Book X.
140 6. The Hôtel de Chaulnes was at the corner of the Place Royale. 140 9. Mme de Coulanges was Marie-Angélique du Gué, wife of
Philippe-Emmanuel de Coulanges, master of pétitions, to whom this letter is addressed, and first cousin of Mme de Se vigne. The Coulanges had moved f rom the Parc Royal to the Temple, in another part of Paris, where the lady had leased apartments for thirty-five years (line i6, below).
140 12. The Cardinal de Bouillon was brother of the duke and nephew of Turenne.
140 13. The two brothers Vendôme were Louis-Joseph, Duc de Vendôme, great-grandson of Henri IV., and the Chevalier Philippe de Vendôme. The former was govemor of Provence.
140 20. Philippe- Julien Mazarini Mandni, Duc de Nevers, married to Mlle de Thianges, an intimate friend at Rome of Coulanges.
141 33. The Marquis de Seignelai was the eldest son of the great finance minister, Colbert.
141 2. This Mme de Seignelai was the second wife of the preceding, afterwards marrying Comte de Marsan.
141 9. Comte de Sanzei, who afterwards became colonel and then brigadier.
141 17. Pray for usy often used in Catholic prayers ; hère allusion to what Coulanges called his '* litany," an enumeration in his letters of ail the persons that visited Grignan. — Mme de Sévigné's postscript to this letter is omitted.
141 18. Letter 1451 possesses the pecuUar interest of being the last remaining bit of Mme de Sévigné's interesting correspondence. First published in Fréron's Année Littéraire^ Vol. IV., pp. 272-274; in 1768 it was preceded by the folio wing note : "Ail the letters of Mme de Se vigne, Mme de Grignan, her daughter, and some other illustrious persons of the last reign, hâve not seen the light. Some are still preserved in portfolios." The admirable labors of M. Monmerqué and M. Mesnard, assisted by others, hâve now given to France and the world the Lettres de Madame de Sévignéy de sa Famille, et de ses Amis, in fourteen octavo volumes, richly annotated and accompanied by a biographical notice, a lexicon of Sëvignëan usage, portraits, views, facsimiles, etc., — a perfect treasure-house of literary and historical lore, on which the présent editor has constantly drawn. Mme de Se vigne died in 1696, at Grignan, the year of this letter, and was followed nine years later by her daughter. See next letter.
141 20. The Marquis de Blanchefort was the son of the Maréchal de Créquy and grandson of Mme du Plessis Bellière.
142 9. The Marquise de Vins, sister of Mme de Pompone and a devoted friend of the Sévignës, had lost her only son.
142 12. Elisabeth d'Orléans, Duchesse d'Alençon and Duchesse de Guise, was the posthumous daughter of Gaston d'Orléans and Marguerite
de Lorraine, and sister of the grand-duchess of Tuscany. At her death she insisted on being buried, not at St. Denis, where the kings of France lie buried, bat in the convent of the Carmélites.
142 14. Comte de Saint-Géran was grandson of Marshal de Saint- Gëran.
142 17. Mme de Miramion was superior and foundress of the community of the Daughters of Ste. Geneviève ; died in 1696.
142 20. The Bénédictine abbey of St. Martin at Pontoise.
142 21. Charles de Lorraine, Comte de Marsan and his first wife, Marquise Marie d'Albret, Comtesse de Marsan. He married later Mme de Seignelai.
142 27. De Moulceau, or Monceaux was président of the Chamber of Accoimts of Montpellier and an intimate friend and correspondent of the Grignan-Sévigné family.
143 5. An entry in the records of the collegiate church of Saint Sauveur at Grignan fixes the date of Mme de Sévigné*s funeral as April 18, 1696, '^ deceased the preceding day supplied with ail the sacraments, aged about 70.'' She was buried in the family vault of the Grignans.
143 8. The é in perdé-je is not inflectional but euphonie.
144 1. For Simon Amauld, Marquis de Pompone, the devoted fiiend of the Sévignés, see previous note.
'' Marie de Rabutin,
Marquise de Sévigné,
FiUe du Baron de Chantai,
Femme d'un génie extraordinaire
Et d'une solide Vertu,
Compatibles avec beaucoup d'agréments."
(Written by Bussy-Rabutin under Mme de Sévignë's picture.)
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