jouissance, requited love

3. qu'une personne se pique d'esprit, for one to lay claim to cleverness.

Page 24. — i. une Académie de beaux esprits. The social and literary life of the 17th century was largely determined by the regular but informal gatherings held at private houses, notably by those held at the Hôtel de Rambouillet and later at the house of Mile de Scudéry. The Académie Française itself (founded by Richelieu in 1635) grew out of a club of literary men meeting at the house of Conrart.

2. ruelles, diminutive of rue, used to designate the space between the bed and the wall. Ladies, especially the précieuses, sitting in elaborate attire on the bed, received their friends in the ruelle, which then came to mean reception, company, as in the text.