et a ceux de sa sante."

We have hitherto looked only at one phase of Madame de Sable's character
and influence--that of the _precieuse_. But she was much more than this:
she was the valuable, trusted friend of noble women and distinguished
men; she was the animating spirit of a society, whence issued a new form
of French literature; she was the woman of large capacity and large
heart, whom Pascal sought to please, to whom Arnauld submitted the
Discourse prefixed to his "Logic," and to whom La Rochefoucauld writes:
"Vous savez que je ne crois que vous etes sur de certains chapitres, et
surtout sur les replis da coeur." The papers preserved by her secretary,
Valant, show that she maintained an extensive correspondence with persons
of various rank and character; that her pen was untiring in the interest
of others; that men made her the depositary of their thoughts, women of
their sorrows; that her friends were as impatient, when she secluded
herself, as if they had been rival lovers and she a youthful beauty. It
is into her ear that Madame de Longueville pours her troubles and
difficulties, and that Madame de la Fayette communicates her little
alarms, lest young Count de St. Paul should have detected her intimacy
with La Rochefoucauld. {53} The few of Madame de Sable's letters which
survive show that she excelled in that epistolary style which was the
specialty of the Hotel de Rambouillet: one to Madame de Montausier, in
favor of M. Perier, the brother-in-law of Pascal, is a happy mixture of
good taste and good sense; but among them all we prefer quoting one to
the Duchess de la Tremouille. It is light and pretty, and made out of
almost nothing, like soap, bubbles.

"Je croix qu'il n'y a que moi qui face si bien tout le contraire de
ce que je veux faire, car il est vrai qu'il n'y a personne que
j'honore plus que vous, et j'ai si bien fait qu'il est quasi
impossible que vous le puissiez croire. Ce n'estoit pas assez pour
vous persuader que je suis indigne de vos bonnes graces et de votre
souvenir que d'avoir manque fort longtemps a vous ecrire; il falloit
encore retarder quinze jours a me donner l'honneur de repondre a
votre lettre. En verite, Madame, cela me fait paroitre si coupable,
que vers tout autre que vous j'aimeroix mieux l'etre en effet que
d'entreprendre une chose si difficile qu' est celle de me justifier.
Mais je me sens si innocente dans mon ame, et j'ai tan