r.

Madeline de Souvre, daughter of the Marquis of Courtenvaux, a nobleman
distinguished enough to be chosen as governor of Louis XIII., was born in
1599, on the threshold of that seventeenth century, the brilliant genius
of which is mildly reflected in her mind and history. Thus, when in 1635
her more celebrated friend, Mademoiselle de Bourbon, afterward the
Duchess de Longueville, made her appearance at the Hotel de Rambouillet,
Madame de Sable had nearly crossed that tableland of maturity which
precedes a woman's descent toward old age. She had been married in 1614,
to Philippe Emanuel de Laval-Montmorency, Seigneur de Bois-Dauphin, and
Marquis de Sable, of whom nothing further is known than that he died in
1640, leaving her the richer by four children, but with a fortune
considerably embarrassed. With beauty and high rank added to the mental
attractions of which we have abundant evidence, we may well believe that
Madame de Sable's youth was brilliant. For her beauty, we have the
testimony of sober Madame de Motteville, who also speaks of her as having
"beaucoup de lumiere et de sincerite;" and in the following passage very
graphically indicates one phase of Madame de Sable's character:

"The Marquise de Sable was one of those whose beauty made the most
noise when the Queen came into France. But if she was amiable, she
was still more desirous of appearing so; this lady's self-love
rendered her too sensitive to the regard which men exhibited toward
her. There yet existed in France some remains of the politeness
which Catherine de Medici had introduced from Italy, and the new
dramas, with all the other works in prose and verse, which came from
Madrid, were thought to have such great delicacy, that she (Madame de
Sable) had conceived a high idea of the gallantry which the Spaniards
had learned from the Moors.

"She was persuaded that men can, without crime, have tender
sentiments for women--that the desire of pleasing them led men to the
greatest and finest actions--roused their intelligence, and inspired
them with liberality, and all sorts of virtues; but, on the other
hand, women, who were the ornament of the world, and made to be
served and adored, ought not to admit anything from them but their
respectful attentions. As this lady supported her views with much
talent and great beauty, she had given them authority in her time,
and the