in style, and the most delicate manner of speaking on all subjects.
There is nothing with which they were not acquainted; they knew the
affairs of all the States in the world, through the share they had in
all the intrigues of its private members, either in matters of
gallantry, as in other things, on which their advice was necessary;
either to adjust embroilments and quarrels, or to excite them, for
the sake of the advantages which their friends could derive from
them;--in a word, they were persons through whose hands the secrets
of the whole world had to pass. The Princess Parthenie (Mme. de
Sable) had a palate as delicate as her mind; nothing could equal the
magnificence of the entertainments she gave; all the dishes were
exquisite, and her cleanliness was beyond all that could be imagined.
It was in their time that writing came into use; previously nothing
was written but marriage contracts, and letters were never heard of;
thus it is to them that we owe a practice so convenient in
intercourse."

Still later in 1669, when the most uncompromising of the Port Royalists
seemed to tax Madame de Sable with lukewarmness that she did not join
them at Port-Royal-des-Champs, we find her writing to the stern M. de
Sevigny: "En verite, je crois que je ne pourrois mieux faire que de tout
quitter et de m'en aller la. Mais que deviendroient ces frayeurs de
n'avoir pas de medicines a choisir, ni de chirurgien pour me saigner?"

Mademoiselle, as we have seen, hints at the love of delicate eating,
which many of Madame de Sable's friends numbered among her foibles,
especially after her religious career had commenced. She had a genius
in_ friandise_, and knew how to gratify the palate without offending the
highest sense of refinement. Her sympathetic nature showed itself in
this as in other things; she was always sending _bonnes bouches_ to her
friends, and trying to communicate to them her science and taste in the
affairs of the table. Madame de Longueville, who had not the luxurious
tendencies of her friend, writes: "Je vous demande au nom de Dieu, que
vous ne me prepariez aucun ragout. Surtout ne me donnez point de festin.
Au nom de Dieu, qu'il n'y ait rien que ce qu'on peut manger, car vous
savez que c'est inutile pour moi; de plus j'en ai scrupule." But other
friends had more appreciation of her niceties. Voiture thanks her for
her melons, and assures her tha