ed her friends of both parties. The Countess de Maure, whose
husband was the most obstinate of _frondeurs_, remained throughout her
most cherished friend, and she kept up a constant correspondence with the
lovely and intrepid heroine of the Fronde, Madame de Longueville. Her
activity was directed to the extinction of animosities, by bringing about
marriages between the Montagues and Capulets of the Fronde--between the
Prince de Conde, or his brother, and the niece of Mazarin, or between the
three nieces of Mazarin and the sons of three noblemen who were
distinguished leaders of the Fronde. Though her projects were not
realized, her conciliatory position enabled her to preserve all her
friendships intact, and when the political tempest was over, she could
assemble around her in her residence, in the Place Royal, the same
society as before. Madame de Sable was now approaching her twelfth
_lustrum_, and though the charms of her mind and character made her more
sought after than most younger women, it is not surprising that, sharing
as she did in the religious ideas of her time, the concerns of
"salvation" seemed to become pressing. A religious retirement, which did
not exclude the reception of literary friends or the care for personal
comforts, made the most becoming frame for age and diminished fortune.
Jansenism was then to ordinary Catholicism what Puseyism is to ordinary
Church of Englandism in these days--it was a _recherche_ form of piety
unshared by the vulgar; and one sees at once that it must have special
attractions for the _precieuse_. Madame de Sable, then, probably about
1655 or '56, determined to retire to Port Royal, not because she was
already devout, but because she hoped to become so; as, however, she
wished to retain the pleasure of intercourse with friends who were still
worldly, she built for herself a set of apartments at once distinct from
the monastery and attached to it. Here, with a comfortable
establishment, consisting of her secretary, Dr. Valant, Mademoiselle de
Chalais, formerly her _dame de compagnie_, and now become her friend; an
excellent cook; a few other servants, and for a considerable time a
carriage and coachman; with her best friends within a moderate distance,
she could, as M. Cousin says, be out of the noise of the world without
altogether forsaking it, preserve her dearest friendships, and have
before her eyes edifying examples--"vaquer enfin a son aise aux soins de
son salut