government except war; gradually, Parliament was made up of men who,
having been elevated to the rank of nobility, retained their aversion
to those who were noble by birth, recognizing only the king as their
superior and refusing precedence to even the princes of the blood.
Louis XIV., however, objecting to and fearing such a strong class as
that of the robe, employed, wherever possible, people of lower rank.
Thus it happened in the seventeenth century that the still powerful
nobility of higher rank was scorned and kept down; but in the
eighteenth century, when the gentlemen of the robe had become
all-powerful and therefore constituted a dangerous party, it was they
who became the objects of scorn and persecution, while the aristocrats
of blood, the gentlemen of the court, recovered the royal favors
through their political powerlessness.

French aristocracy really had no object, no _raison d'etre_, after
its disappearance from all governmental functions; it became an
encumbrance to the state; having no particular part to play, it did
nothing; this is one of the causes of its dissolution and of the
Revolution as well. Thus France gradually passed from inequality of
classes under the sanction of custom to equality of classes before
the law: this change in the condition and constitution of the French
nobility accounts for many intrigues and scandals and explains the
social and moral actions of French women, as well as the difference
in the nature of their activities in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries.

The seventeenth was, _par excellence_, the century which can boast
of that incomparable society the cult of which was the highest in all
things--art, religion, philosophy, poetry, politics, war, and beauty.
From the convent of the Carmelites to the Hotel de Rambouillet, from
the Place Royale to the various chateaux and salons, we must seek only
that which is elevating and spiritual, beautiful and religious. In
the famous society which kept pace with the political reputation
and influence of France is found a coterie of women who combined
remarkable beauty and intelligence with a high moral standard, and
whose names are intimately connected with the history of France.
Where again can we find such a galaxy of beauties as that formed by
Charlotte de Montmorency, Mme. de Chevreuse, Mme. de Hautefort, Mme.
de Montbazon, Mme. de Guemene, Mme. de Chatillon, Mme. de Longueville,
Marie de Gonzague, Henriette de la Vallie