a mere
spirituelle de Voltaire_ [the spiritual mother of Voltaire].

The generality of women had their lovers; even the famous Mlle. de
Scudery, in spite of her homeliness--she was a dark, large-boned,
and lean sort of old maid--had admirers galore; among the latter
was Pellisson who was said to be so ugly "that he really abused the
privilege--which man enjoys--of being homely."

The hotel of the famous poet Scarron--Hotel de
l'Impecuniosite--received almost all the frequenters of Ninon's salon.
At the former place there were no restrictions as to the manner of
enjoyment; after elevating and edifying conversation at the salon
of Ninon, the members would repair to that of Scarron for a feast of
_broutilles rabelaisiennes_ [Rabelaisian tidbits].

The salon of Mme. de Montbazon had its frequenters who, however, were
attracted mainly by her beauty; she was, to use the words of one of
her friends, "One of those beauties that delight the eye and provoke
a vigorous appetite." Her salon was one of suitors rather than of
intellectuality or harmless sociability.

The most famous of the men's salons was the Temple, constructed in
1667 by Jacques de Souvre and conducted from 1681 to 1720 by Phillipe
de Vendome and his intendant, Abbe de Chaulieu. These reunions,
especially under the latter, were veritable midnight _convivia_; he
himself boasted of never having gone to bed one night in thirty years
without having been carried there dead drunk, a custom to which he
remained "faithful unto death." His boon companion was La Duchesse
de Bouillon. Most of his frequenters were jolly good persons, utterly
destitute of the sense of sufficiency in matters of carousing; the
better people declined his invitations.

After that of Mme. de Rambouillet, there were, in the seventeenth
century, but two great salons that exerted a lasting influence and
that were not saturated with the decadent _preciosite_. Of these
the salon of Mlle. de Scudery has been called the salon of the
_bourgeoisie_, because the majority of its frequenters belonged to the
third estate, which was rapidly acquiring power and influence.

Mlle. de Scudery, who was born in 1608 and lived through the whole
century, saw society develop, and therefore knew it better than did
any of her contemporaries. Having lost her parents early in life, her
uncle reared her and she received advantages such as fell to the lot
of few women of her condition; she was given an excellent educati