sweet disposition, take pleasure in
serving my friends, and fear nothing so much as the petty drawing-room
quarrels which usually grow out of little nothings. I find my person
and my temper constructed something after this fashion; and I am so
satisfied with both, that I envy no one. I leave to my friends or to my
enemies the care of seeking my faults."

It was under this stimulating influence that La Rochefoucauld made the
well-known pen-portrait of himself. "I will lack neither boldness
to speak as freely as I can of my good qualities," he writes, "nor
sincerity to avow frankly that I have faults." After describing his
person, temper, abilities, passions, and tastes, he adds with curious
candor: "I am but little given to pity, and do not wish to be so at all.
Nevertheless there is nothing I would not do for an afflicted person;
and I sincerely believe one should do all one can to show sympathy for
misfortune, as miserable people are so foolish that this does them the
greatest good in the world; but I also hold that we should be content
with expressing sympathy, and carefully avoid having any. It is a
passion that is wholly worthless in a well-regulated mind, that only
serves to weaken the heart, and should be left to people, who, never
doing anything from reason, have need of passion to stimulate their
actions. I love my friends; and I love them to such an extent that I
would not for a moment weigh my interest against theirs. I condescend
to them, I patiently endure their bad temper. But I do not make much of
their caresses, and I do not feel great uneasiness at their absence."

It would be interesting to quote in full this sample of the close and
not always flattering self-analysis so much in fashion, but its length
forbids. Its revelation of the hidden springs of character is at least
unique.

The poet Segrais, who was attached to Mademoiselle's household,
collected these graphic pictures for private circulation, but they were
so much in demand that they were soon printed for the public under
the title of "Divers Portraits." They served the double purpose of
furnishing to the world faithful delineations of many more or less
distinguished people and of setting a literary fashion. The taste for
pen-portraits, which originated in the romances of Mlle. de Scudery,
and received a fresh impulse from this novel and personal application,
spread rapidly among all classes. It was taken up by men of letters
and men of the