graceful,
but by no means severe, devotion. The Duc d'Orleans and the lovely but
unfortunate Madame were intimate and frequent visitors.

In this little world, in which religion, literature, and fashion are
curiously blended, they talk of theology, morals, physics, Cartesianism,
friendship, and love. The youth and gaiety of the Hotel de Rambouillet
have given place to more serious thoughts and graver topics. The current
which had its source there is divided. At the Samedis, in the Marais,
they are amusing themselves about the same time with letters and Vers de
Societe. At the Luxembourg, a more exclusive coterie is exercising its
mature talent in sketching portraits. These salons touch at many points,
but each has a channel of its own. The reflective nature of Mme. de
Sable turns to more serious and elevated subjects, and her friends take
the same tone. They make scientific experiments, discuss Calvinism, read
the ancient moralists, and indulge in dissertations upon a great variety
of topics. Mme. de Bregy, poet, dame d'honneur and femme d'esprit,
who amused the little court of Mademoiselle with so many discreetly
flattering pen-portraits, has left two badly written and curiously
spelled notes upon the merits of Socrates and Epictetus, which throw a
ray of light upon the tastes of this aristocratic and rather speculative
circle. Mme. de Sable writes an essay upon the education of children,
which is very much talked about, also a characteristic paper upon
friendship. The latter is little more than a series of detached
sentences, but it indicates the drift of her thought, and might have
served as an antidote to the selfish philosophy of La Rochefoucauld. It
calls out an appreciative letter from d'Andilly, who, in his anchorite's
cell, continues to follow the sayings and doings of his friends in the
little salon at Port Royal.

"Friendship," she writes, "is a kind of virtue which can only be founded
upon the esteem of people whom one loves--that is to say, upon qualities
of the soul, such as fidelity, generosity, discretion, and upon fine
qualities of mind."

After insisting that it must be reciprocal, disinterested, and
based upon virtue, she continues: "One ought not to give the name of
friendship to natural inclinations because they do not depend upon
our will or our choice; and, though they render our friendships more
agreeable, they should not be the foundation of them. The union which
is founded upon the same plea