sures and the same occupations does not
deserve the name of friendship because it usually comes from a certain
egotism which causes us to love that which is similar to ourselves,
however imperfect we may be." She dwells also upon the mutual offices
and permanent nature of true friendship, adding, "He who loves his
friend more than reason and justice, will on some other occasion love
his own pleasure and profit more than his friend."

The Abbe Esprit, Jansenist and academician, wrote an essay upon "Des
Amities en Apparence les Plus Saints des Hommes avec les Femmes," which
was doubtless suggested by the conversations in this salon, where the
subject was freely discussed. The days of chivalry were not so far
distant, and the subtle blending of exalted sentiment with thoughtful
companionship, which revived their spirit in a new form, was too
marked a feature of the time to be overlooked. These friendships, half
intellectual, half poetic, and quite platonic, were mostly formed in
mature life, on a basis of mental sympathy. "There is a taste in pure
friendship which those who are born mediocre do not reach," said La
Gruyere. Mme. de Lambert speaks of it as "the product of a perfect
social culture, and, of all affections, that which has most charm."

The well-known friendship of Mme. de La Fayette and La Rochefoucauld,
which illustrates the mutual influence of a critical man of intellect
and a deep-hearted, thoughtful woman who has passed the age of romance,
began in this salon. Its nature was foreshadowed in the tribute La
Rochefoucauld paid to women in his portrait of himself. "Where their
intellect is cultivated," he writes, "I prefer their society to that
of men. One finds there a gentleness one does not meet with among
ourselves; and it seems to me, beyond this, that they express themselves
with more neatness, and give a more agreeable turn to the things they
talk about."

Mme. de Sable was herself, in less exclusive fashion, the intimate
friend and adviser of Esprit, d'Andilly, and La Rochefoucauld. The
letters of these men show clearly their warm regard as well as the value
they attached to her opinions. "Indeed," wrote Voiture to her many years
before, "those who decry you on the side of tenderness must confess that
if you are not the most loving person in the world, you are at least the
most obliging. True friendship knows no more sweetness than there is in
your words." Her character, so delicately shaded and so av