till, out of the shadows of the past, crowned with the
white radiance of immortal genius and immortal love.

CHAPTER VII. MADAME DE LA FAYETTE

_Her Friendship with Mme. de Sevigne--Her Education--Her Devotion to
the Princess Henrietta--Her Salon--La Rochefoucauld--Talent as
a Diplomatist--Comparison with Mme. de Maintenon Her Literary
Work--Sadness of her Last Days--Woman in Literature_

"Believe me, my dearest, you are the person in the world whom I have
most truly loved," wrote Mme. de La Fayette to Mme. de Sevigne a short
time before her death. This friendship of more than forty years, which
Mme. de Sevigne said had never suffered the least cloud, was a living
tribute to the mind and heart of both women. It may also be cited
for the benefit of the cynically disposed who declare that feminine
friendships are simply "pretty bows of ribbon" and nothing more. These
women were fundamentally unlike, but they supplemented each other. The
character of Mme. de La Fayette was of firmer and more serious texture.
She had greater precision of thought, more delicacy of sentiment, and
affections not less deep. But her temperament was less sunny, her
genius less impulsive, her wit less sparkling, and her manner less
demonstrative. "She has never been without that divine reason which was
her dominant trait," wrote her friend. No praise pleased her so much as
to be told that her judgment was superior to her intellect, and that she
loved truth in all things. "She would not have accorded the least favor
to any one, if she had not been convinced it was merited," said Segrais;
"this is why she was sometimes called hard, though she was really
tender." As an evidence of her candor, he thinks it worth while to
record that "she did not even conceal her age, but told freely in what
year and place she was born." But she combined to an eminent degree
sweetness with strength, sensibility with reason, and it was the
blending of such diverse qualities that gave so rare a flavor to her
character. In this, too, lies the secret of the vast capacity for
friendship which was one of her most salient points. It is through the
records which these friendships have left, through the literary work
that formed the solace of so many hours of sadness and suffering, and
through the letters of Mme. de Sevigne, that we are able to trace the
classic outlines of this fine and complex nature, so noble, so poetic,
so sweet, and yet so strong.

Mme. de La Fay