casionally over the
scholarly discourse of Corneille and Balzac upon the Romans, the endless
disputes about rival sonnets, and the long discussions on the value of
a word. "Doubtless it is a very beautiful poem, but also very tiresome,"
said Mme. de Longueville, after Chapelain had finished reading his
"Pucelle"--a work which aimed to be the Iliad of France, but succeeded
only in being very long and rather heavy.

This lovely young Princess, who at sixteen had the exaltation of a
religieuse, and was with difficulty won from her dreams of renunciation
and a cloister, had become the wife of a man many years her senior,
whom she did not love, and the idol of the brilliant world in which she
lived. La Rochefoucauld had not yet disturbed the serenity of her heart,
nor political intrigues her peace of mind. It was before the Fronde, in
which she was destined to play so conspicuous a part, and she was still
content with the role of a reigning beauty; but she was not at all
averse to the literary entertainments of this salon, in which her own
fascinations were so delightfully sung. She found the flattering verses
of Voiture more to her taste than the stately epic of Chapelain, took
his side warmly against Benserade in the famous dispute as to the
merits of their two sonnets, "Job" and "Urania," and won him a doubtful
victory. The poems of Voiture lose much of their flavor in translation,
but I venture to give a verse in the original, which was addressed to
the charming princesse, and which could hardly fail to win the favor of
a young and beautiful woman.

De perles, d'astres, et de fleurs,
Bourbon, le ciel fit tes couleurs,
Et mit dedans tout ce melange
L'esprit d'une ange.

But the diversions were by no means always grave or literary. Life was
represented on many sides, one secret, doubtless, of the wide influence
of this society. The daughters of Mme. de Rambouillet, and her son, the
popular young Marquis de Pisani, formed a nucleus of youth and gaiety.
To these we may add the beautiful Angelique Paulet, who at seventeen
had turned the head of Henri IV, and escaped the fatal influence of that
imperious sovereign's infatuation by his timely, or untimely, death.
Fair and brilliant, the best singer of her time, skilled also in playing
the lute, and gifted with a special dramatic talent, she was always
a favorite, much loved by her friends and much sung by the poets. Her
proud and impetuous character, her