ssible misleading of future generations?

There is a warm human side to this daily intercourse, with its sweet and
gracious courtesies. The women who discuss grave questions and make or
unmake literary reputations in the salon, are capable of rare sacrifices
and friendships that seem quixotic in their devotion. Cousin, who
has studied them so carefully and so sympathetically, has saved from
oblivion many private letters which give us pleasant glimpses of their
everyday life. As we listen to their quiet exchange of confidences, we
catch the smile that plays over the light badinage, or the tear that
lurks in the tender words.

A little son of Mme. de Rambouillet has the small pox, and his sister
Julie shares the care of him with her mother, when every one else
has fled. At his death, she devotes herself to her friend Mme. de
Longueville, who soon after her marriage is attacked with the same
dreaded malady. Mme. de Sable is afraid of contagion, and refuses to
see Mlle. de Rambouillet, who writes her a characteristic letter. As it
gives us a vivid idea of her esprit as well as of her literary style, I
copy it in full, though it has been made already familiar to the English
reader by George Eliot, in her admirable review of Cousin's "Life of
Mme. De Sable."

Mlle de Chalais (Dame de compagnie to the Marquise) will please read
this letter to Mme. la Marquise, out of the wind.

Madame, I cannot begin my treaty with you too early, for I am sure
that between the first proposition made for me to see you, and
the conclusion, you will have so many reflections to make, so many
physicians to consult, and so many fears to overcome, that I shall have
full leisure to air myself. The conditions which I offer are, not to
visit you until I have been three days absent from the Hotel de Conde,
to change all my clothing, to choose a day when it has frozen, not to
approach you within four paces, not to sit down upon more than one seat.
You might also have a great fire in your room, burn juniper in the four
corners, surround yourself with imperial vinegar, rue, and wormwood.
If you can feel safe under these conditions, without my cutting off
my hair, I swear to you to execute them religiously; and if you need
examples to fortify you, I will tell you that the Queen saw M. de
Chaudebonne when he came from Mlle. de Bourbon's room, and that Mme.
d'Aiguillon, who has good taste and is beyond criticism on such points,
has just sent me word that i