Hugo P. Thieme - Women of Modern France

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When, after the queen's death, and after having lived about the king
for fifteen years, "she had succeeded in making the devotee take
precedence of the lover, when piety had overcome passion, when
religion had effected its change, then Louis the Great offered his
hand in marriage to her who had only veneration, gratitude, and
devotion for him, but no passion or love." Reasons of state demanded
the secrecy of the marriage; for had he raised her to the throne,
political complications would have arisen and disturbed his subsequent
career; Mme. de Maintenon fully appreciated the intricacies of the
situation, and was therefore content to remain what she was.

She came to the king when he was beginning to feel the effects of his
former mode of life; he needed fidelity and friendship, and he saw
these in her. His feelings for her are well described in the following
extract by M. Saint-Amand:

"To sum up: the king's sentiment for her was of the most complex
nature. There was in it a mingling of religion and of physical love, a
calculation of reason and an impulse of the heart, an aspiration after
the mild joys of family life and a romantic inclination--a sort of
compact between French good sense, subjugated by the wit, tact, and
wisdom of an eminent woman, and Spanish imagination allured by the
fancy of having extricated this elect woman from poverty in order to
make her almost a queen. Finally, it must be noted that Louis XIV.,
always religiously inclined, was convinced that Mme. de Maintenon
had been sent to him by Heaven for his salvation, and that the pious
counsels of this saintly woman, who knew how to render devotion so
agreeable and attractive, seemed to him to be so many inspirations
from on High."

It must not be inferred, however, that the feeling for Mme. de
Maintenon was purely ideal. "He was unwilling to remarry," says
the Abbe de Choisy, "because of tenderness for his people. He had,
already, three grandsons, and wisely judged that the princes of a
second marriage might, in course of time, cause civil wars. On the
other hand, he could not dispense with a wife and Mme. de Maintenon
pleased him greatly. Her gentle and scintillating wit promised him
an agreeable intercourse which would refresh him after the cares of
royalty. Her person was still engaging and her age prevented her from
having children."

As his wife, Mme. de Maintenon took more interest in the king and his
family than she did in the affairs of the kingdom. To be the wife of
the hearth and home, to educate the princes, to rear the young Duchess
of Bourgogne, granddaughter of Louis XIV., to calm and ease the old
age of the king and to distract and amuse him, became her sole objects
in life. Her power, thus directed, became almost unbounded; she was
the dispenser of favors and the real ruler, sitting in the cabinet
of the king; and her counsels were so wise that they soon became
invaluable.

At court, she opposed all foolish extravagance, such as the endless
fetes and amusements of all kinds which had become so popular
under Mme. de Montespan--a procedure which caused her the greatest
difficulties and provoked revolts and quarrels in the royal family. By
her prudence, tact, wisdom, and the loyalty of her friendship, she won
and retained the respect and favor--if not the love--of everyone. Her
reputation was never tarnished by scandal. "When one reflects that
Louis XIV. was only forty-seven years old and in the prime of life
and Mme. de Montespan in the full blaze of her marvellous beauty,
that this woman of humble birth, in her youth a Protestant, poor, a
governess, the widow of a low, comic poet, should win so proud a man
as Louis XIV., seems incredible."

When one considers that throughout life her one aspiration was
an irreproachable conduct, that her manner of action was always
defensive, never offensive, that her chief aim was to restore the king
to the queen (who died in her arms) and not to replace his mistress,
one cannot withhold admiration and esteem from this truly great woman
who accomplished all those honorable designs.

The obstacles to be conquered before reaching her goal were indeed
numerous, but she managed them all. There were so many persons hostile
to her,--mistresses and intriguers, bishops and priests, courtesans
and valets, princes and members of the royal family,--to overcome whom
she had to be on her guard, make use of every opportunity, show a
rare knowledge of society and court, a profound skill and address,
resolution and will; and she was equal to all occasions.

Her greatest defect was the narrowness of her religious views.
Entirely in the hands of her spiritual advisers, obeying them
faithfully and blindly, she was not inclined to theological
investigation, but was sincerely devout. More interested in the
various persons than in doctrines, she showed a passion for making
bishops, abbots, and priests, as well as for negotiating compromises,
reconciling _amours propres_ and doing away with all religious hatred.
Lacking, above all else, clearness of conception, promptness and
firmness of decision, she was finally persuaded to encourage the
bigotry of Louis XIV. and his intolerance toward those who differed
from him. Hence, in 1685, she permitted that fearfully destructive
persecution of the Protestants, which caused over three hundred
thousand of France's most solid people to leave the country; and by
her fanaticism and false zeal, she caused the king to be a party to
that awful catastrophe.

"This one act of hers counterbalances nearly all her virtues, and we
remember her more as the murderess of thousands of innocents than as
the calm and virtuous governess. But we must remember the nature of
her advisers and the eternal policy of the Catholic Church, which
are ever identical with absolutism. To uphold the institutions and
opinions already established, was the one sentiment of the age;
innovation, progress, were destructive--Mme. de Maintenon became the
watchful guardian of royalty and the Church." Such is the verdict of
English opinion. M. Saint-Amand judges the affair differently:

"A woman as pious and reasonable as she was, animated always by the
noblest intentions, loving her country and always showing sympathy for
the poor people--not merely in words but in deeds as well--detesting
war and loving justice and peace, always moderate and irreproachable
in her conduct--such a woman cannot be the mischievous, crafty,
malicious, and vindictive bigot imagined by many writers; she did not
encourage such an act, nor would her nature permit to do so.... The
prayer she uttered every morning, best portrays the woman and her
role: 'Lord, grant me to gladden the king, to console him, to sadden
him when it must be for Thy glory. Cause me to hide from him nothing
which he ought to know through me, and which no one else would have
courage to tell him.' ... To Madame de Glapion she said: 'I would like
to die before the king; I would go to God; I would cast myself at the
foot of His throne; I would offer Him the desires of a soul that
He would have purified; I would pray Him to grant the king greater
enlightenment, more love for his people, more knowledge of the state
of the provinces, more aversion for the perfidy of the countries, more
horror of the ways in which his authority is abused: and God would
hear my prayers.'"

This pious woman was weary of life before her marriage, and but
changed the nature of her misery upon reaching the highest goal open
to a woman. Marly, Versailles, Fontainebleau were only different names
for the same servitude. When she had attained her desire, she thought
her repose assured; instead, her ennui, her disgust of life and
the world, only increased; realizing this, she began to direct her
thoughts entirely toward God and her aspirations toward things not
of this earth--hence the almost complete absence of her influence in
politics.

She was never happy, and that her life was a disappointment to her may
be gathered from the following words from her pen: "Flee from men as
from your mortal enemies; never be alone with them. Take no pleasure
in hearing that you are pretty, amiable, that you have a fine voice.
The world is a malicious deceiver which never means what it says; and
the majority of men who say such things to young girls, do it hoping
to find some means of ruining them."

Her most intense desire seemed to be to please, and be esteemed--to
receive the _honneur du monde_, which appeared to be her sole motive
for living. When in power, she did not use her influence as the
intriguing women of the epoch would have done, because she did
not possess their qualities--taste, breadth of vision, and selfish
ambitions. Her objects in life were the reform of a wicked court,
the extirpation of heresy, the elevation of men of genius, and the
improvement of the society and religion of France. After the death of
the king (in 1715), she retired to Saint-Cyr, and spent the remainder
of her life in acts of charity and devotional exercises.

After the king's death she dismissed all her servants and disposed of
her carriages as well, "unable to reconcile herself to feeding horses
while so many young girls were in need," as she said. For almost four
years she peacefully and happily lived in a very modest apartment. She
seldom went out and then only to the village to visit the sick and the
poor. On June 10, 1717, when she was eighty-one years old, Peter the
Great went to Saint-Cyr for the purpose of seeing and talking to
the greatest woman of France. He found her confined to her bed; the
chamber being but dimly lighted, he thrust aside the curtain in order
to examine the features of the woman who had ruled the destinies of
France for so many years. The Czar talked to her for some time, and
when he asked Madame de Maintenon from what she was suffering, she
replied: "From great old age." She died on August 15, 1719, and was
buried in the choir of the church of Saint-Cyr, where a modest slab of
marble indicated the spot where her body reposed until, in 1794, when
the church was being transformed into hospital wards, "the workmen
opened the vault, and took out the body and dragged it into the court
with dreadful yells and threw it, stripped and mutilated, into a hole
in the cemetery."

The greatest work of Mme. de Maintenon was the founding of the
Seminary of Saint-Cyr, which the king granted to her about the time
of their marriage and of his illness; it was probably intended as the
penance of a sick man who wished to make reparation for the wrongs
inflicted upon some of the young girls of the nobility, and as a
wedding gift to Mme. de Maintenon. There, aided by nuns, she cared
for and educated two hundred and fifty pupils, dowerless daughters of
impoverished nobles. It was "the veritable offspring of her who was
never a daughter, a wife, nor a mother." There she was happy and
content; there she recalled her own youth when she was poor and
forsaken; there she found respite from the turmoils and agitations of
Versailles; there she was supreme; there she governed absolutely and
was truly loved.

For thirty years she was queen at Saint-Cyr, visiting it every other
day and teaching the young girls for whom it was a protection against
the world. Since childhood, she had been so accustomed to serve
herself, to wait upon others and to care for the smallest details of
the management of the household, that she introduced this spirit into
society and at Saint-Cyr, where she managed every detail, from the
linen to the provisions; this showed a reasonable and well-balanced
mind, but not any high order of intelligence.

Of the young girls in her charge, she desired to make model women,
characterized by simplicity and piety; they were to be free from
morbid curiosity of mind, were to practise absolute self-denial and
to devote their lives to a practical labor. Her advice was: "Be
reasonable or you will be unhappy; if you are haughty, you will be
reminded of your misery, but if you are humble, people will recall
your birth.... Commence by making yourself loved, without which you
will never succeed. Is it not true that, had you not loved me or had
you had an aversion for me, you would not have accepted, with such
good grace, the counsels that I have given you? This is absolutely
certain--the most beautiful things when taught by persons who
displease us, do not impress but rather harden us."

A counsel that strikes home forcibly to-day, one which strongly
attacks the modern fad of neglecting home for church, is expressed
well in one of her letters: "Your piety will not be right if, when
married, you abandon your husband, your children and your servants, to
go to the churches at times when you are not obliged to go there. When
a young girl says that a woman would do better properly to raise
her children and instruct her servants, than to spend her morning in
church, one can accommodate one's self to such religion, which she
will cause to be loved and respected."

At the hour of leisure, she gave the girls those familiar talks which
were anticipated by them with so much pleasure, and extracts from
which are still cherished by the young women of France. She believed
that the aim of instruction for young girls should be to educate them
to be Christian women with well-balanced and logical minds. With her
varied experience of the ups and downs of life, she gradually came to
the conclusion that, after all, there is nothing in the world so good
as sound common sense, but one that is not enamored of itself, which
obeys established laws and knows its own limits. Her sex is intended
to obey, thus her reason was a Christian reason.

"You can be truly reasonable only in proportion as you are subservient
to God.... Never tell children fantastic stories, nor permit them to
believe them; give them things for what they are worth. Never tell
them stories of which, when they grow to independent reasoning, you
must disillusion them. You must talk to a girl of seven as seriously
and with as much reason as to a young lady of twenty. You must take
part in the pleasures of children, but never accommodate them with a
childish language or with foolish or puerile ways. You can never be
too reasonable or too sane. Religion, reason, and truth are always
good."

To appreciate the importance of Mme. de Maintenon's position and the
revolutionary effect which her attitude produced upon the customs of
the time, one must remember with what she had to contend. Hers was a
period of passion and adventure--a period which was followed by sorrow
and disaster. The novels of Mlle. de Scudery, which were at the
height of their popularity, had over-refined the sentiments; the
_chevaleresque_ heroes and picturesque heroines turned the heads
of young girls, who dreamed of an ideal and perfect love; their one
longing was for the romantic--for the enchantments and delights
of life. In this stilted and amorous atmosphere, Mme. de Maintenon
preserved her poise and fought vigorously against the fads of the day.
The young girls under her care were taught to love just as they were
taught to do other things--with reason. Also, she guarded against the
weaknesses of nature and the flesh. "Than Mme. de Maintenon, no one
ever better knew the evils of the world without having fallen prey to
them," says Sainte-Beuve; "and no one ever satisfied and disgusted the
world more, while charming it at the same time."

Mme. de Maintenon's ideal methods of education were not immediately
effective; there were many periods of hardship, apprehension, and
doubt. Thus, when Racine's _Esther_ (written at the request of Mme. de
Maintenon, to be presented by the pupils at Saint-Cyr) was performed,
there sprang up a taste for poetry, writing, and literature of all
kinds. The acting turned the girls' thoughts into other channels and
threatened to counteract the teachings of simplicity and reason; no
one ever showed more genuine good sense, wholesomeness of mind, and
breadth of view, than were displayed by Mme. de Maintenon in dealing
with these disheartening drawbacks.

In endeavoring to impress upon those young minds the correct use of
language and the proper style of writing, she wrote for them models
of letters which showed simplicity, precision, truth, facility, and
wonderful clearness; and these were imitated by them in their replies
to her.

She wished, above all, to make them realize that her experience
with that social and court life, for which they longed, was one of
disappointment: that was a world apart, in which amusing and being
amused was the one occupation. She had passed wearily through that
period of life, and sought repose, truth, tranquillity, and religious
resignation; to make those young spirits feel the fallacy of such
a mode of existence was her earnest desire, and her efforts in that
direction were characterized by a zeal, energy, and persistence
which were productive of wonderful results. That was one phase of her
greatness and influence.

But Mme. de Maintenon was somewhat too severe, too narrow, too
strict,--one might say, too ascetic,--in her teaching. There was
too little of that which, in this world, cheers, invigorates, and
enlivens. Her instruction was all reason, without relieving features;
it lacked what Sainte-Beuve calls the _don des larmes_ (gift of
tears). Hers was a noble, just, courageous, and delicate judgment; but
it was without the softening qualities of the truly feminine, which
calls for tears and affection, tenderness and sympathy.

She remains in educational affairs the greatest woman of the
seventeenth century, if not of all her countrywomen. M. Faguet says:
"This widow of Scarron, who was nearly Queen of France, was born
minister of public instruction." She powerfully upheld the cause of
morality, was a liberal patroness of education and learning, and all
aspiring geniuses were encouraged and financially aided by her. It was
she who impressed upon Louis XIV. the truth of the existence of a God
to whom he was accountable for his acts--a teaching which contributed
no little to the general purification of morals at court.

The writings of Mme. de Maintenon occupy a very high place in the
history of French literature; in fact, her letters have often been
compared with those of Mme. de Sevigne, although, unlike the latter,
she never wrote merely to please, but to instruct, to convert, and to
console. In her works there was no pretension to literary style; they
were sermons on morals, characterized by discretion and simplicity,
dignity and persuasiveness, seriousness and earnestness; Napoleon
placed her letters above those of Mme. de Sevigne. M. Saint-Amand
says of her writings: "More reflection than vivacity, more wisdom
than passion, more gravity than charm, more authority than grace,
more solidity than brilliancy--such are the characteristics of a
correspondence which might justify the expression, the style is the
woman."

He gives, also, the following discriminating comparison between the
two writers: "Enjoyment, Gallic animation, good-tempered gayety,
fall to the lot of Mme. de Sevigne; what marks Mme. de Maintenon is
experience, reason, profundity. The one laughs from ear to ear--the
other barely smiles. The one has pleasant illusions about everything,
admiration which borders on _naivete_, ecstasies when in the presence
of the royal sun: the other never permits herself to be fascinated by
either the king or the court, by men, women, or things. She has seen
human grandeur too close at hand not to understand its nothingness,
and her conclusions bear the imprint of a profound sadness. At times
Mme. de Sevigne, also, has attacks of melancholy, but the cloud
passes quickly and she is again in the sunshine. Gayety--frank,
communicative, radiant gayety--is the basis of the character of this
woman who is more witty, seductive, and amusing than is any other.
Mme. de Sevigne shines by imagination--Mme. de Maintenon by judgment.
The one permits herself to be dazzled, intoxicated--the other always
preserves her indifference. The one exaggerates the splendors of
the court--the other sees them as they are. The one is more of a
woman--the other more of a saint."

Mme. de Maintenon may be called "a woman of fate," She was never
daughter, mother, or wife; as a child, she was not loved by her
mother, and her father was worthless; married to two men, both aged
beyond their years, she was, indeed, but an instrument of fate.
Truthful, candid, and discreet she was entirely free from all morbid
tendencies, and was modest and chaste from inclination as well as
from principle. Though outwardly cold, proud, and reserved, yet in
her deportment toward those who were fortunate enough to possess
her esteem, she was kind--even loving. While not intelligent to a
remarkable degree, she was prudent, circumspect, and shrewd, never
losing her self-control. When once interested, and convinced as to the
proper course, she displayed marvellous strength of will, sagacity,
and personal force. Beautiful and witty, she easily adapted herself
to any position in which she might be placed; though intolerant and
narrow in her religious views, she was otherwise gentle, charitable,
and unselfish. Therefore, it is evident that she possessed, to a
greater degree than did any other woman of her time, unusual as
well as desirable qualities--qualities that made her powerful and
incomparable.

Chapter VI

Mme. de Sevigne, Mme. de La Fayette, Mme. Dacier, Mme. de Caylus

The seventeenth century was, in French history, the greatest century
from the standpoint of literary perfection, the sixteenth century the
richest in naissant ideas, and the eighteenth the greatest in the way
of developing and formulating those ideas; and each century produced
great women who were in perfect harmony with and expressed the ideals
of each period of civilization.

It is not within the limits of reason to expect women to rival, in
literature, the great writers such as Corneille, Racine, Moliere,
Bossuet, La Fontaine, Descartes, Pascal--most of whom were but little
influenced by femininity; there were those, however, among the sex,
who were conspicuous for elevation of thought, dignity in manner and
bearing, and brilliancy in conversation--attributes which they have
left to posterity in numberless exquisite and charming letters, in
interesting and invaluable memoirs, or in consummate psychological and
social portraitures incorporated into the form of novels. Among female
writers of letters, Mme. de Sevigne wears the laurel wreath; Mme. de
La Fayette, with Mlle. de Scudery, is the representative of the novel;
Mme. Dacier was the great advocate of the more liberal education
of women; and the _Souvenirs_ of Mme. de Caylus made that authoress
immortal.

The association of La Rochefoucauld, the Cardinal de Retz, the
Chevalier de Mere, Mme. de La Fayette, and Mme. de Sevigne, was
responsible for almost everything elevating and of interest produced
in the seventeenth century. Of that highly intellectual circle,
Mme. de Sevigne was the leading spirit by force of her extraordinary
faculty for making friends, her wonderful talent as a writer, her
originality and her charming disposition. She gave the tone to
letters; M. Faguet says that her epistles were all masterpieces of
amiable badinage, lively narration, maternal passion, true eloquence.
More than that, they are important sources of historical knowledge,
inasmuch as they contain much information concerning the politics of
the day, and furnish an excellent guide to the etiquette, fashions,
tastes, and literature of the writer's period.

Mme. de Sevigne was the most important figure of the time, being to
that third prodigiously intellectual epoch of France what Marguerite
de Navarre was to the sixteenth century, and the Hotel de Rambouillet
to the beginning of the seventeenth century. She represented the
style, _esprit_, elegance, and _gout_ of this greatest of French
cultural periods. Her life may be considered as having had two
distinct phases--one connected with an unhappy marriage and the other
the period of a restless widowhood.

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marchioness of Sevigne, was born at Paris,
in 1626; at the age of eighteen months she lost her father; at seven
years of age, her mother; at eight, her grandmother; at ten, her
grandfather on her mother's side; she was thus left with her paternal
grandmother, Mme. de Chantal, who had her carefully educated under
the best masters, such as Menage and Chapelain (court favorites), from
whom she early imbibed a genuine taste for solid reading; from these
instructors she learned Spanish, Italian, and Latin.

In 1644, she was married to the Marquis Henri de Sevigne, who was
killed six years later in a duel, but who had, in the meantime,
succeeded in making a considerable gap in her immense fortune,
in spite of the precautions of her uncle, the Abbe of Coulanges.
Henceforward, her interests in life were centred in the education of
her two children; to them she wrote letters which have brought her
name down to posterity as, possibly, the greatest epistolary writer
that the history of literature has ever recorded.

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