Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Literature In France In The Seventeenth Century.
the Avitty Madame de Sevigne , the philosophical Mademoiselle Descartes , the mystical Madame Guyon , ancl others of their stamp , whose reputation has become European , I shall commence with a writer , Avhose name indeed is knoAvn , and Avell knoAVti among us ; although , rather as the centre of a group of scholars and poets than as a scholarand a poet herself .
, I allude to MADAME DE LAMBERT , Avhose salon Avas the chosen point of rendezvous for all the wit and talent of Paris , provided that Avit was decent , and that talent honourably exerted ; and if I place the lady in question in the second rank of contemporaneous female -writers , be it remembered that I at least assign to her the principal position in that rank .
La MARQUISE DE LAMBERT was the only daughter of Stephen de Margnenat , Lord of Courcelles , and of Mademoiselle Monique Passart ; who , becoming a widow when her daughter attained the third year of her age , contracted a second marriage Avith the celebrated Francois de Coigneux cle Bachaumont , a poet and satiristwhose epigrams against Mazarin atti * acted considerable
, attention during the wars of the Fronde . M . de Bachaumont , who soon learned to appreciate the extraordinary talents of his step-daughter , devoted himself with great earnestness to the development of her mental powers ; and she , on her side ,
proved herself so zealous a pupil , that , while still a mere child , she Avas in the habit of escaping from her play-felloAvs in order to shut herself into her apartment with her books . At a very early age she , moreover , acquired a habit of extracting from the pages of the author upon Avhom she was engaged , such passages as appeared to her remarkable , either for then * poetry or their
truth ; an admirable method of at once forming the taste , and assisting the memory ; and Avhich she continued to pursue throughout her whole career . In 1666 Mademoiselle de Courcelles became the Avife of Henry de Lambert , Marquis de Saint Bris , Avho , at his death , which occurred in 1686 , was Governor and Lieutenant-general of the
city and duchy of Luxembourg . Of four children , Avhich were the issue of this marriage , two died in their infancy ; leaving her Avith one son , Henry Francois de Lambert , who became a Lieutenant-general in the Royal army , and governor of Auxerre ; and Maria Theresa , subsequently the wife of Louis de Beaupoil , Count of St . Aulairewho was killed at the battle of Ramersheim
, , in Upper Alsatia , in 1709 . The grace , the beauty , and the accomplishments of the young widow , who immediately returned to the shelter of her mother ' s roof , invested the Hotel Lambert with a new charm ; and amply compensated to those by Avhom it Avas frequented for the rigorous exclusion of every species of VOL . I . P .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Literature In France In The Seventeenth Century.
the Avitty Madame de Sevigne , the philosophical Mademoiselle Descartes , the mystical Madame Guyon , ancl others of their stamp , whose reputation has become European , I shall commence with a writer , Avhose name indeed is knoAvn , and Avell knoAVti among us ; although , rather as the centre of a group of scholars and poets than as a scholarand a poet herself .
, I allude to MADAME DE LAMBERT , Avhose salon Avas the chosen point of rendezvous for all the wit and talent of Paris , provided that Avit was decent , and that talent honourably exerted ; and if I place the lady in question in the second rank of contemporaneous female -writers , be it remembered that I at least assign to her the principal position in that rank .
La MARQUISE DE LAMBERT was the only daughter of Stephen de Margnenat , Lord of Courcelles , and of Mademoiselle Monique Passart ; who , becoming a widow when her daughter attained the third year of her age , contracted a second marriage Avith the celebrated Francois de Coigneux cle Bachaumont , a poet and satiristwhose epigrams against Mazarin atti * acted considerable
, attention during the wars of the Fronde . M . de Bachaumont , who soon learned to appreciate the extraordinary talents of his step-daughter , devoted himself with great earnestness to the development of her mental powers ; and she , on her side ,
proved herself so zealous a pupil , that , while still a mere child , she Avas in the habit of escaping from her play-felloAvs in order to shut herself into her apartment with her books . At a very early age she , moreover , acquired a habit of extracting from the pages of the author upon Avhom she was engaged , such passages as appeared to her remarkable , either for then * poetry or their
truth ; an admirable method of at once forming the taste , and assisting the memory ; and Avhich she continued to pursue throughout her whole career . In 1666 Mademoiselle de Courcelles became the Avife of Henry de Lambert , Marquis de Saint Bris , Avho , at his death , which occurred in 1686 , was Governor and Lieutenant-general of the
city and duchy of Luxembourg . Of four children , Avhich were the issue of this marriage , two died in their infancy ; leaving her Avith one son , Henry Francois de Lambert , who became a Lieutenant-general in the Royal army , and governor of Auxerre ; and Maria Theresa , subsequently the wife of Louis de Beaupoil , Count of St . Aulairewho was killed at the battle of Ramersheim
, , in Upper Alsatia , in 1709 . The grace , the beauty , and the accomplishments of the young widow , who immediately returned to the shelter of her mother ' s roof , invested the Hotel Lambert with a new charm ; and amply compensated to those by Avhom it Avas frequented for the rigorous exclusion of every species of VOL . I . P .