Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Literature In France In The Seventeenth Century.
gambling , at a period when that fatal vice Avas demoralizing alike the court ancl the people . For many years Madame de Lambert refused to give publicity to her OAVU productions , from an idea that it derogated from her rank and position in . the world to enter the lists Avith professional Avriters ; ancl the natural consequence ensued . As
she was in the habit of reading aloud iu her turn—conversation ancl the perusal of unpublished Avorks forming the principal amusement of her soirees—such essays or treatises as she had herself composed , these Avere occasionally purloined by one or other of her guests , who could not brook that they should remain in the obscurity to which she destined them , and
eventually found their Avay into print , to her extreme annoyance ; an annoyance AA'hich prompted her to buy them up at the price demanded by their publisher , in order that they might be destroyed . Subsequently , howeA'er , she yielded to the entreaties of her friends ; and among the most important of the Avorks ultimately submitted to the pressAi * ere her " Advice of a Mother
, to her Son ; " her "Advice of a Mother to her Daughter ; " a " Treatise on Friendship ; " a second on " Old Age ; " " Reflections on Women ; " " Psyche ; " and many other minor but equally admii * able productions . Madame de Lambert was an invalid throughout her whole lifeancl her latter years AA'ere so much embittered bacute
, y suffering that it required all her moral energy , ancl the deep sense of religion by which she Avas distinguished , to enable her to support them with the courage and resignation which she evinced to the last . She died in Paris in 1733 at the advanced age of eighty-six ; and left a void in society Avhich Avas not destined to be filled up .
The " Advice" of Madame de Lambert to her children is as admirable in manner as in matter . Hers are no harsh lessons , repelling even Avhile they convince ; but precepts given by a friend , and dictated by affection . Her philosophy scatters over the path to which she points flowers enough to blunt , if not to choke , its thorns ; the native nobility and the feminine delicacy
of her mind are alike visible in every sentiment ; while her earnestness of purpose lends an energy to her style as captivating as it is rare among her sex . From the first-mentioned Avork I shall make a feiv short extracts , which will , I trust , justify this opinion : — " It is only at two periods of our lives that truth reveals itself profitably io in for instruction
us ; youth our , and in old age for our consolation . During the dominion ofthe passions truth forsakes us . " " High birth bestows less honour than it exacts ; for to boast of one ' s ancestry is merely to vaunt the merit of others . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Literature In France In The Seventeenth Century.
gambling , at a period when that fatal vice Avas demoralizing alike the court ancl the people . For many years Madame de Lambert refused to give publicity to her OAVU productions , from an idea that it derogated from her rank and position in . the world to enter the lists Avith professional Avriters ; ancl the natural consequence ensued . As
she was in the habit of reading aloud iu her turn—conversation ancl the perusal of unpublished Avorks forming the principal amusement of her soirees—such essays or treatises as she had herself composed , these Avere occasionally purloined by one or other of her guests , who could not brook that they should remain in the obscurity to which she destined them , and
eventually found their Avay into print , to her extreme annoyance ; an annoyance AA'hich prompted her to buy them up at the price demanded by their publisher , in order that they might be destroyed . Subsequently , howeA'er , she yielded to the entreaties of her friends ; and among the most important of the Avorks ultimately submitted to the pressAi * ere her " Advice of a Mother
, to her Son ; " her "Advice of a Mother to her Daughter ; " a " Treatise on Friendship ; " a second on " Old Age ; " " Reflections on Women ; " " Psyche ; " and many other minor but equally admii * able productions . Madame de Lambert was an invalid throughout her whole lifeancl her latter years AA'ere so much embittered bacute
, y suffering that it required all her moral energy , ancl the deep sense of religion by which she Avas distinguished , to enable her to support them with the courage and resignation which she evinced to the last . She died in Paris in 1733 at the advanced age of eighty-six ; and left a void in society Avhich Avas not destined to be filled up .
The " Advice" of Madame de Lambert to her children is as admirable in manner as in matter . Hers are no harsh lessons , repelling even Avhile they convince ; but precepts given by a friend , and dictated by affection . Her philosophy scatters over the path to which she points flowers enough to blunt , if not to choke , its thorns ; the native nobility and the feminine delicacy
of her mind are alike visible in every sentiment ; while her earnestness of purpose lends an energy to her style as captivating as it is rare among her sex . From the first-mentioned Avork I shall make a feiv short extracts , which will , I trust , justify this opinion : — " It is only at two periods of our lives that truth reveals itself profitably io in for instruction
us ; youth our , and in old age for our consolation . During the dominion ofthe passions truth forsakes us . " " High birth bestows less honour than it exacts ; for to boast of one ' s ancestry is merely to vaunt the merit of others . "