Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Literature In France In The Seventeenth Century.
" Journal , " our author next produced a Avork of more pretension and of greatly-increased interest ; " The Memoirs of the Court of Spain ; " rendered doubly valuable from the fact that of eA'cry circumstance which she records , Madame d'Aulnoy Avas an eye-AA'itness . The period of this singular narrative of the interior of the Spanish courtis that of the marriage of Charles II . Avith
, the niece of Louis XIV . ; ancl no detail connected Avith the time is omitted , from the perpetual changes of the ministry to the anecdotes current in society . She commences her Avork at the termination of the reign of Philip IV ., after his second marriage Avith Anne of Austria , the daughter of Ferdinand III . ; ancl gives an amusing account of the feud betAveen Dom Juan ancl
tlie queen ' s confessor , Father Nitard ; of the exile of the latter ; of the suspicious prosperity of his successor in faA'Oixr , Dom Fernando de Valenzuela ; and finally of the marriage of the young king ; and all this AA'ith a precision ancl minutia Avhich render the Avork , although AAiitten nearly a century and a half agoof great and enduring interest to all students of national
, history . In her next work , "The Memoirs of the Coxu * t of England , " she was less happy . It is full of romance ancl exaggeration ; and although it does not falsify facts , it leaves the mind unsatisfied . Charles IL , the Duke of Monmouth , Buckingham , and the Earl of Arran , all figure in her narrative , but rather as fantastic masks than in the semblance of their real individuality .
Warned , perhaps , by experience , her succeeding- production , "The Earl of Wai-Avick , " Avas put forth honestly as an historical novel ; ancl , as such , it is deseiwing of the highest praise . Still scrupulously exact as history , it is full of interest and adventure ; and embraces the period extending from the accession of Edward IV . to the death of Warwick .
This Avork Avas folloAved by one of a similar nature ; the hero AVIIO giA'es his name to the book being the Prince cle Carency , the younger son of John of Burgundy , Count de la Marche , the kinsman of Charles VI . of France . The scene of much of the story is laid at Madrid , AA'here the author ' s intimate acquaintance alike Avith the place and the people adds greatly to the interest
of the narrative ; it , hoAvever , AA'anders to Italy , and even to the East . ^ A feAV improbabilities , and an occasional negligence , detract in some degree from its merit ; but , as a Avhole , the work is highly creditable to the talents of the Avriter ; AA'hile the tone of scrxxpxdous morality by which it is pervaded does no less honoxu * to her principles .
Mademoiselle Genevieve de Beaucour ( subsequently MADAME DE SAINT ONGE ) was the only daughter of M . cle Gillot , Sicxii * de Beaucour , and of Genevieve Gomes de Vasconcellcs , Avho
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Literature In France In The Seventeenth Century.
" Journal , " our author next produced a Avork of more pretension and of greatly-increased interest ; " The Memoirs of the Court of Spain ; " rendered doubly valuable from the fact that of eA'cry circumstance which she records , Madame d'Aulnoy Avas an eye-AA'itness . The period of this singular narrative of the interior of the Spanish courtis that of the marriage of Charles II . Avith
, the niece of Louis XIV . ; ancl no detail connected Avith the time is omitted , from the perpetual changes of the ministry to the anecdotes current in society . She commences her Avork at the termination of the reign of Philip IV ., after his second marriage Avith Anne of Austria , the daughter of Ferdinand III . ; ancl gives an amusing account of the feud betAveen Dom Juan ancl
tlie queen ' s confessor , Father Nitard ; of the exile of the latter ; of the suspicious prosperity of his successor in faA'Oixr , Dom Fernando de Valenzuela ; and finally of the marriage of the young king ; and all this AA'ith a precision ancl minutia Avhich render the Avork , although AAiitten nearly a century and a half agoof great and enduring interest to all students of national
, history . In her next work , "The Memoirs of the Coxu * t of England , " she was less happy . It is full of romance ancl exaggeration ; and although it does not falsify facts , it leaves the mind unsatisfied . Charles IL , the Duke of Monmouth , Buckingham , and the Earl of Arran , all figure in her narrative , but rather as fantastic masks than in the semblance of their real individuality .
Warned , perhaps , by experience , her succeeding- production , "The Earl of Wai-Avick , " Avas put forth honestly as an historical novel ; ancl , as such , it is deseiwing of the highest praise . Still scrupulously exact as history , it is full of interest and adventure ; and embraces the period extending from the accession of Edward IV . to the death of Warwick .
This Avork Avas folloAved by one of a similar nature ; the hero AVIIO giA'es his name to the book being the Prince cle Carency , the younger son of John of Burgundy , Count de la Marche , the kinsman of Charles VI . of France . The scene of much of the story is laid at Madrid , AA'here the author ' s intimate acquaintance alike Avith the place and the people adds greatly to the interest
of the narrative ; it , hoAvever , AA'anders to Italy , and even to the East . ^ A feAV improbabilities , and an occasional negligence , detract in some degree from its merit ; but , as a Avhole , the work is highly creditable to the talents of the Avriter ; AA'hile the tone of scrxxpxdous morality by which it is pervaded does no less honoxu * to her principles .
Mademoiselle Genevieve de Beaucour ( subsequently MADAME DE SAINT ONGE ) was the only daughter of M . cle Gillot , Sicxii * de Beaucour , and of Genevieve Gomes de Vasconcellcs , Avho