Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Literature In France In The Seventeenth Century.
and their name perpetuated . Her only care was to impress upon me a high sense of my personal merits and high birth , and to inspire me Avith the same A'anity in both as she herself felt ; and consequently , the first thing Avhich I learnt was that I was beautiful , and might aspire to the highest rank . In this vanity I Avas reared ; and I had already reached my eleventh year , Avhen my mother gave birth to a son , who no sooner sa \ v the liht than grandmother transferred to him all the love which she
g my had previously lavished upon myself . I no longer listened to flattering comments upon my beauty , or to assurances of the splendid fortunes Avhich awaited me ; my brother absorbed all the plaudits . They next sought to inspire me with a taste for a conventual life , and finally I was given to understand that such was to be my future destiny . "
The Marquis cle Castlenau , hoAvever , aAvare that his daughter hacl no vocation for the cloister , proposed to her to allow herself to be carried off by M . de Murat , in order to escape the reproaches of his AAife ; and , on the pretext of pursuing the raA'isher , he conducted the young Heuriette to Provence , Avhere she gave her hand to her unknown suitor . The marriage proved
an unhappy one , ancl the cruelties of her husband ultimately compelled the coxmtess to abandon her home ; Avhile the fact of her evasion having- been assisted by a nobleman AVIIO had conceived a passion for her , caused it to be generally reported that she had forsaken her husband to attach herself to the fortunes of a loA'cr . Incensed by the insultMadame cle Murat at once
, proceeded to Paris , but as she xvas utterly Avithout resources , calumny became still more busy AAith her name : in vain did she apply alike to her mother , and the man AA'hose name she bore , for the means of subsistence ; they remained deaf to her appeal ; and Avhile she xvas endeaA'oming by every means in her poAver to effect a separation , Avhich might at least enable her to exist ,
her mind xvas harassed , and her dignity xvoimdcd , by the misrepresentations of the censorious and the uncharitable . Among those xvho had interested themselves in her misfortunes xvas a magistrate xvho had xuidertaken her cause , and xvhose son , M . cle Saint-Albe , from being frequently brought into contact xvith the unhappy and destitute young Avife , conceived a Aiolent passion for
her . This he hoxvever cautiously concealed , until having heard her disrespectfully spoken of by the Marquis cle Montalzac , his indignation so far overcame his prudence that he challenged him , and thus compromised beyond all hope the reputation of the Avoman Avhom he loved . This hurried sketch brings us once more back to the narrative of Madame de Murat : —
" Saint-Albe , " she says , " had scarcely recovered from his wound , when his father died ; and , fortunately for the son , he died so suddenly that he had not time to sign a will , by xvhich he would have been disinherited . The first use that Saint-Albe made of his inheritance was lo oiler it to mc .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Literature In France In The Seventeenth Century.
and their name perpetuated . Her only care was to impress upon me a high sense of my personal merits and high birth , and to inspire me Avith the same A'anity in both as she herself felt ; and consequently , the first thing Avhich I learnt was that I was beautiful , and might aspire to the highest rank . In this vanity I Avas reared ; and I had already reached my eleventh year , Avhen my mother gave birth to a son , who no sooner sa \ v the liht than grandmother transferred to him all the love which she
g my had previously lavished upon myself . I no longer listened to flattering comments upon my beauty , or to assurances of the splendid fortunes Avhich awaited me ; my brother absorbed all the plaudits . They next sought to inspire me with a taste for a conventual life , and finally I was given to understand that such was to be my future destiny . "
The Marquis cle Castlenau , hoAvever , aAvare that his daughter hacl no vocation for the cloister , proposed to her to allow herself to be carried off by M . de Murat , in order to escape the reproaches of his AAife ; and , on the pretext of pursuing the raA'isher , he conducted the young Heuriette to Provence , Avhere she gave her hand to her unknown suitor . The marriage proved
an unhappy one , ancl the cruelties of her husband ultimately compelled the coxmtess to abandon her home ; Avhile the fact of her evasion having- been assisted by a nobleman AVIIO had conceived a passion for her , caused it to be generally reported that she had forsaken her husband to attach herself to the fortunes of a loA'cr . Incensed by the insultMadame cle Murat at once
, proceeded to Paris , but as she xvas utterly Avithout resources , calumny became still more busy AAith her name : in vain did she apply alike to her mother , and the man AA'hose name she bore , for the means of subsistence ; they remained deaf to her appeal ; and Avhile she xvas endeaA'oming by every means in her poAver to effect a separation , Avhich might at least enable her to exist ,
her mind xvas harassed , and her dignity xvoimdcd , by the misrepresentations of the censorious and the uncharitable . Among those xvho had interested themselves in her misfortunes xvas a magistrate xvho had xuidertaken her cause , and xvhose son , M . cle Saint-Albe , from being frequently brought into contact xvith the unhappy and destitute young Avife , conceived a Aiolent passion for
her . This he hoxvever cautiously concealed , until having heard her disrespectfully spoken of by the Marquis cle Montalzac , his indignation so far overcame his prudence that he challenged him , and thus compromised beyond all hope the reputation of the Avoman Avhom he loved . This hurried sketch brings us once more back to the narrative of Madame de Murat : —
" Saint-Albe , " she says , " had scarcely recovered from his wound , when his father died ; and , fortunately for the son , he died so suddenly that he had not time to sign a will , by xvhich he would have been disinherited . The first use that Saint-Albe made of his inheritance was lo oiler it to mc .