288 MEMOIRS OF 



eighty, whofe paffion for her, however 

 inconceivable, could not be interefted, as 

 file was not rich, and much too delicate 

 in her fentiments to purchafe the attention 

 of the other fex. 



When her fon, by Lord Jerfey, was a 

 young officer about Court, known to her 

 but unknown to himfelf, Madame de 

 L'Enclos was fcarcely forty years old, a 

 period at which a very captivating degree 

 of beauty and grace is fometimes found 

 in the female fex. Of their exiftence at 

 a confiderably later pefiod, the Englifh 

 fafhionable circles, at this hour, exhibit 

 fome remarkable inftances, 



In the firft edition of this Poem what is 

 here fatal fmiles was harlot fmiles, an 

 epithet moft injurious to Madame de 

 L'Enclos. Her attentions to her ion, 

 however affectionate, muft have been 

 purely maternal, though fo deplorable in 



their 



