1809.] 
rich light hair, extraordinary freshness, 
a delicate coniplexion, eyes, whose vi- 
vacity imparted additional animation to 
her language, and to the agiity of all 
her motions. She had, moreover, a fine 
voice; and danced admirably for those 
days. Such is the idea given of her by 
her portraits, her friends, or herself, 
when at the age of eighteen, she gave 
her hand to Henri, Marquis de Sevigné, 
descended from an ancient house in Bre- 
tagne. In addition to the rich. treasure 
of her merits and her charms, she 
brought him a fortune of one hundred 
thousand crowns. 
M. de Sevigné, who was likewise rich, 
was allied to the house of Retz, and a 
near relation of the archbishop and co- 
adjutor of Paris. He was addicted to 
euanie) and fond of expense, and pos- 
sessed, if not the taste and superior un- 
dlerstanding which distinguished his son, 
at least all the gaiety, levity, and thought- 
lessness, displayed in his youth by the 
latter. 
~ Weare warranted, were it only by the 
early letters written ‘by Madame de Se- 
vigné, in conjecturing, that the first years 
ofthis union were happy. It was some 
time before it produced any fruit. The 
first was a son, Charles de aie born 
in March, 4647. His sister soon fol- 
lowed him. It appears, rites Madame 
de Sevigné bad no more children, and 
never knew thé pain of a loss, which 
she would have felt more keenly than any 
other. : 
in 1651 she lost her husband, who 
fell in a duel, the cause of which is un- 
known. Whoever has read Madame de 
Sevigné, will readily believe what is re- 
lated of the violence of her grief. But 
as she herself says, speaking of the 
Abbé de Coulanges, ‘* He extricated me 
from the abyss in which:I .was plunged, 
upon the death of M. de Sevigné.” Lt is 
sasily imagined, that she must soon have 
abstained from the relief of tears, to ful- 
fil her new duties; to attend to the edu- 
cation of her two young children; and 
to retrieve their deranged fortunes. The 
success with which this widow of twenty- 
five accomplished this two-fold task, ap- 
pears in a thousand interesting details 
in her letters. 
Her good sense, her natural rectitude, 
and a just pride, imparted a love of eco 
nomy3; the counsels of her uncle gave 
her instruction in it, Her mind, though 
she was accustomed to sieriaee to the 
graces, felt no dislike of business. She 
Kuew perfectiy well how to sell or let 
Memoirs of Madame de Sevignés | 173 
land ; to dun her tenants; to give qicel 
cies to her Jabourers. Nor did she 
leave it to her beauty alone to plead her 
causes. Menage relates, that one day, 
when she was recommending a cause, 
with great freedom, to the President de 
Bellitvre, she perceived she had made 
some aieraeets in the terms—* Atany rate, 
Sir,” said she, ** I know the tune pere 
fectly well, but I forget the words!” 
With respect to education, not only 
the merit of her son and daughter, as 
well as their virtues, aiford a standard of 
her ability in that particular; but it 
would be easy to extract from her letters 
a series of maxims on that subject, which 
would shew, that, so far from being at- 
tached to the fale methods generally 
adopted in her time, she had devised 
maby improvements, on which the pre- 
sent age justly prides itself. 
Many offers of love and marriage were 
made to Madaine de. Sevigné, but in 
vain. She had not been happy asa wife: 
she was now a widow, possessing a lane 
fortune, and, beadee passionately at~ 
tached to bee children, cultivating with: 
success her own mind, the public estecin, 
and the seciety of ve friends, and ber 
children: she, ‘wished for no other feli- 
city. Her happiness, however, was not 
unmingled with vexation. She suifered 
in her friendships; and her reputation 
was attacked. 
The imprisonment, the exile, and ge~ 
nerally the merited disgrace, of the Car: 
dinal de Retz, were her “first inoreiecdcibn, 
In him she never beheld any thing but 
his genius, an extremely amiable man, 
who “appreciated her merits more justly 
than any other, and on whose clevation 
she had rested the fate of one part of 
her family, and the hopes of the other.— 
The Cardinal’s Memoirs inforay, us, that 
his escape from the ecasile of Nantz was 
prinelp ally favoured by the Chevalier de 
Sevigné, She mentions, in one of her 
letters, the disagreeable situation ia which 
she was placed by this circumstance, in 
1653, and the following year. 
Meanwhile, another trieud involved her 
ii still greater uneasiness. ‘The refusal 
of some service or other, which, une 
doubtedly, it was net in her power to 
perform, suddenly embroiled her with 
her cousin Bussy. He had often re- 
proached her for beng too scrupulously 
virtuous. ‘ Why,” 
you give yourself so much concern about 
@ reputation, of which any slanderer can 
rob your” Such a dangerous character 
he hunself alterwards proved, In his 
resentment 
said he, * should. 
