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Dict. iii. 1571. See ante, ii. 7. See post, under Oct. 20, 1784, for 'the learned pig. In the first edition Mme. de Sévigné's name is printed Sevigné, in the second Sevigé, in the third Sevigne. Authors and compositors last century troubled themselves little about French words. Milton had put the same complaint into Adam's mouth:
Sir Henry Marsh prescribed some book that would entertain and interest me without straining my attention or over-exciting me, and Harriet chose Madame de Sevigne's Letters, which perfectly answered all the conditions, and was as delightful at the twentieth reading as at the first.
"And yet, with all this sensibility and delicacy of organization there was another side to her nature." Madame de Kerman paused a moment before she went on; she was not quite sure how far she dared go in her criticism; Madame de La Fayette was such an intimate friend of Madame de Sevigne's. "You mean," that lady broke out, with unhesitating candor, "that she is also a very selfish person.
The loyalty of her character was notably displayed in her unwavering attachment to Cardinal de Retz, during his long period of exile and misfortune, after the Fronde. But one must go outside the ordinary channels to find the veritable romance of Mme. de Sevigne's life.
"You had better come; you can't stay in this hotel by yourself all the morning." There was some reason which I have forgotten why she could not go out with Donald, and I suppose it was my curiosity in all things human that persuaded me to yield to her desire to accompany me, though, as I told her, I was going to visit Madame de Sevigne's house.
My son-in-law, M. de Grignan, actually avows he is in daily terror lest I should give him a father-in-law!" All three ladies laughed gayly at this absurdity; the subject of Madame de Sevigne's remarrying had come to be a venerable joke now.
We have Mme de Sévigné's account of his reception of the news of the Passage of the Rhine. It was announced to him, on the 17th of June, 1672, at the house of Mme de La Fayette, in the presence of Mme de Sévigné, that in that terrible disaster his eldest son had been dangerously wounded and his fourth son, the Chevalier, killed.
I must tell you, by the way, that the castle, when finished, will have two-and-thirty windows enriched with painted glass. In this closet, which is Mr. Chute's college of Arms, are two presses with books of heraldry and antiquities, Madame Sévigné's Letters, and any French books that relate to her and her acquaintance.
I have heard within these few days what, for your sake, I wish I could have told you sooner that there is in Belleisle's suite the Abbé Perrin, who published Madame Sévigné's letters, and who has the originals in his hands. How one should have liked to have known him! The Marshal was privately in London last Friday. He is entertained to-day at Hampton Court by the Duke of Grafton.
To be modest and moderate, friendly, and conciliatory, to be content with one's lot and to bow to circumstances, to be sincere, to cultivate good sense and good grace—these counsels have been and still are, according to French opinion, the basis of French character: and Mme. de Sévigné's own popularity and success attest their wisdom.
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