Chapter I: Front Matter

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
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_From an Original Picture given by herself to the Countess of Sandwich and by the present Earl of Sandwich to M^r Walpole 1757_]

NINON DE L’ENCLOS

AND HER CENTURY

BY

M. C. ROWSELL

AUTHOR OF

“THE FRIEND OF THE PEOPLE,” “TRAITOR OR PATRIOT,” “THORNDYKE
MANOR,” “MONSIEUR DE PARIS,” ETC. ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

BRENTANO’S
NEW YORK

HURST & BLACKETT, LIMITED
LONDON
1910

_Printed in Great Britain_

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I 1

Birth—Parentage—“Arms and the Man”—A Vain Hope—Contraband
Novels—A Change of Educational System—Ninon’s Endowments—The
Wrinkle—A Letter to M. de L’Enclos and What Came of it—A
Glorious Time—“Troublesome Huguenots”—The Château at
Loches, and a New Acquaintance—“When Greek meets Greek”—The
Prisoners—“Liberty”—The Shades of Night—Vagabonds? or Two Young
Gentlemen of Consequence?—Tired Out—A Dilemma—Ninon Herself
Again—Consolation.

CHAPTER II 14

Troublesome Huguenots—Madame de L’Enclos—An Escapade and Nurse
Madeleine—Their Majesties—The Hôtel Bourgogne—The End of the
Adventure—St Vincent de Paul and his Charities—Dying Paternal
Counsel—Ninon’s New Home—Duelling—Richelieu and the Times.

CHAPTER III 27

A Life-long Friend—St Evrémond’s Courtly _Mot_—Rabelais _v._
Petronius—Society and the Salons—The Golden Days—The Man in
Black.

CHAPTER IV 36

A “Delicious Person”—Voiture’s Jealousy—A Tardy
Recognition—Coward Conscience—A Protestant Pope—The Hôtel de
Rambouillet—St Evrémond—The Duel—Nurse Madeleine—Cloistral
Seclusion and Jacques Callot—“Merry Companions Every One”—and One
in Particular.

CHAPTER V 51

An Excursion to Gentilly—“_Uraniæ Sacrum_”—César and
Ruggieri—The rue d’Enfer and the Capucins—Perditor—The
Love-philtre—Seeing the Devil—“Now You are Mine!”

CHAPTER VI 61

Nemesis—Ninon’s Theories—Wits and Beaux of the Salons—Found
at Last—“The Smart Set”—A Domestic Ménage—Scarron—The Fatal
Carnival—The Bond of Ninon—Corneille and _The Cid_—The
Cardinal’s Jealousy—Enlarging the Borders—Monsieur l’Abbé and the
Capon Leg—The Grey Cardinal—A Faithful Servant.

CHAPTER VII 81

Mélusine—Cinq-Mars—An Ill-advised Marriage—The Conspiracy—The
Revenge—The Scaffold—A Cry from the Bastille—The Lady’s
Man—“The Cardinal’s Hangman”—Finis—Louis’s Evensong—A Little
Oversight—The King’s Nightcap—Mazarin—Ninon’s Hero.

CHAPTER VIII 91

“Loving like a Madman”—A Great Transformation—The Unjust
Tax—Parted Lovers—A Gay Court and A School for Scandal, and
Mazarin’s Policy—The Regent’s Caprices—The King’s Upholsterer’s
Young Son—The Théâtre Illustre—The Company of Monsieur and
Molière.

CHAPTER IX 103

The Rift in the Lute—In the Vexin—The Miracle of the Gardener’s
Cottage—Italian Opera in Paris—Parted Lovers—“Ninum”—Scarron
and Françoise d’Aubigné—Treachery—A Journey to
Naples—Masaniello—Renewing Acquaintances—Mazarin’s Mandate.

CHAPTER X 115

The Fronde and Mazarin—A Brittany Manor—Borrowed Locks—The
Flight to St Germains—A Gouty Duke—Across the Channel—The Evil
Genius—The Scaffold at Whitehall—Starving in the Louvre—_The
Mazarinade_—Poverty—Condé’s Indignation—The Cannon of the
Bastille—The Young King.

CHAPTER XI 124

Invalids in the rue des Tournelles—On the Battlements—“La Grande
Mademoiselle”—Casting Lots—The Sacrifice—The Bag of Gold—“Get
Thee to a Convent”—The Battle of the Sonnets—A Curl-paper—The
Triumph and Defeat of Bacchus—A Secret Door—Cross Questions and
Crooked Answers—The Youthful Autocrat.

CHAPTER XII 135

The Whirligig of Time, and an Old Friend—Going to the Fair—A
Terrible Experience—The Young Abbé—“The Brigands of La
Trappe”—The New Ordering—An Enduring Memory—The King over the
Water—Unfulfilled Aspirations—“Not Good-looking.”

CHAPTER XIII 144

Christina’s Modes and Robes—Encumbering Favour—A Comedy at the
Petit-Bourbon—The Liberty of the Queen and the Liberty of the
Subject—Tears and Absolutions—The Tragedy in the Galérie des
Cerfs—Disillusions.

CHAPTER XIV 154

_Les Précieuses Ridicules_—Sappho and _Le Grand Cyrus_—The
Poets of the Latin Quarter—The Satire which Kills—A Lost
Child—Periwigs and New Modes—The Royal Marriage and a Grand
Entry.

CHAPTER XV 163

_Réunions_—The Scarrons—The Fête at Vaux—The Little Old Man in
the Dressing-gown—Louise de la Vallière—How the Mice Play when
the Cat’s Away—“Pauvre Scarron”—An Atrocious Crime.

CHAPTER XVI 175

A _Lettre de Cachet_—Mazarin’s Dying Counsel—Madame Scarron
Continues to Receive—Fouquet’s Intentions and What Came of
Them—The Squirrel and the Snake—The Man in the Iron Mask—An
Incommoding Admirer—“Calice cher, ou le parfum n’est plus”—The
Roses’ Sepulchre.

CHAPTER XVII 185

A Fashionable Water-cure Resort—M. de Roquelaure and his
Friends—Louis le Grand—“A Favourite with the Ladies”—The Broken
Sword—A _Billet-doux_—La Vallière and la Montespan—The Rebukes
from the Pulpit—Putting to the Test—_Le Tartufe_—The Triumphs of
Molière—The Story of Clotilde.

CHAPTER XVIII 199

A Disastrous Wooing—Fénelon—“Mademoiselle de L’Enclos”—The Pride
that had a Fall—The Death of the Duchesse d’Orléans—Intrigue—The
Sun-King and the Shadows—The Clermont Scholar’s Crime—Monsieur
de Montespan—Tardy Indignation—The Encounter—The Filles
Répenties—What the Cards Foretold.

CHAPTER XIX 212

“In Durance Vile”—Molière’s _Mot_—_The Malade
Imaginaire_—“Rogues and Vagabonds”—The Passing of Molière—The
Narrowing Circle—Fontenelle—Lulli—Racine—The Little Marquis—A
Tardy Pardon—The Charming Widow Scarron—A Journey to the Vosges,
and the Haunted Chamber.

CHAPTER XX 228

The Crime of Madame Tiquet—A Charming Little Hand—_Aqua
Toffana_—The Casket—A Devout Criminal—The Sinner and
the Saint—Monsieur de Lauzun’s Boots—“Sister Louise”—La
Fontange—“Madame de Maintenant”—The Blanks in the Circle—The
Vatican Fishes and their Good Example—Piety at Versailles—The
Periwigs and the Paniers—Père la Chaise—A Dull Court—Monsieur de
St Evrémond’s Decision.

CHAPTER XXI 241

A Distinguished Salon—The Duke’s Homage—Quietism—The Disastrous
Edict—The Writing on the Window-pane—The Persecution of the
Huguenots—The Pamphleteers—The Story of Jean Larcher and _The
Ghost of M. Scarron_—The Two Policies.

CHAPTER XXII 251

Mademoiselle de L’Enclos’ _Cercle_—Madeleine de Scudéri—The
Abbé Dubois—“The French Calliope,” and the Romance of her
Life—“_Revenons à nos Moutons_”—A Resurrection?—Racine and his
Detractors—“Esther”—_Athalie_ and St Cyr—Madame Guyon and the
Quietists.

CHAPTER XXIII 263

A Grave Question—The Troublesome Brother-in-Law—“No
Vocation”—The Duke’s Choice—Peace for “La Grande
Mademoiselle”—An Invitation to Versailles—Behind the
Arras—Between the Alternatives—D’Aubigné’s Shadow—A Broken
Friendship.

CHAPTER XXIV 275

The Falling of the Leaves—Gallican Rights—“The Eagle of
Meaux”—Condé’s Funeral Oration—The Abbé Gedouin’s Theory—A
Bag of Bones—Marriage and Sugar-plums—The Valour of Monsieur
du Maine—The King’s Repentance—The next Campaign—La Fontaine
and Madame de Sablière—MM. de Port Royal—The Fate of Madame
Guyon—“Mademoiselle Balbien.”

CHAPTER XXV 288

The Melancholy King—The Portents of the Storm—The Ambition of
Madame Louise Quatorze—The Farrier of Provence—The Ghost in
the Wood—Ninon’s Objection—The King’s Conscience—A Dreary
Court—Racine’s Slip of the Tongue—The Passing of a Great Poet,
and a Busy Pen Laid Down.

CHAPTER XXVI 301

Leaving the Old Home—“Wrinkles”—Young Years and Old Friends—“A
Bad Cook and a Little Bit of Hot Coal”—Voltaire—_Irène_—Making a
Library—“Adieu, Mes Amis”—The Man in Black.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

NINON DE L’ENCLOS _Frontispiece_

CARDINAL RICHELIEU _To face page_ 24

DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD ” 48

MOLIÈRE ” 100

ST EVRÉMOND ” 112

NINON DE L’ENCLOS ” 127

NINON DE L’ENCLOS

AND HER CENTURY

NINON DE L’ENCLOS

AND HER CENTURY