Chapter CLXXXV: Letter IV

FROM THE COUNT DE GRIGNAN TO M. DE COULANGES.

GRIGNAN, May 23, 1696.

You, sir, can understand better than any one the magnitude of the loss we have sustained, and my just grief. Madame de Sévigné’s distinguished merit was perfectly known to you. It is not merely a mother-in-law that I regret; this name does not always command esteem; it is an amiable and excellent friend, and a delightful companion. But it is a circumstance more worthy of our admiration than our regret, that this noble-minded woman contemplated the approach of death, which she expected from the moment of her attack, with astonishing firmness and submission. She, who was so tender and so timid respecting those she loved, displayed the utmost fortitude and piety when she believed that she ought to think only of herself; and we can not but remark how useful and important it is to fill the mind with good things and sacred subjects, for which Madame de Sévigné appears to have had a peculiar taste, not to say a surprising avidity, by the use she made of these excellent provisions in the last moments of her life. I relate these particulars to you, sir, because they accord with your sentiments, and will be gratifying to the friendship you have borne for her whom we lament; and at the same time my mind is so full of them that it is a relief to me to find a man so well disposed as you are to listen to the recital, and take pleasure in hearing it. I hope, sir, that the memory of a friend who highly esteemed you will contribute to preserve to me the regard with which you have long honored me. I prize it too highly, and wish it too much, not to deserve it a little.

INDEX.

PAGE

Adhémar, Count (see note 16), 30
Adoration, 413
Affection, 423
Alone, 409
Apparition, An, 362
Arianism, 413

Baptism, 416
Bellefond, Marshal, 75, 152
Blanchfort, 392
Bleeding, An anecdote, 401
Books, 421
Bouillon, Duchess de, 189, 191
Bourdaloüe, 91, 111
Brancas, 43
Bride, A, 401
Brinon, Madame de, 260, 270
Brinvilliers, Madame de, 154, 155
Brittany, Disturbances in, 124, 238
Bussy, Count de (see note 3), 19, 350
Bussy, Count de, Letters to, 19-28

Calprenedre, La, 62
Chantal, Baroness de, 7
Charles II. of England, 245, 246
Chaulnes, Madame de, 66
Châtelet, Magdelen de (see note 43), 56
Chaulnes, Madame de, 66
Chaulnes, Duke de, 386
Chess, 409
Children, Hints about, 395
Christian Humility, 410
Colbert, 178
Company, 401
Condé, Prince de, 87
Conti, Prince de, 353, 356, 361
Corbinelli, 181, 217, 355
Coulanges, M. de, Letters to, 368-393
Coulanges, M. de, Letters from, 425
Coulanges, Madame de, 187, 212, 223, 426
Court News, 38
Courtier, A, 409

Dauphiness, 208, 216
Death, 79
Death of Madame de Sévigné, 428
Departure of Madame de Sévigné, 28
Descartes (termed _Father_ in the Letters), 238
Devices, Several, 406
Dreux, Madame de, 214
Dubois, 220
Dullness, 134

Elopement, 331
Esther, Tragedy of, 283
Evening employments, 400
Expenses, 415

Faith in Christ, 419
Fayette, Madame de La, 211, 212, 294
Feuillade, M. de, 129
Fire-eater, The, 420
Flechier, (see note 185), 217
Folly, 414
Forgiving Mother, A, 408
Fortune, Calculation of her, 51
Fouquet, M., 205, 208, 297-329
Fouquet, Madame de, 300, 303
Free will, 405

Gaming, 404
General Preface, III
Geneviève, 121
Gourville, M., 8
Grammont, Countess de, 182
Grammont, Marshal de, 91, 422
Grignan, Count de, 26, 27
Grignan, Count de, Letter from, 427
Grignan, Count de, Letters to, 338-346
Grignan, Madame or Countess, Letters to, 28-296
Grignan, Countess de, Letters from, 424
Grignan, Mademoiselle, 357
Grignan, the young Marquis, 417
Guiche, Count de, 91, 92

Harcourt, Countess de, 63
History of the Bible, 423
Home Life, 411
Hope ever, 426

Jealousy, 414
Jews, their religion, 147
Joli, Claude, 29
Josephus, 426

King, The (see note 175), 410
King of England, 265, 269, 271, 280, 282
King of France, Anecdote of, 308
King of France, Generosity of, 364

La Marans, 76, 89, 107
La Trousse, 129
Launoi, Mademoiselle de, 112
Lauzun, Duke de, Marriage of, 369
Lavardin, M. de, 228, 234, 378
La Voisin, The prisoner, 184, 190, 200
Liberty at Home, 411
Liberty of Mind, 421
Living, Rules of, 399
Longueville, Madame de, 89, 210, 211
Lot of Mankind, The, 414
Louvois, M. de, 381, 383
Love, its symptoms, 408
Luxembourg, M. de, 185, 188, 192, 215

Mainbourg, Father (see note 132), 143
Maine, Duke of, 102
Mademoiselle de Montpensier, Marriage of, 368-373
Maintenon, Madame de (see note 156), 181, 182, 223
Marriage, The impromptu, 400
Mary Blanche, 417
Mary Stuart (see note 225), 253
Maxims, 57, 67
Méri, Chevalier de, 181
Montespan, Madame de, 118, 119, 160, 396, 397
Montmort, Abbé, 40
Moonlight Walk, 230
Moral Essays, 422
Moulceau, President de, Letters to, 347-367

Namur, 388
Nicole, 61, 70, 72
Ninon de l’Enclos, 8, 39
Noailles, Duke de (see note 302), 348
Nuns of St. Marie, 422

Obstinate Son, 407
Old age, 425
Order, 56, 416
Order de la St. Esprit, 255

Pain, 81
Paulina, 162, 164, 279, 289, 291, 418
Pecuniary embarrassments, 407
Philipsburg, 252
Philosophy, 424
Plessis, Mademoiselle du, 49, 51, 60, 225
Polignac, Madame de, 363
Pomponne, M. de, his dismissal, 177, 187, 193
Pomponne, M. de, Letters to, 297-329
Port Royal, 395
Potable Gold (see note 148), 167
Preface, General, 7
Presentiment, 427
Providence, 405
Puissort (see note 278), 302

Quarrels in High Life, 402
Queen of England, 261, 271, 273
Queen of France, Illness of, 312
Queen of Spain poisoned (see note 149), 277

Rabutin-Chantal, Marie de, 7
Racine, 75, 80
Readings, 412
Reason, Use of, 405
Reflections, 396
Regrets, 32
Reproaches, 161
Retz, Cardinal de, 114, 117, 120
Rheims, Archbishop of, 111
Rheumatism, 151
Richelieu, Cardinal (see note 199), 229
Robbery (see note 104), 109
Rochefoucault, M. de la, 42, 82, 202, 204
Rocks, The (Madame de Sévigné’s estate), 48
Roquette, Gabriel de (see note 182), 210

Saint Simon, Duke of, 109
Scarron, Madame de, 74, 394
Schomberg, Count de, 253
Schomberg, Madame de (see note 95), 102
Selections from various letters, 394
Sermons, 426
Sévigné, Madame de, and her times, 5
Sévigné, Marguerite de (see note 11), 28
Sévigné, Marquis de, 172, 183, 198
Sévigné, Marquis de, Letters to, 330-337
Sévigné, Madame de, Death of, 428
Sévigné, Marquis de, Extravagance of, 403
Sobieski, John (see note 86), 95
Soissons, Countess de, 186, 190
St. Augustine, 157, 414
St. Cyr, 275
Submission, 424
Supper at Madame Coulanges, 394

Telescope, The, 398
Termes, M. de, 168, 169
Thianges, Madame de, 100
Thianges, Mademoiselle de, 341
Transparencies, 159
Trappe, La, 37
Turenne, Marshall de (see note 49), 64, 126-135
Twilight, 427

Vallière, Duchess de la, 33, 104, 114
Vardes, M. de, 54, 351
Vatel, 44, 45
Vendôme, Chevalier, 93, 94
Ventadour, M. de, 38
Versailles in 1676, 396
Villars, Abbé (see note 52), 68
Villeroi, Marshal de, 189
Vivonne, M. de, 93, 94, 110

Whims, 123
Words, The use of, 139
Work, 399

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Section Page

Preface to the Revised Edition III
Madame de Sévigné and her times 5
Letters of Madame de Sévigné, from 1655 to 1669,
addressed to the Count de Bussy 19
Letters to Madame de Grignan from 1671 to 1690 28
Letters to M. de Pomponne 297
Letters to her son the Marquis de Sévigné 330
Letters to the Count de Grignan from 1670 to 1696 338
Letters to the President de Moulceau from 1681
to 1682 347
Letters to M. de Coulanges from 1676 to 1696 368
Selections from various letters 394
Letters on the death of Madame de Sévigné 428
Index 433