A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Jardins, Marie Catharine des
JARDINS, MARIE CATHARINE DES.
Was born about 1640, at Alen{{subst:ç,}}on, in Normandy, where her father was provost. She went when young to Paris, where she supported herself for some time by writing novels and dramas. She was three times married; first, to M. Villedieu, a young captain of the infantry, who was only separated, not divorced, from a former wife; after his death, to the Marquis de la Chasse, who was also only parted from his wife; and, for the third time, to one of her cousins, who allowed her to resume the name of Villedieu. She soon after retired to a little village, called Clinchemaro, in the province of Maine, where she died in 1683.
Her works were printed in 1702, and form ten duodecimo volumes. Her compositions consisted of dramas, miscellaneous poems, fables, and romances; among which latter class are "Les Disordres de l'Amour;" "Portraits des Faiblesses Humains;" "Les Exiles de la Cour d'Auguste;" "Cleonice;" "Carmeute;" "Les Galanteries Grenadines;" "Les Amours des Grands Hommes;" "Les Memoirs du Serail;" etc.
Her style is rapid and animated; but she is often incorrect, and her incidents improbable. Her short stories certainly extinguished the taste for tedious romances, and led the way to the novel; but were by no means of such excellence as those that have since been written. Her verse is inferior to her prose. Her society was much sought by men of learning, wit, and fashion; and her conduct during her widowhood was by no means irreproachable. But good morals were not then the fashion in French society.