A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lussan, Margaret de
LUSSAN, MARGARET DE,
A writer very much admired in France for a number of romances which she produced, was the daughter of a coachman belonging to Cardinal Fleury, and was born about 1682. The celebrated Huet observed her early talents, assisted her in her education, and advised her to the style of writing in which she afterwards excelled. She had no personal beauty, but possessed many noble and generous qualities of mind and heart. She supported herself chiefly by her pen; and her works would probably have been more perfect, if she had not been obliged to write so much. Her best productions are "Histoire de la Comtesse de Gondez;" "Anecdotes de la Cour de Philippe Auguste;" "Les Viellées de Thessalie;" "Memoirs Secret de la Cour de France, sous Charles VIII.;" "Anecdotes de la Cour de François I.;" &c. Some works were published under her name, which are now known to have been written by other persons, with whom she shared the profits.