The New International Encyclopædia/Graffigny, Françoise d'Issembourg d'Happoncourt de

GRAFFIGNY, grȧf'fḗ'nyḗ', Françoise d'Issembourg d'Happoncourt de (1695-1758). A French author, born at Nancy. She was married when young to François Hugues de Graffigny, chamberlain to the Duke of Lorraine, from whom she obtained a separation. In 1738 she spent an unhappy few months with Madame du Châtelet, the friend of Voltaire, where she was accused of having stolen a copy of La Pucelle. She published her first novel in 1740, but it was not until her Lettres d'une Péruvienne (1747) appeared that she became famous in the society of her time. Her salon was a literary centre of Paris. In 1750 her drama Cénie was played with great success, but another comedy, La fille d'Aristide (1758), failed completely, and this, says the Abbé de Voisenou, hastened her death. Her complete works were published in 1788, and her letters, under the title Vie privée de Voltaire et de Madame du Châtelet, in 1820 (reëdited with a biography, 1879). Consult Guerle, Madame de Graffigny (Nancy, 1882).