The New Student's Reference Work/Sévigné, Madame de

Sévigné (sā̇′vē̇n′yā̇′), Madame de, the queen of letter-writers, was born at Paris, as Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Feb. 6, 1626. At 18 she married a spendthrift marquis, whom she forgave and loved. At the death of her husband in 1651, she was brilliant in beauty and fascination. The prince of Conti, Turenne, Rohan and others courted her in vain. But no woman ever knew, as she did, how to change a lover into a friend, and perhaps no one ever had so many and such friends. But as to love, — that was wholly bound up in her son and daughter. The marriage of the daughter to the Count of Grignan, lieutenant-général of Provence, obliged her to live away from Paris. This separation from her daughter was the grief of Madame de Sévigné's life, but it is mainly to it that we owe those letters, extending over the 25 years till her death. These letters tell the inner history of the time in great detail; but are most valuable as mere letters, charming in their good sense, sparkling wit and inbreathed affection. The writer died on April 18, 1696. Consult Amelia Gere Mason's Women of the French Salons. See Letters.