Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/731

Rh SEVIGNE 705 expedition to Crete against the Turks, and served with credit. Then his mother bought him the commission of guidon (a kind of sub-cornet) in the Gendarmes Dauphin, in which regiment he served for some years, and after long complaining of the slowness of promotion rather rapidly rose to the rank of captain, when he sold out. But though he always fought well he was not an enthusi- astic soldier, and was constantly and not often fortunately in love. He followed his father into the nets of Ninon de 1'Enclos, and was Racine's rival with Mademoiselle Champmesle. The way in which his mother was made confidante of these discreditable and not very successful loves is characteristic both of the time and of the country. In 16G9 M. de Grignan, who had previously been lieu- tenant-governor of Languedoc, was transferred to Provence. The governor-in-chief was the young duke of Vendume. But at this time he was a boy, and he never really took up the government, so that Grignan for more than forty years was in effect viceroy of this important province. His wife rejoiced greatly in the part of vice-queen ; but their peculiar situation threw on them the expenses without the emoluments of the office, and those expenses were increased by the extravagance of both, so that the Grignan money affairs hold a larger place in Madame de Sevigne's letters than might perhaps be wished. In 1671 Madame de Sevigne with her son paid a visit to Les Rochers, which is memorable in her history and in literature. The states of Brittany were convoked that year at Vitre. This town being in the immediate neigh- bourhood of Les Rochers, Madame de Sevigne's usually quiet life at her country house was diversified by the necessity of entertaining the governor, the Due de Ohaulnes, of appearing at his receptions, and so forth. All these matters are duly consigned to record in her letters, together with much good-natured raillery (it must be admitted that it is sometimes almost on the verge of being ill-natured, though never quite over it) on the country ladies of the neighbourhood and their ways. She remained at Les Rochers during the whole summer and autumn of 1671, and did not return to Paris till late in November. The country news is then succeeded by news of the court. At the end of the next year, 1672, one great wish of her heart was gratified by paying a visit to her daughter in her vice-royalty of Provence. Madame de Grignan does not seem to have been very anxious for this visit, perhaps because, as the letters show in many cases, the exacting affection of her mother was somewhat too strong for her own colder nature, perhaps because she feared such a witness of the ruinous extravagance which characterized the Grignan household. But her mother remained with her for nearly a year, and did not return to Paris till the end of 1673. During this time we have (as is usually the case during these Provengal visits and the visits of Madame de Grignan to Paris) some letters addressed to Madame de Sevigne, but comparatively few from her. A visit of the second class was the chief event of 1674, and the references to this, such as they are, is the chief evidence that mother and daughter were on the whole better apart. 1675 brought with it the death of Turenne (of which Madame de Sevigne has given a very noteworthy account, characteristic pf her more ambitious but not perhaps her more successful manner), and also serious disturbances in Brittany. Notwithstanding these it was necessary for Madame de Sevigne to make her periodical visit to Les Rochers. She reached the house in safety, and the friendship of Chaulues protected iier both from violence and from the exactions which the miserable province underwent as a punishment for its resistance to excessive and unconstitutional taxation. No small part of her letters is occupied by these affairs. The year 1676 saw several things important in Madame de Sevigne's life. For the first time she was seriously ill, it would appear with rheumatic fever, and she did not thoroughly recover till she had visited Vichy. Her letters from this place are among her very best, and picture life at a 17th-century watering-place with unsurpassed vivid- ness. In this year, too, took place the trial and execution of Madame de Brinvilliers. This event figures in the letters, and the references to it are among those which have given occasion to unfavourable comments on Madame de Sevigne's character comments which, with others of the kind, will be more conveniently treated together. In the next year, 1677, she moved into the Hotel Carua- valet, a house which still remains and is inseparably connected with her memory, and she had the pleasure of welcoming the whole Grignan family to it. They remained there a long time ; indeed nearly two years seem to have been spent by Madame de Griguan partly in Paris and partly at Livry. The return to Provence took place in October 1678, and next year Madame de Sevigne had the grief of losing La Rochefoucauld, the most eminent and one of the most intimate of her close personal friends and constant associates. In 1680 she again visited Brittany, but the close of that year saw her back in Paris to receive another and even longer visit from her daughter, who remained in Paris for four years. Before the end of the last year of this stay (in February 1684) Charles de Sevigne, after all his wandering loves, and after more than one talked-of alliance, was married to a young Breton lady, Jeanne Marguerite de Mauron, who had a considerable fortune. In the arrangements for this marriage Madame de Sevigne practically divided all her fortune between her children (Madame de Grignan of course receiving an unduly large share), and reserved only part of the life interest. The greed of Madame de Griguan nearly broke her brother's marriage, but it was finally concluded and proved a very happy one in a some- what singular fashion. Both Sevigne and his wife became deeply religious, and at first Madame de Sevigne found their household (for she gave up Les Rochers to them) not at all lively. But by degrees she grew fond of her daughter-in-law. During this year she spent a consider- able time in Brittany, first on business, afterwards on a visit to her son, and partly it would appear for motives of economy. But Madame de Grignan still continued with only short absences to inhabit Paris, and the mother and daughter were practically in each other's company until 1688. The proportion of letters therefore that we have for the decade 1677-1687 is much smaller than that which represents the decade preceding it ; indeed the earlier period contains the great bulk of the whole corre- spondence. In 1687 the Abbe de Coulanges, Madame de Sevigne's uncle and good angel, died, and in the following year the whole family were greatly excited by the first campaign of the young Marquis 'de Grignan, Madame de Grignan's only son, who was sent splendidly equipped to the siege of Philippsbourg. In the same year Madame de Sevigne was present at the St Cyr performance of Esther, and some of her most amusing descriptions of court cere- monies and experiences date from this time. 1689 and 1690 were almost entirely spent by her at Les Rochers with her son ; and on leaving him she went across France to Provence. There was some excitement during her Breton stay, owing to the rumour of an English descent, on which occasion the Breton militia was called out, and Charles de Sevigne appeared for the last time as a soldier ; but it came to nothing. 1691 was passed at Grignan and other places in the south, but at the end of it Madame de Sevign6 returned to Paris, bringing the Grignans with her: and her daughter stayed with her till 1694. The XXI. 89