La Princesse De Clèves

La Princesse De Clèves, by Mme
de La Fayette

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Title: La Princesse De Clèves
Author: Mme de La Fayette
Editor: Benjamin F. Sledd and Hendren J. Gorrell
Release Date: January 3, 2007 [EBook #20262]
Language: French
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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PRINCESSE DE CLÈVES ***

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LA PRINCESSE DE CLÈVES

PAR
Mme de La FAYETTE
EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY
BENJAMIN F. SLEDD, M.A., LITT. D. AND J. HENDREN
GORRELL, M.A., PH. D. PROFESSORS IN WAKE FOREST
COLLEGE
INTERNATIONAL MODERN LANGUAGE SERIES
GINN AND COMPANY
BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · LONDON
ATLANTA · DALLAS · COLUMBUS · SAN FRANCISCO

COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY B.F. SLEDD AND H. GORRELL
* * * * *
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
330.1

The Athenæum Press
GINN AND COMPANY · PROPRIETORS · BOSTON · U.S.A.

INTRODUCTION.

Mme. de la Fayette, whose maiden name was Marie-Magdeleine
Pioche de La Vergne, was born at Paris in 1634. Her father belonged to
the lesser nobility, and was for awhile governor of Pontoise, and later
of Havre. Her mother was sprung from an ancient family of Provence,
among whom, says Auger, literary talent had long been a heritage; but
the mother herself--if we are to believe Mme. de La Fayette's
biographers--possessed no talent save that of intrigue. This opinion of
Mme. de La Vergne, however, rests mainly upon the testimony of
Cardinal de Retz; and may it not be that Mme. de La Fayette has drawn
for us the portrait of her mother in the person of Mme. de Chartres? If
this be true, Mme. de La Vergne, vain and intriguing though she may
have been, was not wholly unworthy of her daughter.
The early education of Mme. de La Fayette--for by this name we can
best speak of her--was made the special care of her father, "un père en
qui le mérite égaloit la tendresse." Later, she was put under Ménage,
and possibly Rapin. Segrais, with his usual garrulousness, tells the
following story:
"Trois mois après que Mme. de La Fayette eut commencé d'apprendre
le latin, elle en savoit déjà plus que M. Ménage et que le Père Rapin,
ses maîtres. En la faisant expliquer, ils eurent dispute ensemble
touchant l'explication d'un passage, et ni l'un ni l'autre ne vouloit se
rendre au sentiment de son compagnon; Mme. de La Fayette leur dit:
Vous n'y entendez rien ni l'un ni l'autre.--En effet, elle leur dit la
véritable explication de ce passage; ils tombèrent d'accord qu'elle avoit
raison." And Segrais goes on to say: "C'étoit un poëte qu'elle expliquoit,
car elle n'aimoit pas la prose, et elle n'a pas lu Cicéron; mais comme
elle se plaisoit fort à la poésie, elle lisoit particulièrement Virgile et
Horace; et comme elle avoit l'esprit poétique et qu'elle savoit tout ce
qui convenoit à cet art, elle pénétroit sans peine le sens de ces auteurs."
Learned for a woman of her times Mme. de La Fayette indeed was; but
of this learning she made no show,--"pour ne pas choquer les autres
femmes," says Sainte-Beuve.
At the age of fifteen, Mme. de La Fayette lost her father; and her
mother, after brief waiting, and--if Cardinal de Retz is to be

believed--much intriguing, found a second husband in the Chevalier
Renaud de Sévigné. This union was an important event in the life of
Mme. de La Fayette, for it marks the beginning of her residence at Paris,
and of her friendship with Mme. de Sévigné, who was a kinswoman of
the Chevalier.
How close and lasting was this friendship is seen on almost every page
of Mme. de Sévigné's correspondence. Indeed, so often does the name
of Mme. de La Fayette occur in Mme. de Sévigné's letters to her
daughter, that the latter may well have been jealous of her mother's
friend. The companionship of Mme. de Sévigné was, after the death of
La Rochefoucauld, the chief comfort of Mme. de La Fayette in her
ill-health and seclusion; and it was from the sick-chamber of her friend
that Mme. de Sévigné's letters would seem to have been written in
those latter years. In 1693, soon after the death of Mme. de La Fayette,
Mme. de Sévigné writes as follows of her dead friend: "Je me trouvois
trop heureuse d'être aimée d'elle depuis un temps très-considérable;