Life, Letters, and Epicurean Philosophy of Ninon de LEnclos, the Celebrated Beauty of the Seventee | Page 5

to become
virtues by the operation of the law of extremes. There was no law
permitting a man to marry his sister, and there was no law forbidding
King Cambyses to do as he liked.
Another grave point to be considered is this: The world, as it now
stands, its laws, systems of government, manners and customs, and
social conditions, have been built up on these same "splendid vices,"
and whenever they have been tamed into subjection to mediocrity--let
us say to clerical, or ecclesiastical domination;--government, society
and morals have retrograded. The social condition in France during
Ninon de l'Enclos' time, and in England during the reign of Charles II,
is startling evidence of this accusation. Moreover, it is fast becoming
the condition to-day, a fact indicated by the almost universal demand
for a revolution in social ethics, the foundation to which, for some
reason, has become awry, threatening to topple down the structure
erected upon it. Society can see nothing to originate, an incalculable
number of attempts to better human conditions always proving failures,
and worsening the human status. It is dawning upon the minds of the
true lovers of humanity, that there is nothing else to be done, but to
revert to the past to find the key to any possible reform, and to that past
we are edging rapidly, though, it must be said unwillingly, in the hope
and expectation that the old foundations are possessed of sufficient
solidity to support a new or re-modeled structure.
The life of Ninon de l'Enclos, upon this very point, furnishes food for
profitable reflection, inasmuch as it gives an insight into the great
results to be obtained by the following of the precepts of an ancient
philosophy which seems to have survived the clash of ages of
intellectual and moral warfare, and to have demonstrated its capacity to
supply defects in segregated dogmatic systems wholly incapable of any
syncretic tendencies.

CHAPTER III
Youth of Ninon de l'Enclos
Anne de l'Enclos, or "Ninon," as she has always been familiarly called
by the world at large, was born at Paris in 1615. What her parents were,
or what her family, is a matter of little consequence. To all persons who
have attained celebrity over the route pursued by her, original rank and
station are not of the least moment. By force of his genius in hewing
for himself a niche in history, Napoleon was truly his own ancestor, as
it is said he loved to remark pleasantly. So with Ninon de l'Enclos, the
novelty of the career she laid out for herself to follow, and did follow
until the end with unwavering constancy, justifies us in regarding her as
the head of a new line, or dynasty.
In the case of mighty conquerors, whose path was strewn with violence,
even lust, no one thinks of an ignoble origin as in any manner
derogatory to the eminence; on the contrary, it is considered rather as
matter to be proud of; the idea that out of ignominy, surrounded by
conditions devoid of all decency, justice, and piety, an individual can
elevate himself up to the highest pinnacle of human power and glory,
has always, and will always be regarded as an example to be followed,
and the badge of success stretched to cover the means of its attainment.
This is the universal custom where success has been attained, the
failures being relegated to a well merited oblivion as unworthy of
consideration either as lessons of warning or for any purpose. Our
youth are very properly taught only the lessons of success.
It is in evidence that Ninon's father was a gentleman of Touraine and
connected, through his wife, with the family of Abra de Raconis, a race
of no mean repute in the Orleanois, and that he was an accomplished
gentleman occupying a high position in society. Voltaire, however,
declares that Ninon had no claim to a parentage of such distinction; that
the rank of her mother was too obscure to deserve any notice, and that
her father's profession was of no higher dignity than that of a teacher of
the lute. This account is not less likely, from the remarkable
proficiency acquired by Ninon, at an early age, in the use of that

instrument.
It is equally certain, however, that Ninon's parents were not obscure,
and that her father was a man of many accomplishments, one of which
was his skill as a performer on the lute. A fact which may have induced
Voltaire to mistake one of his talents for his regular profession.
Ninon's parents were as opposite in sentiments and disposition as the
Poles of the earth. Madame de l'Enclos was a prudent, pious Christian
mother, who endeavored to inspire her daughter with the same pious
sentiments which pervaded her own heart. The