Women of Modern France

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Women of Modern France

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Title: Women of Modern France Woman In All Ages And In All
Countries
Author: Hugo P. Thieme
Release Date: November 26, 2005 [EBook #17159]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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OF MODERN FRANCE ***

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Transcriber.

WOMAN
in all ages and in all countries
WOMEN OF MODERN FRANCE
by
HUGO P. THIEME, Ph.D.
Of the University of Michigan
THE RITTENHOUSE PRESS PHILADELPHIA

Copyrighted at Washington and entered at Stationer's Hall, London,
1907--1908
and printed by arrangement with George Barrie's Sons.
PRINTED IN U.S.A.

CONTENTS
PREFACE
Chapter I.
Woman in politics
Chapter II.
Woman in Family Life, Education, and Letters

Chapter III.
The Seventeenth Century: Woman at Her Best
Chapter IV.
Woman in Society and Literature
Chapter V.
Mistresses and Wives of Louis XIV
Chapter VI.
Mme. de Sévigné, Mme. de La Fayette, Mme. Dacier, Mme. de Caylus
Chapter VII.
Woman in Religion
Chapter VIII.
Salon Leaders Mme. de Tencin, Mme. Geoffrin, Mme. du Deffand,
Mlle. de Lespinasse, Mme. du Châtelet
Chapter IX.
Salon Leaders--(Continued): Mme. Necker, Mme. d'Epinay, Mme. de
Genlis: Minor Salons
Chapter X.
Social Classes
Chapter XI.
Royal Mistresses

Chapter XII.
Marie Antoinette and the Revolution
Chapter XIII.
Women of the Revolution and the Empire
Chapter XIV.
Women of the Nineteenth Century

PREFACE
Among the Latin races, the French race differs essentially in one
characteristic which has been the key to the success of French
women--namely, the social instinct. The whole French nation has
always lived for the present time, in actuality, deriving from life more
of what may be called social pleasure than any other nation. It has been
a universal characteristic among French people since the sixteenth
century to love to please, to make themselves agreeable, to bring joy
and happiness to others, and to be loved and admired as well. With this
instinctive trait French women have always been bountifully endowed.
Highly emotional, they love to charm, and this has become an art with
them; balancing this emotional nature is the mathematical quality.
These two combined have made French women the great leaders in
their own country and among women of all races. They have developed
the art of studying themselves; and the art of coquetry, which has
become a virtue, is a science with them. The singular power of
discrimination, constructive ability, calculation, subtle intriguing, a
clear and concise manner of expression, a power of conversation
unequalled in women of any other country, clear thinking: all these
qualities have been strikingly illustrated in the various great women of
the different periods of the history of France, and according to these
they may by right be judged; for their moral qualities have not always
been in accordance with the standard of other races.

According as these two fundamental qualities, the emotional and
mathematical, have been developed in individual women, we meet the
different types which have made themselves prominent in history. The
queens of France, in general, have been submissive and pious, dutiful
and virtuous wives, while the mistresses have been bold and frivolous,
licentious and self-assertive. The women outside of these spheres either
looked on with indifference or regret at the all-powerfulness of this
latter class, unable to change conditions, or themselves enjoyed the
privilege of the mistress.
It must be remembered that in the great social circles in France,
especially from the sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth centuries,
marriage was a mere convention, offences against it being looked upon
as matters concerning manners, not morals; therefore, much of the
so-called gross immorality of French women may be condoned. It will
be seen in this history that French women have acted banefully on
politics, causing mischief, inciting jealousy and revenge, almost
invariably an instrument in the hands of man, acting as a disturbing
element. In art, literature, religion, and business, however, they have
ever been a directing force, a guide, a critic and judge, an inspiration
and companion to man.
The wholesome results of French women's activity are reflected
especially in art and literature, and to a lesser degree in religion and
morality, by the tone of elegance, politeness, finesse, clearness,
precision, purity, and a general high standard which man followed if he
was