rejection of friendship, and in distributing her favors and
influences. As she herself declared:

"I soon saw that women were put off with the most frivolous and unreal
privileges, while every solid advantage was retained by the stronger
sex. From that moment I determined on abandoning my own sex and
assuming that of the men."

So well did she carry out this determination that she was regarded by
her masculine intimates as one of themselves, and whatever pleasures
they enjoyed in her society, were enjoyed upon the same principle as
they would have delighted in a good dinner, an agreeable theatrical
performance, or exquisite music.

To her and to all her associates, love was a taste emanating from the
senses, a blind sentiment which assumes no merit in the object which
gives it birth, as is the case of hunger, thirst, and the like. In a
word, it was merely a caprice the domination of which depends upon
ourselves, and is subject to the discomforts and regrets attendant
upon repletion or indulgence.

After her first experience with de Coligny, which was an abandonment
of her cold philosophy for a passionate attachment she thought would
endure forever, Ninon cast aside all that element in love which is
connected with passion and extravagant sentiment, and adhered to her
philosophical understanding of it, and kept it in its proper place in
the category of natural appetites. To illustrate her freedom from
passionate attachments in the distribution of her favors, the case of
her friend Scarron will give an insight into her philosophy. Scarron
had received numerous favors from her, and being one of her select