not diffused as it is today. A new light was just dawning upon
the world, but learning was still locked in the brains of
savants, or in the dusty tomes of languages that were practically
obsolete. Men of letters were dependent upon the favors of noble
but often ignorant patrons, whom they never met on a footing of
equality. The position of women was as inferior as their
education, and the incredible depravity of morals was a
sufficient answer to the oft-repeated fallacy that the purity of
the family is best maintained by feminine seclusion. It is true
there were exceptions to this reign of illiteracy. With the
natural disposition to glorify the past, the writers of the next
generation liked to refer to the golden era of the Valois and the
brilliancy of its voluptuous court. Very likely they exaggerated
a little the learning of Marguerite de Navarre, who was said to
understand Latin, Italian, Spanish, even Greek and Hebrew. But
she had rare gifts, wrote religious poems, besides the very
secular "Heptameron" which was not eminently creditable to her
refinement, held independent opinions, and surrounded herself
with men of letters. This little oasis of intellectual light,
shadowed as it was with vices, had its influence, and there were
many women in the solitude of remote chateaux who began to
cultivate a love for literature. "The very women and maidens
aspired to this praise and celestial manna of good learning,"
said Rabelais. But their reading was mainly limited to his own
unsavory satires, to Spanish pastorals, licentious poems, and
their books of devotion. It was on such a foundation that Mme.
De Rambouillet began to rear the social structure upon which her
reputation rests. She was eminently fitted for this role by her
pure character and fine intelligence; but she added to these the
advantages of rank and fortune, which gave her ample facilities