tears, and she could not even bear the emotion of saying good-by
to Mme. de Sevigne when she was going away to Provence. But her
accents were always tempered, and her manners had the gracious
and tranquil ease of a woman superior to circumstances. Her
extreme frankness lent her at times a certain sharpness, and she
deals many light blows at the small vanities and affectations
that come under her notice. "Mon Dieu," said the frivolous Mme.
de Marans to her one day, "I must have my hair cut." "Mon Dieu,"
replied Mme. de La Fayette simply, "do not have it done; that is
becoming only to young persons." Gourville said she was
imperious and over-bearing, scolding those she loved best, as
well as those she did not love. But this valet-de-chambre of La
Rochefoucauld, who amassed a fortune and became a man of some
note, was jealous of her influence over his former master, and
his opinions should be taken with reservation. Her delicate
satire may have been sometimes a formidable weapon, but it was
directed only against follies, and rarely, if ever, used
unkindly. She was a woman for intimacies, and it is to those who
knew her best that we must look for a just estimate of her
qualities. "You would love her as soon as you had time to be
with her, and to become familiar with her esprit and her wisdom,"
wrote Mme. de Sevigne to her daughter, who was disposed to be
critical; "the better one knows her, the more one is attached to
her."

One must also take into consideration her bad health. People
thought her selfish or indifferent when she was only sad and
suffering. For more than twenty years she was ill, consumed by a
slow fever which permitted her to go out only at intervals. La
Rochefoucauld had the gout, and they consoled each other. Mme.