piling up of books, these works have fallen somewhat into the
shade, but they are written with a vivid naturalness of style, a
truth of portraiture, and a delicacy of sentiment, that commend
them still to all lovers of imaginative literature. Fontenelle
read the "Princesse de Cleves" four times when it appeared. La
Harpe said it was "the first romance that offered reasonable
adventures written with interest and elegance." It marked an era
in the history of the novel. "Before Mme. de La Fayette," said
Voltaire, "people wrote in a stilted style of improbable things."
We have the rare privilege of reading her own criticism in a
letter to the secretary of the Duchesse de Savoie, in which she
disowns the authorship, and adds a few lines of discreet eulogy.

"As for myself," she writes, :"I am flattered at being suspected
of it. I believe I should acknowledge the book, if I were
assured the author would never appear to claim it. I find it
very agreeable and well written without being excessively
polished, full of things of admirable delicacy, which should be
read more than once; above all, it seems to be a perfect
presentation of the world of the court and the manner of living
there. It is not romantic or ambitious; indeed it is not a
romance; properly speaking, it is a book of memoirs, and that I
am told was its title, but it was changed. VOILA, monsieur, my
judgment upon Mme. De Cleves; I ask yours, for people are divided
upon this book to the point of devouring each other. Some
condemn what others admire; whatever you may say, do not fear to
be alone in your opinion."

Sainte-Beuve, whose portrait of Mme. de La Fayette is so
delightful as to make all others seem superfluous, has devoted