of the family, the glory of the name was revived by the
distinguished general so dear to the American heart. It was in
the less tangible realm of the intellect that Mme. de La Fayette
was destined to an unlooked-for immortality.

But in spite of these interests, the sense of loneliness and
desolation is always present. Her few letters give us occasional
flashes of the old spirit, but the burden of them is
inexpressibly sad. Her sympathies and associations led her
toward a mild form of Jansenism, and as the evening shadows
darkened, her thoughts turned to fresh speculations upon the
destiny of the soul. She went with Mme. de Coulanges to visit
Mme. de La Sabliere, who was expiating the errors and follies of
her life in austere penitence at the Incurables. The devotion of
this once gay and brilliant woman, who had been so deeply tinged
with the philosophy of Descartes, touched her profoundly, and
suggested a source of consolation which she had never found. She
sought the counsels of her confessor, who did not spare her, and
though she was never sustained by the ardor and exaltation of the
religieuse, her last days were not without peace and a tranquil
hope. To the end she remained a gracious, thoughtful, self-
poised, calmly-judging woman whose illusions never blinded her to
the simple facts of existence, though sometimes throwing over
them a transparent veil woven from the tender colors of her own
heart. Above the weariness and resignation of her last words
written to Mme. de Sevigne sounds the refrain of a life that
counts among its crowning gifts and graces a genius for
friendship.

"Alas, ma belle, all I have to tell you of my health is very bad;