Of her husband we know very little, excepting that he belonged to
the family of Montmorency, passed from violent love to heart-
breaking indifference, and died about 1640, leaving her with four
children and shattered fortunes. To recruit her failing health,
and to hide her chagrin and sorrow at seeing herself supplanted
by unworthy rivals, she had lived for some time in the country,
where she had leisure for the reading and reflection which fitted
her for her later life. But after the death of her husband she
was obliged to sell her estates, and we find her established in
the Place Royale with her devoted friend, the Comtesse de Maure,
and continuing the traditions of the Hotel de Rambouillet. Her
tastes had been formed in this circle, and she had also been
under the instruction of the Chevalier de Mere, a litterateur and
courtier who had great vogue, was something of an oracle, and
molded the character and manners of divers women of this period,
among others the future Mme. de Maintenon. His confidence in his
own power of bringing talent out of mediocrity was certainly
refreshing. Among his pupils was the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres,
who said to him one day, "I wish to have esprit."--"Eh bien,
Madame," replied the complaisant chevalier, "you shall have it."

How much Mme. de Sable may have been indebted to this modest bel
esprit we do not know, but her finished manner, fine taste,
exquisite tact, cultivated intellect, and great experience of the
world made her an authority in social matters. To be received in
her salon was to be received everywhere. Cardinal Mazarin
watched her influence with a jealous eye. "Mme. de Longueville
is very intimate with the Marquise de Sable," he writes in his
private note book. "She is visited constantly by D'Andilly, the