eyes of remarkable brilliancy, an abundance of blond hair, a face
mobile and animated, and a fine figure--these were her visible
attractions. She danced well, sang well, talked well, and had
abounding health. Mme. de La Fayette made a pen-portrait of her,
which was thought to be strikingly true. It was in the form of a
letter from an unknown man. A few extracts will serve to bring
her more vividly before us.

"Your mind so adorns and embellishes your person, that there is
no one in the world so fascinating when you are animated by a
conversation from which constraint is banished. All that you say
has such a charm, and becomes you so well, that the words attract
the Smiles and the Graces around you; the brilliancy of your
intellect gives such luster to your complexion and your eyes,
that although it seems that wit should touch only the ears, yours
dazzles the sight.

"Your soul is great and elevated. You are sensitive to glory and
to ambition, and not less so to pleasures; you were born for them
and they seem to have been made for you . . . In a word, joy is
the true state of your soul, and grief is as contrary to it as
possible. You are naturally tender and impassioned; there was
never a heart so generous, so noble, so faithful . . . You are
the most courteous and amiable person that ever lived, and the
sweet, frank air which is seen in all your actions makes the
simplest compliments of politeness seem from your lips
protestations of friendship."

Mlle. de Scudery sketches her as the Princesse Clarinte in
"Clelie," concluding with these words: "I have never seen together