Women of History

<h3>MADAME DE PONTCHARTRAIN.</h3> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></SPAN></span></p> <p class="heading">[1660.]<br/> ST SIMON.</p> <p><ANTIMG src="images/iw.jpg" alt="W" width-obs="70" height-obs="69" class="floatl" />AS the daughter of Maupeon, president of one of the Chambers of Inquest, and, though far from being rich, was an acquisition to Pontchartrain, who was farther. One could scarcely be more <i>plain</i> in appearance than Madame; but then, to make up, she was a big woman, with something of a grand air, which was not only imposing, but had a certain refinement about it. No wife of a minister, or any other, possessed more of the art of managing an establishment, of combining order with ease and magnificence, of adroitly warding off inconveniences by looking forward without showing solicitude, of making dignity harmonise with politeness&mdash;a politeness so measured and advised as put all the world at ease. She had a great deal of spirit, without any ambition to show it, and a complaisance which was devoid of hollowness or duplicity. If she happened to make a mistake, it was surprising with what quietness she could repair the error; but she possessed also great good sense, which enabled her to make a just estimate of people, and a general sagacity as regards things and conduct, which few men of the time could boast of. Every one wondered that a woman <i>de la robe</i>, who had never seen the world but in Brittany, could in so short a time accommodate herself to <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></SPAN></span> the manners, spirit, and language of the court, becoming one of the best counsellors which one could find in cases of difficulty. True, she had too long imbibed the manners of the people not to show some small evidence of the contagion; but then it was all but unnoticed amidst the gallantry of a refined and charming spirit, which seemed always welling naturally from its source, accompanied by such grace of action that every one was delighted.</p> <p>No person understood so well as Madame Pontchartrain the art of giving f�tes. She had all the taste required, and all the invention, with a sumptuosity, too, on all sides; yet she never gave without reason and a good purpose, and she did all with an air perfectly simple and tranquil, without forgetting her age, her place, her state, her modesty. She was helpful to her relations; a trustworthy friend, effective, useful, true in all points, and pure at heart; delicious in the freedom of the country, dangerous at table in fixing you there, often very amusing without saying a word out of joint; always gay, though sometimes not exempt from humour. The virtue and the piety which she had exhibited throughout all her life increased as her fortune increased. What she gave in pensions well merited, what marriages she procured for poor girls, what she did for poor nuns when well assured of their vocation, what she deprived herself of to enable her to enable others to live, will never be known.</p> <div class="figcenter p4"> <ANTIMG src="images/i161.jpg" width-obs="196" height-obs="64" alt="Decoration" /></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />