Madame Lafayette

At least, sire,’ he said, ‘if I am to undertake such an uncertain enterprise on the advice and in the service of Your Majesty, I beg him to keep it secret until success has justified it in public opinion, and not to let me be seen as vain enough to

At least, sire,’ he said, ‘if I am to undertake such an uncertain enterprise on the advice and in the service of Your Majesty, I beg him to keep it secret until success has justified it in public opinion, and not to let me be seen as vain enough to

imagine that a Queen who has never seen me, should wish to marry me for love.’

This princess was most highly thought of, thanks to her influence over her brother, the King. This was so great that the King, when the peace treaty was being signed, agreed to return Piedmont so that she could marry the Duc de Savoie. Although she had wished all her life to get married, she only wanted to marry a sovereign: this was the reason that she turned down the King of Navarre when he was still Duc de Vendôme, and had always wished for M. de Savoie. She had a predilection for him since seeing him in Nice at the meeting between King François I and Pope Paul III. Possessing wit and a discerning taste for beautiful things, she attracted all that was finest to her house. At certain times the whole court was there.

Mlle de Chartres appeared the next day and was received by the two Queens with every mark of condescension, and by everyone with such admiration that wherever she went, she heard only praise. She accepted it with such noble modesty that it seemed either that she did not hear those compliments or, at least, that she was unaffected by them

He went up to her and begged her to remember that he had been the first to admire her and, even before knowing her, had had towards her all the feelings of respect and esteem that she deserved

The King’s daughters sent for her to join in all their entertainments. In short, she was loved and admired by the whole court, except Mme de Valentinois

The Prince de Clèves fell passionately in love with Mlle de Chartres and passionately desired to marry her, but he was afraid that Mme de Chartres’s pride might be offended were she to give her daughter to a man who was not the eldest son of his house. Yet this house was so eminent, and the Comte d’Eu, the eldest son, had just married a lady so close to the royal family that the prince’s misgivings were attributable rather to the diffidence of love than to any rational cause

Mme de Chartres, who had been so careful to educate her daughter, continued to show the same concern for her virtue in a place where it was so much needed, being full of so many dangerous examples. Ambition and gallantry were the heart and soul of the court, preoccupying men and women equally. There were so many different factions and parties, and the women played so great a role in them, that love was always allied to politics and politics to love

each considered how to advance, to flatter, to serve or to harm; boredom and idleness were unknown, since everyone was engaged in intrigue or the pursuit of pleasure.