She knew Italian, Latin, and Spanish; she had for masters Menage and Chapelain; and she early imbibed a real taste for solid reading, which she owed to her leaning towards the Jansenists and Port-Royal.

She was left a widow at five and twenty by the death of a very indifferent husband, and she was not disposed to make a second venture.

Before getting killed in a duel, M.de Sevigne had made a considerable gap in the property of his wife, who, however, had brought him more than five hundred thousand livres.

Madame de Sevigne had two children: she made up her mind to devote herself to their education, to restore their fortune, and to keep her love for them and for her friends.

Of them she had many, often very deeply smitten with her; all remained faithful to her, and, she deserted none of them, though they might be put on trial and condemned like Fouquet, or perfidious and cruel like her cousin M.de Bussy-Rabutin.