DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63221#0152
114
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
women,” he sighs... “ one of them is too much mine for
me not to love her.’1 This rather dubious complaint refers
to his wife, and he proceeds to describe the other two. He
carried on this dual game till the Italian wars called him
away again. Madame de Chateaubriand, treated with every
indignity by the Regent Louise, retired with a broken heart
to a comfortable country-house. The rest of her life does
not belong to history.
Mademoiselle d’Heilly was quickly domesticated by Louise,
who refers to her as one of theii' “united trio.” “La plus
belles des savantes et la plus savante des belles,” Marot
called her. She was a young woman of sense and parts,
with a good deal of learning besides; and was afterwards
made governess to the King’s little daughters, as if she were
a Maintenon or a Genlis. She was not altogether generous,
for she begged the King to get back the jewels he had
given to her predecessor, not because of their value (jewels
were then unfashionable), “ but for love of the devices
engraved thereon and designed by his sister, who was a great
mistress of this craft.” Madame de Chateaubriand responded
by returning the King’s gifts turned into golden lingots.
“She has shown,” said the King, “more courage and generosity
than I had thought possible in a woman.”
Margaret’s part in all this is difficult to realize. She
was a friend of Madame de Chateaubriand, but she was
intimate with Mademoiselle d’Heilly. Mademoiselle’s Pro-
testant leanings (which made her, as Duchesse d’Etampes,
the Patroness of the Reformers) must have been a bond of
union, but there was, besides, a real affection between them.
The truth was that Margaret always loved the people the
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
women,” he sighs... “ one of them is too much mine for
me not to love her.’1 This rather dubious complaint refers
to his wife, and he proceeds to describe the other two. He
carried on this dual game till the Italian wars called him
away again. Madame de Chateaubriand, treated with every
indignity by the Regent Louise, retired with a broken heart
to a comfortable country-house. The rest of her life does
not belong to history.
Mademoiselle d’Heilly was quickly domesticated by Louise,
who refers to her as one of theii' “united trio.” “La plus
belles des savantes et la plus savante des belles,” Marot
called her. She was a young woman of sense and parts,
with a good deal of learning besides; and was afterwards
made governess to the King’s little daughters, as if she were
a Maintenon or a Genlis. She was not altogether generous,
for she begged the King to get back the jewels he had
given to her predecessor, not because of their value (jewels
were then unfashionable), “ but for love of the devices
engraved thereon and designed by his sister, who was a great
mistress of this craft.” Madame de Chateaubriand responded
by returning the King’s gifts turned into golden lingots.
“She has shown,” said the King, “more courage and generosity
than I had thought possible in a woman.”
Margaret’s part in all this is difficult to realize. She
was a friend of Madame de Chateaubriand, but she was
intimate with Mademoiselle d’Heilly. Mademoiselle’s Pro-
testant leanings (which made her, as Duchesse d’Etampes,
the Patroness of the Reformers) must have been a bond of
union, but there was, besides, a real affection between them.
The truth was that Margaret always loved the people the