early education of her children being completed, their establishment
in life became a source of anxiety. Her son, when nineteen, joined the
expedition to Candia; concerning which Madame de Sevigne writes to
her cousin De Bussy, "I suppose you know that my son is gone to
Candia. He mentioned it to M. de Turenne, to Cardinal de Retz, and
to M. de la Rochefoucauld. These gentlemen so approved his design
that it was resolved on and made public before I knew any thing of it.
He is gone. I wept his departure bitterly, and am deeply afflicted.
I shall not have a moment's repose during the expedition. I see all
the dangers, and they destroy me; but I am not the mistress. On such
occasions mothers have no voice." She had reason for anxiety. Few of
the officers returned, but one of these was the Baron de Sevigne. A
commission was purchased for him in the army, and he served with
distinction during several campaigns; but his family had taken part
against the court during the wars of the Fronde, and were Jansenists,
so that he received no promotion, and at length left the army, and
settled into a quiet, well-behaved, country gentleman. Rejecting
many nice matches which his mother sought to make for him, he chose a
wife for himself, and his choice fortunately met her approbation.

Her daughter was presented at court, in 1663, and took part in the
brilliant _fetes_ of the following year. The mother's heart was, no
doubt, gladdened by the declaration of the Count de Treville, a sort
of oracle in the great world, "_That_ beauty will set the world on
fire." Her marriage became a subject of the deepest anxiety, and it
was long before her mother was satisfied with any of those who
pretended to the hand of "_la plus jolie fille de France_." She at
length accepted the proposals of the twice-widowed Count de Grignan,
and the event is thus announced to her cousin: "I must tell you a
piece of news which will doubtless delight you. At length the
prettiest woman in France is about to marry, not the handsomest youth,
but the most excellent man in the kingdom. You have long known M. de
Grignan. All his wives are dead, to make room for your cousin, as well
as, through wonderful luck, his father and his son; so that, being
richer than he ever was, and being, through his birth, his position,
and his good qualities, such as we desire, we conclude at once. The
public appears satisfied, and that is much, for one is silly enough to
be greatly influenced