of importance, but who are
interesting on account of the peculiar form of their activity.

Mlle. de Gournay, _fille d'alliance_ of Montaigne, is a unique
character. Having conceived a violent passion for the philosopher
and essayist, she would have no other consort than her honor and good
books. She called the ladies of the court "court dolls," accusing
them of deforming the French language by affecting words that had
apparently been greased with oil in order to facilitate their flow.
She was one of the first woman suffragists and the most independent
spirit of the age. In 1592, to see the country of her master, she
undertook a long voyage, at a time when any trip was fraught with the
gravest dangers for a woman.

She is a striking example of the effect of sixteenth-century sympathy,
admiration, and enthusiasm; she was protected by some of the greatest
literary men of the age--Balzac, Grotius, Heinsius; the French Academy
is said to have met with her on several occasions, and she is said
to have participated in its work of purifying and fixing the French
language. Her adherence to the Montaigne cult has brought her name
down to posterity.

M. du Bled relates a droll story in connection with her meeting
Richelieu. Mlle. de Gournay was an old maid, who lived to the ripe age
of eighty. Being a pronounced _feministe_, she--like her sisters of
to-day--cultivated cats. The story runs as follows:

"Bois-Robert conducted her to the Cardinal, who paid her a compliment
composed of old words taken from one of her books; she saw the point
immediately. 'You laugh over the poor old girl, but laugh, great
genius, laugh! everybody must contribute something to your diversion.'
The Cardinal, surprised at her ready wit, asked her pardon, and said
to Bois-Robert: 'We must do something for Mlle. de Gournay. I give
her two hundred ecus pension.' 'But she has servants,' suggested
Bois-Robert. 'Who?' 'Mlle. Jamyn (bastard), illegitimate daughter
of Amadis Jamyn, page of Ronsard.' 'I will give her fifty livres
annually.' 'There is still dear little Piaillon, her cat.' 'I give her
twenty livres pension, on condition that Piaillon shall have tripes.'
'But, Monseigneur, she has had kittens!' The Cardinal added a pistole
for the little kittens."

A woman of large fortune, she spent it freely in study, in her
household, and especially in alchemy. Her peculiar ideas about love
kept her from falling prey to the wealth-seeking gallants of the tim