the conspicuous political
women of the sixteenth and those of the seventeenth centuries lies in
the possession by the latter of less personal force than that wielded
by the former, who allowed nothing to thwart their plans. The women
of both periods were beautiful, but those of the earlier one were of a
magnetic and sensual type, "inspiring insensate passions and exciting
a feverish unrest," thus ruling man through his lower instincts. The
lack of refinement, sympathy, and charity reflected in their actions
is in glaring contrast to the dignity, repose, reserve, and womanly
modesty and grace displayed by their less masterful successors of the
seventeenth century.

Chapter IV

Woman in Society and Literature

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, after the death of Henry
IV., there were three classes in France,--the nobility, clergy, and
third estate,--each with a distinct field of action: the nobility
dominated customs, morality, and the government; the clergy supervised
instruction and education; the third estate furnished the funds, that
is, its work made possible the operations of the other classes.

At court, various dialects and diverse pronunciations were in use by
the representatives of the different provinces; the written language,
though understood generally, was not used. Warriors were largely
in evidence among the members of the nobility and court; entirely
indifferent to decency of expression, purity of morals, and refinement
of manners, and even boasting of their scorn of all restrictions,
they took their boisterous rudeness into the drawing room where their
influence was unlimited. The king, being of the same class, knew no
better, or, if he did, had not the moral courage to compel a change;
thus, the institution of a reformatory movement fell to the lot of
woman.

Then, however, woman was but little better than man; to gain his
esteem, she would first have to make radical changes in her own
behavior and become self-respecting. The customs of the time placed
many disadvantages in the way of her social and moral reform. As
a rule, the young girl was confined to a convent until she reached
marriageable age; when that came and with it an undesired husband, she
was ready for almost any prank that would relieve the monotony of her
uncongenial marital relations. The convents themselves were so corrupt
or so easily corruptible, that, very frequently, young girls did not
leave them with unsta