We have hitherto looked only at one phase of Madame de Sablé’s character and influence – that of the précieuse. But she was much more than this: she was the valuable, trusted friend of noble women and distinguished men; she was the animating spirit of a society whence issued a new form of French literature: she was the woman of large capacity and large heart, whom Pascal sought to please, to whom Arnauld submitted the Discourse prefixed to his Logic, and to whom La Rochefoucauld writes: ‘Vous savez que je ne crois que vous êtes sûr de certains chapitres, et surtout sur les replis du cœur.’ The papers preserved by her secretary, Valant, show that she maintained an extensive correspondence with persons of various rank and character; that her pen was untiring in the interest of others; that men made her the depositary of their thoughts, women of their sorrows; that her friends were as impatient, when she secluded herself, as if they had been rival lovers and she a youthful beauty. It is into her ear that Madame de Longueville pours her troubles and difficulties, and that Madame de la Fayette communicates her little alarms, lest young Count de St Paul should have detected her intimacy with La Rochefoucauld.* The few of Madame de Sablé’s letters which survive show that she excelled in that epistolary style which was the speciality of the Hôtel de Rambouillet; one to Madame de Montausier, in favour of M. Périer, the brother-in-law of Pascal, is a happy mixture of good taste and good sense; but amongst them all we prefer quoting one to the Duchesse de la Trimouille. It is light and pretty, and made out of almost nothing, like soap-bubbles.