At that age it is reason that mutually attracts two beings; and this feeling was probably the predominant one in that case, because her entire career was one of the most extreme reserve, conservatism, good sense, and propriety.  However, other proofs are brought forward to show that there was between the two a sort of moral marriage, so many examples of which are found in the seventeenth century between people of prominence, both of whom happened to have unhappy conjugal experiences.

French society, one must remember, was different from any in the world; it seems to have been a large family gathering, the members of which were as intimate, took as much interest in each other’s affairs, showed as much sympathy for one another and participated in each other’s sorrows and pleasures, as though they were children of the same parents.

In his early days, La Rochefoucauld found it convenient, for selfish purposes, to simulate an ardent passion for Mme. de Longueville, of which mention has been made in the chapter relating to Mme. de Longueville.  In his later period, he had settled down to a normal mode of life and sought the friendship of a more reasonable and less passionate woman.  He himself said: 

“When women have well-informed minds, I like their conversation better than that of men; you find, with them, a certain gentleness which is not met with among us; and it seems to me, besides, that they express themselves with greater clearness and that they give a more pleasant turn to the things they say.”

Mme. de La Fayette exercised a great influence upon La Rochefoucauld—­an influence that was wholesome in every way.  It was through her influential friends at court that he was helped into possession of his property, and it was she who maintained it for him.  As to his literary work (his Maxims), her influence over him was supposed to have somewhat modified his ideas on women and to have softened his tone in general.  She wrote:  “He gave me wit, but I reformed his heart.”  M. d’Haussonville has proved, without doubt, that her restraint modified many of his maxims that were tinged with the spirit of the commonplace and trivial.  While Mme. de Sable—­essentially a moralist and a deeply religious woman—­was more of a companion to him, and though his maxims were, for the greater part, composed in her salon, Mme. de La Fayette, by her tenderness and judgment, tempered the tone of them before they reached the public.

Mme. de La Fayette will always be known, however, as the great novelist of the seventeenth century.  Two novels, two stories, two historical works, and her memoirs, make up her literary budget.  M. d’Haussonville claims that her memoirs of the court of France are not reliable, because she was so often absent from court; also, in them she shows a tendency to avenge herself, in a way, upon Mme. de Maintenon, whose friend she was until the trouble