Mme. de Motteville is deserving of mention among the important literary women of the seventeenth century.  She is regarded as one of the best women writers in French literature, and her memoirs are considered authority on the history of the Fronde and of Anne of Austria.  The poetry of Mme. des Houlieres was for a long time much in vogue; to-day, however, it is not read.  The memoirs of Mlle. de Montpensier are more occupied with herself than with events of the time or the numerous princes who tarried about her as longing lovers.  Guizot says:  “She was so impassioned and haughty, with her head so full of her own greatness, that she did not marry in her youth, thinking no one worthy of her except the king and the emperor, and they had no fancy for her.”  The following portrait of her was sketched by herself: 

“I am tall, neither fat nor thin, of a very fine and easy figure.  I have a good mien, arms and hands not beautiful, but a beautiful skin—­and throat, too.  I have a straight leg and a well-shaped foot; my hair is light and of a beautiful auburn; my face is long, its contour is handsome, nose large and aquiline; mouth neither large nor small, but chiselled and with a very pleasing expression; lips vermilion, not fine, but not frightful, either; my eyes are blue, neither large nor small, but sparkling, soft, and proud like my mien.  I talk a great deal, without saying silly things or using bad words.  I am a very vicious enemy, being very choleric and passionate, and that, added to my birth, may well make my enemies tremble; but I have, also, a noble and kindly soul.  I am incapable of any base and black deed; and so I am more disposed to mercy than to justice.  I am melancholic, and fond of reading good and solid books; trifles bore me—­except verses, and them I like, of whatever sort they may be; and undoubtedly I am as good a judge of such things as if I were a scholar.”

Possibly the greatest female scholar that France ever produced was Mme. Dacier, a truly learned woman and one of whom French women are proud; during her last years she enjoyed the reputation of being one of the foremost scholars of all Europe.  It was Mme. de Lambert who wrote of her: 

“I esteem Mme. Dacier infinitely.  Our sex owes her much; she has protested against the common error which condemns us to ignorance.  Men, as much from disdain as from a fancied superiority, have denied us all learning; Mme. Dacier is an example proving that we are capable of learning.  She has associated erudition and good manners; for, at present, modesty has been displaced; shame is no longer for vices, and women blush over their learning only.  She has freed the mind, held captive under this prejudice, and she alone supports us in our rights.”