At first the convents were reproached for stifling all culture and development and applying only correction and mortification of the flesh.  Mme. de Maintenon opposed such a state of affairs, but her methods discouraged true independence.  The happiness of her charges was her one aim, but they had no voice in the matter.  When of marriageable age, they were given a trousseau and a husband; however, they were taught to be reasonable.

In that century, the young girl, mixing more generally in society, received greater consideration—­hence, she became more active and conspicuous.  It will be seen that the role played by the eighteenth century woman was not so much played by the young woman as it was by the woman of mature years, of the mother, the counsellor—­the indispensable element of society.  There were three classes of women—­young women, mature women who sought consideration, and old women who received respect and deference, and who, as arbiters of culture, upheld the principles already established.

A young man making his debut had to find favor with one of those classes which decided his future reputation and the extent of his favor at court, and assigned him his place and grade, upon which depended his marriage.  All education was directed to the one end—­social success.  The duty of the tutor charged with the instruction of a young son was to give a well-rounded, general education; by the mother, he was taught politeness, grace, amiability—­a part of his training to which more importance was attached than to the intellectual portion.  Whenever a young man was guilty of misconduct toward a woman, his mother was notified of the occurrence, on the same evening, and he promptly received his reprimand.  This spirit naturally fostered that rare politeness, exquisite taste and tact in conversation, in which the eighteenth century excels.

But where did the young girls receive the education which gave them such prestige—­that consummate art of conversation exemplified in Mme. de Boufflers, Mme. de Luxembourg, Mme. de Sabran, the Duchess of Choiseul, the Princess of Beauvau, the Countess of Segur?  The sons were educated in the usages of the bonne compagnie by the mothers, but the daughters did not enjoy that attention, for, at the age of five or six years, they were sent to the convent; there the mother’s influence could not have reached them, and they never left the convent except to marry.  The middle class imitated the higher class, and family life became practically impossible.  All men of any importance had a charge at court or a grade in the army, and lived away from their families.  A large number of women were attached to the queen, spending the greater part of their time at Versailles; the little time passed at their homes was entirely occupied in preparation for the evening causeries at the salons, in reading new books, acquiring information upon current events, and in superintending the making of the many necessary and always elaborate gowns; as M. Perey so well says, “as the toilettes and hairdressing took up the greater part of the morning, they devoted the time used by the coiffeur, in constructing complicated edifices that crushed down the heads of women, to the reading of new books.”